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Supergrass Information
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'Supergrass' is an indie rock and Britpop band from Oxford, UK. Currently the band consists of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes, Danny Goffey, and Mick Quinn. Like many other British bands of the '90s, Supergrass' musical roots lie in the infectiously catchy punk-pop of the Buzzcocks and the Jam, as well as the post-punk pop of Madness, the traditional Mod Rock of the Kinks and Small Faces and the glam-rock of T. Rex.
Biography
Emerging from Oxford (and to a certain extent Wheatley Park School)in the early 1990s Supergrass were formed out of the ashes of indie underage underachievers The Jennifers. While most other people their age were in bed at a sensible time in their jim-jams Supergrass members Gaz and Danny were becoming faces on the Oxford indie music scene.
Perhaps because of their younger age than most the peers - two of the quartet were teenagers when they recorded their debut single - the band brings the feeling of such unfashionable bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Supergrass combined all of their influence, including the Buzzcocks, The Kinks, the Who and included traits from the common pop-punk era, characterized with fast, three-chord guitar based and catchy tunes, found in then-contemporaries blink-182 and Green Day.
In Summer 1994, Supergrass issued their debut single "Caught by the Fuzz" on the independet label Backbeat. The single represented bandmembers' troubles with being caught with weed when they were 15. "Caught by the Fuzz" shot the band to popularity as many youths reflected themselves in the single theme. Soon after that Parlophone signed the band and re-released the single in the fall of the same year. The band also succeed in getting praise from the more experienced peers Blur and Elastica. Supergrass followed this in the spring of 1995 with "Mansize Rooster" and the third "Lenny" - released right before their debut album, I Should Coco - shot at the top 20 in the UK Singles Chart.
I Should Coco was released in May 1995 and was warmly greeted in U.K. The album shot at Top Ten, showing that their popularity continued to increase. The band made a successfull move, releasing the Number 2 double A-sided single, "Alright"/"Time". The single stayed in Top Three for a month and pushed the album to number one. After three months, staying at the top of the charts in U.K, I Should Coco was released in the U.S.. There "Caught by the Fuzz" started receiving heavy MTV and radio play, which gave significant amount of popularity for the "teen-band" this time among the american youth. After an year-and-half, the acclaimed In It for the Money followed (1997), although it was a bit overlooked as the Britpop genre was in shambles at that time and the spots belonged to Radiohead and The Verve at their homeland. Nevertheless the band had a solid fan-base around the world and in America. After another two years the band reconvened to issue their eponymous third LP Supergrass, nicknamed the "X-Ray album" (1999). The following spring the record was relased in U.S.
Three years later the band resurfaced with the acclaimed Life on Other Planets (2002), which gathered very positive reviews and was received warmly in both sides of the Atlantic. The band followed this with another extensive hiatus, devoting to touring and personal angagements. Meanwhile, they issued their first best-of-compilation Supergrass Is 10 in 2004, with a single "Kiss of Life" that was a failure, making it barely to #23.
After much recording turbulence, involving building of a special studio for the sessions, the band's fifth album, Road to Rouen, was released in August 2005. The album displayed a tough period for the band. Goffey had been targeted by the tabloid newspapers for a sex scandal, including Jude Law and the Coombes brothers lost their mother. The album is less poppy and more mature and gained mainly favourable reviews although some critics could not accept the change in sound. The first track, "Tales of Endurance", deals with the commercial faliure of last single, "Kiss of Life". Supporting single "St. Petersburg" only beat it by one place, reaching #22 in the UK chart.
Discography
Studio albums
#I Should Coco - (1995)
#In It for the Money (1997)
#Supergrass - (1999)
#Life on Other Planets - (2002)
#Road to Rouen - (2005)
Compilations
*Supergrass Is 10 (2004) #4 UK, did not chart Japan
Singles
Chart positions are for the UK, they have had no charting singles in the USA.
* as The Jennifers
** 1992 "Just Got Back Today" did not chart
* from I Should Coco
** 1994 "Caught By The Fuzz" #43
** 1995 "Mansize Rooster" #20
** 1995 "Lose It" #75
** 1995 "Lenny" #10
** 1995 "Alright/Time" #2
* from In It for the Money
** 1996 "Going Out" #5
** 1997 "Richard III" #2
** 1997 "Sun Hits the Sky" #10
** 1997 "Late in the Day" #18
* from Supergrass
** 1999 "Pumping on Your Stereo" #11
** 1999 "Moving" #9
** 1999 "Mary" #36
* from Life on Other Planets
** 2002 "Never Done Nothing Like That Before" #75
** 2002 "Grace" #13
** 2003 "Seen the Light" #22
** 2003 "Rush Hour Soul" did not chart
* from Supergrass is 10
** 2004 "Kiss of Life" #23
* from Road To Rouen
** 2005 "St. Petersburg" #22
** 2005 "Low C" #52
Trivia
Supergrass and Rob Coombes
For the band's first three albums, Supergrass officially consisted of Gaz Coombes, Goffey and Quinn although Rob Coombes contributed to many of the band's songs and toured with them. Rob Coombes did not officially "join" the band until the fourth album and so tracks recorded before then were often credited to "Supergrass and Rob Coombes".
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