By Lucy Gilbert

30 years ago this year was 1995. A year that saw the release of Toy Story, and the trial of OJ Simpson. Also, a lot of good music – both in general opinion and critic’s reviews. Looking back on 1995 here are three albums that defined the year.

Different Class - Pulp

Surprisingly, Different Class was Pulp’s fifth album. Released in October 1995, the album is quintessentially Britpop and is highly regarded as the best album of that era. 1995 also brought their incredible Glastonbury headline set. Pulp filled in at the festival when John Squire of The Stone Roses broke his collarbone, leading to the band dropping out. This Pyramid Stage debut is in the Glastonbury history books. It gave us incredible first performances of Sorted for E’s and Wizz, Disco 2000 and Mis-Shapes, finishing off with Common People.

The Great Escape - Blur

Blur’s follow up to 1994’s Parklife dropped on September 11th, 1995. It continued Blur’s commercial success and critical acclaim, with Melody Maker even rating it a 12/10. It spawned Blur’s first number one single, Country House, which beat Oasis’ Roll With It to the top spot in the charts on August 14th 1995, leading the band to perform it on Top Of The Pops with bassist Alex James in an Oasis t-shirt. The album also featured three other hit singles; Stereotypes, The Universal and Charmless Man.

I Should Coco - Supergrass

I Should Coco is Supergrass’ massive debut, released on May 15th, 1995. The first single, Caught by the Fuzz, a song about being 15 and getting caught smoking, came on October 17th, 1994, when lead singer Gaz Coombes was only 18. However, Caught by the Fuzz wasn’t the breakthrough single for Supergrass, Alright was released on July 3rd, 1995, and peaked at number two on the UK singles chart. The song remains Supergrass’ most well known song to date. When the full album released it gave Supergrass their only number one album. This was followed by their Glastonbury debut and 30 years on, they’ll return in summer 2025. I Should Coco achieved critical acclaim, including a 5/5 rating in The Guardian.

It’s clear that 1995 is when Britpop saw its peak. After all, it was the year The Battle of Britpop took place, but even outside of NME’s heavyweights – 1995 was defined by Britpop. Glastonbury was headlined by Pulp and Oasis, Reading Festival featured Teenage Fanclub, Menswear, Carter USM and so many others. Even T in the Park had performances by Black Grape, The Verve, The Charlatans, Elastica and Dodgy. Few other years have contributed to pop culture as much as 1995.

Honourable album mentions: Teenage Fanclub – Grand Prix, Elastica – Elastica, Team Dresch – Personal Best, Beastie Boys – Aglio E Olio, blink-182 – Cheshire Ca

The Top Albums from 1995