{"product_id":"the-last-party","title":"The Last Party","description":"\u003cp\u003e'The loveliest - and certainly the most human - book about pop music I've ever read ... A delightful and humane soap opera, a real page-turner, full of rounded and entirely recognisable characters.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJon Ronson, Daily Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTHE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF BRITPOP - BLUR, OASIS, ELASTICA, SUEDE \u0026amp; TONY BLAIR\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBeginning in 1994 and closing in the first months of 1998, the UK passed through a cultural moment as distinct and as celebrated as any since the war. Founded on rock music, celebrity, boom-time economics and fleeting political optimism - this was 'Cool Britannia'. Records sold in their millions, a new celebrity elite emerged and Tony Blair's Labour Party found itself, at long last, returned to government.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on interviews from all the major bands - including Oasis, Blur, Elastica and Suede - from music journalists, record executives and those close to government, The Last Party charts the rise and fall of the Britpop movement. John Harris was there; and in this gripping new book he argues that the high point of British music's cultural impact also signalled its effective demise - If rock stars were now friends of the government, then how could they continue to matter?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBritpop in numbers: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eThere were an astonishing 2.6 million ticket applications for the Oasis gig at Knebworth in 1996. 1 in 24 of the British public wanted to see them play. In the end the band played to 250,000 fans across two nights with a guest list that ran to 7,000.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e'Definitely, Maybe', Oasis's debut album, went straight to No 1, selling 100,000 copies in 4 days and outselling the Three Tenors in second place by a factor of 50%\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eOn its first day in the shops Oasis's second album, 'What's The Story, Morning Glory', was selling at a rate of 2 copies a minute through HMV's London stores.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eBy 1997 Creation Records (which had been founded 12 years earlier with a bank loan of £1,000 by an ex-British Rail Clerk Alan McGee) announced a turnover of £36million thanks almost entirely to one band: Oasis.\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48833229193421,"sku":"9780007134731","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0557\/1529\/9533\/files\/imageloader_e6f3470e-0b97-44f9-8da3-05d56a921f02.jpg?v=1790798779","url":"https:\/\/booksatmidnight.com\/products\/the-last-party","provider":"Books At Midnight","version":"1.0","type":"link"}