Elastica

britpop

Elastica were a Britpop band formed in London, England in 1992 and made up of: Justine Frischmann (vocals and guitar), Donna Matthews (guitar and vocals), Annie Holland (bass), and Justin Welch (drums). Later members included Shelia Chipperfield (bass), Dave Bush (keyboards), Paul Jones (guitar), and Sharon Mew (keyboards and vocals). Their first single was 1993's Stutter, which was a word-of-mouth hit largely due to the promotional efforts of Radio 1 DJ and Deceptive Records label boss Steve Lamacq. In spite of a period of relative quiet, Elastica's fame grew throughout 1994 as Frischmann's relationship with Blur's Damon Albarn made tabloid headlines. Elastica's first LP, Elastica, entered the charts at #1. Further UK chart hit singles followed: Connection and Waking Up. In 1995 there was a lawsuit from Wire claiming that many of the band's melodies were taken from Wire compositions. Notably, Wire's I Am the Fly has a chorus similar to Elastica's Line Up, and the intro of Connection is nearly identical to Wire's Three Girl Rhumba. Indeed the band had originally intended to sample the intro of the song directly. The Stranglers also passed comment that Elastica's Waking Up bore a marked resemblance to their song No More Heroes. The band did not deny these accusations and were not ashamed by these similarities, stating that all pop bands have borrowed ideas and all music was eventually recycled. Elastica were able to garner better American sales than other Britpop bands, re...