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In the 2003 documentary Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop, Prime Minister Tony Blair gets more screen time for his contributions to the genre than Supergrass. Maybe that’s because Gaz Coombes, Mickey Quinn and Danny Goffey weren’t directly responsible for ’90s Britpop’s rise or fall as much as its seamless continuation. While Oasis and Blur rendered each other idiotic competing for Beatle-bumming honors, Supergrass shifted its focus to encompass all of past Britpop, one minute echoing T. Rex or Bowie, the next tipping the hat to the Buzzcocks or even (yikes!) Supertramp, all the while maintaining a giddiness that could make Freddie and the Dreamers seem forlorn. The uninterrupted spate of brilliant Supergrass albums and singles has been injudiciously underappreciated, something the band’s double-disc 10th-anniversary retrospective sought to rectify. And while the latest album, Road to Rouen, features some nods toward progressive rock and a sterile Autobahn cover worthy of Kraftwerk, any band that can make an infectious single like “Kick in the Teeth” and have people asking for it by name must have a heart in the right place.
