Is today's British music better than Britpop?

[AB Asks]

Razorlight, Kasabian, Muse, Arctic Monkeys, The Fratellis, Editors, Keane� the list goes on. British music seems to be going through a good patch at the moment. The question is, are they in the same league as during the Britpop years of Oasis and Blur. What do you think? Are today's acts rivalling those of 1994?

[tiny e.a]

I think on the whole the music now is probably better but as a girl of the brit pop age my allegiance will always lie with the likes of Shed 7, Menswear, Suede, the Blutones and the like!

[Reverandfunk]

Personally I think the "new" bands are poor. Arctic Monkeys? Every song sounds so different - not. 3 chord rubbish.

Watched the Kaisers live on TV sunday night in Preston - appalling. To me they are all very bland, very samey and are just trying to do what was done better 30 years ago.

[andy-hughes]

I'm not especially blown away by Britpop or the current crop of guitar bands.

I certainly applaud the tendency of Radio One to play guitar music as opposed to the horrendous R 'n' B that was their mainstream output just after the famous DJ cull, but a lot of it leaves me pretty cold - probably an age thing, it;s just not exciting for me, heard it all before.

As for Blur, I singularly fail to understand their appeal at all - I find their tunes difficult, and Damon Albern's cod-Cockney voice is really annoying. I do have to seriously admire his ability to change styles through Gorillaz to The Good The Bad And The Queen.

[poinsy]

True, the Arctic's music does all sound very similar,but so does that of Oasis, not always a bad thing if you happen to like that sound.

I like a lot of the current crop, especially Editors& Hard-Fi.

Went to see the Manics on Sunday, now there's a band that sound fantastic live.

[Goodsoulette]

I am a Brit Pop child and we are back on form. Razorlight are alright, the Libertines spawned a whole bunch of bands that sound the same as them. I loved the 2 frontmen concept of the Libertines. Suede and Blur were by far the best things to come out of the 90s sound but I can think of tonnes more from now that would give them a run for their money. Muse are leagues above any other band in the world at the moment. They are true rock gods. Matt Bellamy is a genius. Kasabian is the sound of our times in my opinion, its ,like Madchester revisited. I like the Fratellis, its a bit novelty though. I dont think you have picked a good bunch of bands to highlight how good we are sounding at the moment.

[Whickerman]

both The Fratellis and Keane are great, but the others are bland and boring.

That said, Oasis, Blur and the Stone Roses were great, but look at the bland and boring Menswear, Verve, Pulp etc.

I'd say that for every successful decent act, there were three successful god-awful ones - that's in any era.

[littleoldme]

I think there are a lot of good British bands around at the moment, but I wouldn't necessarily plump for the ones mentioned. I love The Fratellis - the sort of good honest no-frills singalong stuff of which we have a proud history - Slade in the 70s, Madness in the 80s, Supergrass in the 90s and now The Fratellis.

I'd also give honourable mentions to Tiny Dancers, Amsterdam, Mohair, The Bees, The Zutons, Lucky Soul, British Sea Power, The Broken Family Band, Spearmint, The Young Knives...and one of my favourites at the moment, Little Man Tate - the band the Arctic Monkeys could be if they ever learned to write decent tunes as well as smart-ar5e lyrics.