“What I really hated about Britpop,” fumes Colin, “was all that tiresome irony. As if bands shouldn’t be serious things.”
“We don’t do irony,” confirms Ed. “The only times we’ve tried were when we were in America, where it just goes over everyone’s heads, and on ‘Pop Is Dead’, which was rubbish. Surprisingly, those Saturday morning TV show offers didn’t come pouring in.”

ED’S DAD sounds like a great bloke. He rates Primal Scream, reads the music press and rips the piss out of old Radiohead videos. He actually throws parties, bringing all of his mates around for a few beers, for some banter and the inevitable rerun of the ‘Pop Is Dead’ promo. That’s his favourite.
“What’s going on there, then?” he’ll ask his boy, jabbing at the remote control switch. “You call that a music video? So why is there a lizard in that scene? Explain it to me.” He rewinds the tape just for the hell of it, thoroughly enjoying himself, as his guests chortle at the grand pretentiousness of it all.”Look. A lizard. Call yourself an O’Brien? Do you, s

Ed: “The thing is, when ‘The Bends’ was released, we felt we were still fighting people’s preconceptions. We thought it was great – we don’t release a record unless we think it’s really good. But we’d had no critical acclaim, which is fair enough, because we were an incredibly inconsistent band.”It’s not surprising people thought we were crap. And we’d released dodgy singles. ‘Pop Is Dead’ – I have to admit that was a rubbish record.”