3rd March 1994

Shed Seven head out on a short tour supporting Compulsion at the Chelmsford Army & Navy Club
 
5th March 1994 

Blur appear on the Cover of the NME

7th March 1994

Blur release single Girls and Boys, reaching number 5 in the charts. It had its first radio play on the Evening Session on Radio 1.

7th March 1994

Shed Seven release first single Mark / Casino Girl (double A side) before embarking on another support tour, this time with Inspiral Carpets.

10th March 1994

Sleeper play the Army & Navy in Chelmsford; My life story are supported by Salad at London’s 100 Club and St Etienne begin a tour at Leicester De Montfort University.
 
12th March 1994
 
Kurt Cobain appears on the cover of the NME “Is this the end?”.

14th March 1994

Blur perform girls and boys on Top of the Pops.

18th March 1994

Oasis make the TV debut on Channel 4’s The Word.

Hotly tipped London band Tiny Monroe play The Garage in Highbury.

21st March 1994

Pulp release singe Do you remember the first time, reaching number 33 in the charts.

22nd March 1994

Appearing at long-running London indie night Feet First are Salad and Huge Baby.
 
24th March 1994

Oasis headline their biggest London gig to date, with a triumphant set at the legendary 100 Club. Support comes from Scottish band Whiteout

NME review - At times tonight Oasis assume the mantle of Best Live Band in the Country with joyous, arrogant Mancunian confidence. They may never be this good again and they may have never been this good before but, four rows from the front, they sound like the most astute, important signing Alan McGee has made since Ride. 

March 25th 1994

Echobelly, Gene and These Animal Men play the Islington Powerhaus.

28th March 1994

Primal Scream release album Give out but don’t give up, reaching Number 2 in the charts.

30th March 1994

Primal Scream with support from These Animal Men play the Manchester Academy.

 2nd February 1994
Echobelly Record Session for the Evening session.
Tracks Perfromed: Taste of you, Father Ruler King Computer, Call me names, Give Her a Gun.

5th February 1994
The new issue of NME features a trio of Brat Award winners on the front: Brett Anderson, Justine Frischman and Thom Yorke

8th February 1994
Liam and Bonehead of oasis are detained on a cross channel ferry for fighting in a bar en route to a gig in Amsterdam.
Transcript from infamous ‘Wibbling Rivalry’ interview

Noel: The thing about getting thrown off ferries - blah, blah, blah - and getting deported is summat that I'm not proud about because...
Liam: Well I am, la.
Noel: Yeah, alright. Well if you're, right, well if you're, right, well if, if you're proud about getting thrown off ferries, then why don't you go and support West Ham and get the **** out of my band and go and be a football hooligan, right? Coz we're musicians, right? We're not football hooligans.
Liam: You're only gutted coz you was in bed reading your *******' books...

Suede play Worthing Pier Pavillion (with dates to follow at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom on the 11th and Edinburgh Queens Hall on the 12th)

SETLIST:
Pantomime Horse
This Hollywood Life
We Are the Pigs
Animal Nitrate
Heroine
My Insatiable One
My Dark Star
He's Dead
Metal Mickey
New Generation
She's Not Dead
So Young
Sleeping Pills
Stay Together
The Next Life

12th February 1994
First reviews of the Oasis gig at London’s Water Rats hit the press.
Simon Williams Review for the NME: So Liam toys languidly with a star-shaped tambourine. Smart. So his brother Noel knocks out all these spangly, never-ending guitar licks, most of which resemble the last 30 seconds of The Edge's axe solos circa Red Rocks, albeit without the leather waistcoat. So 'Cigarettes And Alcohol' is a complete rehash of 'Get It On', down to a T-Rex, and one song sounds exactly like Blur, and Oasis should, by rights, be unmitigated crap but...they are in fact more fun than a mudbath with a meerkat.

14th February 1994
Suede release new single ‘Stay Together’

21st February 1994
Primal Scream are back with new single ‘Rocks’

22nd February 1994
Donna Mathews from Elastica’s old friends 60FT DOLLS support Elastica at the legendary Newport TJs.

23rd February 1994
on tour this week, Oasis play Bedford Angel tonight, London’s 100 Club the following evening and Tunbridge Wells Forum on the 26th

24th February 1994
‘Shagging In The Streets’ is the first proper release on the new Fierce Panda record label, spear-headed by NME journalist Simon Williams. The double seven-inch EP, which features bands including Blessed Ethel and SMASH, is launched tonight with a gig headlined by These Animal Men at the Islington Powerhaus

25th February 1994
Salad play London’s Kentish Town Bull & Gate, which is quickly becoming one of the key showcase venues for emerging Britpop style guitar bands. Other regular haunts include the Dublin Castle, the Highbury Garage and The Laurel Tree

15th January 1994
This week’s issue of NME presents their tips for 1994, hinting at the short-lived, prototype Britpop scene, The New Wave Of New Wave (the name based on the ‘70s rock movement The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.)  Among the bands on the approved list are Elastica, Smash, Shed 7, Compulsion, Tiny Monroe And Echobelly.

To coincide with the above, the paper’s new band page presents a gig at London’s LA2 with Elastica, Echobelly, Compulsion And Smash

Slepper play Sheffield Leadmill tonight, followed by the Duchess Of York in Leeds on the 21st, before heading off to support The Blue Aeroplanes and A House on a major UK tour.

18th January 1994
These Animal Men sign to Hut records

20th January 1994
Boo Radleys are live at Glasgow King Tuts

22nd January 1994
NME make CATATONIA’s early single ‘For Tinkerbell’ their Single Of The Week

23rd January 1994
Perfume, a new-ish band from Leicester who would later become Evening Session regulars play a home town gig at the Princess Charlotte.

24th January 1994
The Charlatans release new single ‘Can’t Get Out Of Bed’

24th January 1994
Boo Radleys with Pulp, One Dove and Credit To The Nation appear the Forum in London. A warm-up for the inaugural NME Brat Awards.

25th January 1994
In response to another decidedly bland list of nominees for the BRIT AWARDS, NME stages its first ever BRAT Awards. Winners included Radiohead, Oasis, Suede and Elastica.

Steve interviewing Johnny Greenwood and Thom Yorke at the BRAT Awards

John Peel wins the first Godlike Genius Award.  The event was covered live by Radio 1 with Jo Whiley in the studio and Steve Lamacq in a truck outside the venue, talking to the winners:

“I remember asking John at the end of his interview how a Godlike Genius walks....and him saying, “just watch me when I get out of this studio.”

27th January 1994
Widely regarded as their big breakthrough gig in London, Oasis play the Water Rats in front of a sell-out of crowd including numerous supportive journalists and early fans.

Dodgy take their ‘Dodgy Club Night’ to the Garage in Islington

29th January 1994
Elastica chalk up another Single Of the Week for ‘Line Up’ while Sleeper’s latest ‘Swallow,’ set for release on the 31st, is described as being “full of fuzzy guitars and with a swaggering vocal.

9th December 1993
Radiohead headline London’s Brixton Academy. They open with ‘The Bends’ and finish with ‘Stop Whispering’

The Bends
Prove Yourself
You
(Nice Dream)
Vegetable
Creep
Ripcord
Banana Co.
Pop Is Dead
Faithless the Wonder Boy
Anyone Can Play Guitar
Stop Whispering


10th December 1993
The Verve kick off a tour at Glasgow Cathouse with Oasis in support. The tour continues in Manchester, Glasgow, Preston, Newcastle, Bradford and Liverpool.

14th December 1993
Echobelly, Smash, The Flamingoes and These Animal Men play London’s 100 Club.

22nd December 1993
Oasis head to the Maida Vale studios for the first time to record their debut Radio 1FM Evening Session, for broadcast at the start of 1994.

15th November 1993
Pulp release ‘Lipgloss’ single & Echobelly release debut EP ‘Bellyache’ on Pandemonium Records.  See the video here

20th November 1993
Pulp play a hometown gig in Sheffield with Elastica as support.

22nd November 1993
The Auteurs latest single is the barmstorming ‘Lenny Valentiono’

Sleeper’s first single ‘Alice In Vain’ is out this month on CD and limited edition 7 inch (1,800 copies are pressed)

4th October 1993
Blur release ‘Sunday Sunday’

 James release ‘Laid’

Teenage Fanclub are back with new album ‘Thirteen’

8th October 1993
Sidi Bou Said supported by Drugstore at London’s Imperial College

9th October 1993
Radio 1 announce changes to their line-up, the first reshuffle of new boss Mathew Bannister’s regime. Steve Lamacq & Jo Whiley take over the Evening Session from 6.30-9pm and Mark Radcliffe gets the 10pm slot.

11th October 1993
Blur issue their infamous ‘Star Shaped’ video

16th October 1993
The hot ticket gig of the night in London sees The Revs and Passion Fruit & Holy Bread support headliners Elastica.

21st October 1993
Salad begin a series of dates to promoting their second single ‘Diminished Clothes’

27th October 1993
Oasis play Keele University, starting a run of four dates supporting BMX Bandits

29th October 1993
Sleeper play north London venue The Water Rats as a warm up for the release of their debut single.

30th October 1993
According to one of their fan sites Supergrass play the King & Queen in Wheatley.

12th September 1993

The UK’s music industry headed up to Manchester for the In The City Festival.  Elastica played on a bill alongside Tiny Monroe, Collapsed Lung and Credit To the Nation

14th September 1993

Oasis play an early gig at the Canal bar in Manchester

30th September 1993

The Boo Radleys play London’s LA2 supported by Rollerskate Skinny. Meanwhile across town at the Water Rats, Coradi Kid are playing, supported by – as it was advertised in NME – Echo Belly.

4th June 1993

The next night Blur head to the capital in support of the Modern Life is Rubbish album, to headline the Astoria.

5th June 1993

NME review Blur’s appearance last week in Leicester where they encored with ‘Advert’ and ‘Parklife’. Is this one of the earliest airings of ‘Parklife’ we wonder?

8th June 1993

Still on tour, promoting ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’, Blur appear at Bristol University

19th June 1993

Steve Lamacq sees Elastica for the first time at the Camden Falcon, supporting Compulsion.

“The venue only held about 150 people but it was absolutely rammed. I was stuck by the PA by the door, so had the worst view, but it was clear that the music was terrifically exciting. It was this mixture of bootboy punk-pop and art-rock. After that I tracked down Justine and we met in a pub a week or two later to see if they’d like us to put a single out for them.”

Verve score 8 out of 10 for their ‘Storm In Heaven’ album in NME, while the Manic Street Preachers get a 6 for ‘Gold Against the Soul’.

20th June 1993

Elastica record a new set of demos for EMI Publishing which includes ‘Stutter’.

26th June 1993

Radiohead announce they are pulling out of the Phoenix Festival, to prolong their American tour

28th June 1993

Blur release the ‘Chemical World’ single. The track reached number 28 in the UK Singles Chart and came backed with three exclusive tracks "Young & Lovely", "Es Schmecht" and "My Ark". "Young & Lovely" was hailed as one of the greatest "lost tracks" by Q in 2007 and was finally played live when the band performed for Steve at Maida Vale in 2012. 

10th May 1993
The Auters release a single called ‘How Could I Be Wrong’. Also, gathering momentum from their recent gigs, Radiohead release Pop Is Dead, a new single, not included on their debut album 'Pablo Honey'

Blur released their album ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’. Here’s what the BBC had to say about the release.

Read the Review here.

16th May 1993
Suede played London’s Brixton Academy 

29th May 1993
Blur toured the UK in support of their recently released 'Modern Life' album. On this day in 1993 they play University Of Manchester (other dates on the tour include the London Astoria and Bristol University in June.)

Right at the end of the month was one of the most significant events in the what was to become Britpop as Oasis support 18 Wheeler at Glasgow’s King Tut’s Wah Wah hut.

Creation Records Boss Alan McGee, sees them for the first time and offers them a deal that evening.

Here is Alan talking about that night:

5th April 1993
Pulp played a hometown show at the Sheffield Leadmill for BBC Radio 1’s Sound City Event. The band were second on the bill, on after The Wedding Present and before headliners; Kingmaker.

8th April 1993
Suede’s gig at London’s Kilburn National was cancelled at short notice after talks between the venue and the local council broke down, concerning an alleged dispute over the number of tickets sold for the show.

19th April 1993
Blur released their ‘For Tomorrow’ single on the 19th April. The single went onto peak at Number 28 in the singles chart. The band said that the cover of the two World War II fighter planes was used to instil a sense of Britishness.

Watch the Video

24th April 1993
Dodgy feature in the NME Magazine under the headline ‘Liggy Stardust’

30th April 1993
Radiohead continue their tour in support of debut album ‘Pablo Honey’ -  headlining the Wolves Wulfren Hall with support from Strangelove and Superstar.

27th March 1993
The NME Magazine gives Suede's debut album 7/10 under the banner 'A Very Brettish Coup'

29th March 1993
Suede release their debut album.

The latest edition of SELECT magazine (cover dated April) features Brett Anderson on the cover, backed by a Union Jack design with the headline ‘Yanks Go Home! Suede, St Etienne, Denim, Pulp, The Auteurs and the Battle for Britain.’

1st February 1993

 The start of February saw Radiohead released their second single – ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’. The track was the follow up to their debut single ‘Creep’ which was first released in September 1992 and reached only number 78. It would of course do greater things on it’s re-release later this year. 

‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’ came backed with the B sides – ‘Faithless The Wonder Boy’ and ‘Coke Babies’

6th February 1993

Blur play London’s Town & Country Club as part of the NME Magazine’s ‘Lost In Music’ gig.  This week saw St Etienne grace the cover of the NME, above the headline “Chaps, Cracknell And Pop”