baggy

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Baggy was a British dance-oriented music genre popular in the early 1990s.

The scene was extremely influenced by Madchester, although the scene was not geographically confined to Manchester. Many Madchester bands could also be described as Baggy, and vice versa. Baggy was characterised by psychedelia- and acid house-influenced guitar music, often with a funky drummer beat, similar to the work of the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses. The scene was named after the loose-fitting clothing worn by the bands and fans.

Some bands, such as the The Mock Turtles and The Soup Dragons, reinvented their sound and image to fit in with the new scene. This led some critics to accuse baggy bands of bandwagon-jumping and derivative songwriting. There was also a crossover between dance and indie, and vice versa.

Bands in the indie-dance era of pop music can be divided into two camps; the acts who could be described as baggy (usually the 'Madchester' acts and a few others such as Flowered Up from London) — and those who can be described as indie-dance (i.e. Jesus Jones, who were more techno inspired).

Legacy

Some baggy bands disappeared after the scene was no longer popular, and others evolved into indie rock or Britpop bands who remained popular throughout the 1990s. The Charlatans and Blur are good examples of ex-baggy bands who retained their popularity, although little trace of the baggy sound and look remained.

The baggy style became eclipsed by the grunge and Britpop genres, with many of the lesser bands forgotten. Apart from tribute acts, the style has been absent from the indie arena, with acts like the 2001 Manchester band Waterfall failing to interest record companies with their revival sound.

Another wave of bands in the style of past baggy madchester sound is currently in process. Bands such as Kasabian, The Ruling Class, The Bavarian Druglords, and Working For A Nuclear Free City have brought back aspects of the style in various forms and have garnered comparisons to The Stone Roses and the madchester sound.

Baggy and Madchester acts

• The Candyskins
• The Charlatans
• The Farm
• Flowered Up
• Happy Mondays
• The High
• Inspiral Carpets
• James
• The Mock Turtles
• My Jealous God
• New Fast Automatic Daffodils
• Northside
• Paris Angels
• The Real People
• The Soup Dragons
• The Stone Roses
• World of Twist

Indie-Dance Acts

• The Apples
• Jesus Jones
• EMF
• Pop Will Eat Itself
• Saint Etienne