I always took Supergrass for granted.
They were far more consistent in their 16 years of existence than Oasis, or The Charlatans, or Super Furry Animals, or any other Britpop band of a similar lifespan. And yet people like me sometimes just bitched about how "Life on Other Planets" was not as good as the 1999 self-titled album. That kind of thing.
And yet, their weakest bits are still better than the whole careers of many other bands.
With Mick Quinn's injury, and the Hotrats side project, the writing was on the wall, as they say, and NME is confirming the split that everyone knew was coming.
So rather than get wistful, I'll say that the band went out still producing quality work and certainly never put out anything as horrible as Dig Out Your Soul, that 2008 Oasis disappointment.
They were a great singles band; "Caught By The Fuzz" to "Richard III" to "Moving" to "Rebel in You" and all the other releases illustrate this point.
They had good flip-sides; "Wait for Sun" is worth seeking out as a good example of that idea.
And the albums had little gems like the track below that were almost as memorable as some of those loud, obvious, and brash lead-off singles.
I'm thinking now of so many songs that get overlooked in the wake of deserved hits like "Pumping On Your Stereo" when a person surveys the band's output:
"It's Not Me", with its yearning vocals, from 1997's In It For The Money
"Jesus Came From Outta Space" and "Beautiful People", the dueling moods of glam-racket and introspective Wings-styled pop from 1999's self-titled Supergrass
"Never Done Nothing Like That Before", the foot-stomper from 2002's Life On Other Planets
"Bullet", a new track for the 2004 singles compilation, Supergrass is 10
"Sad Girl" and "Kick In The Teeth", with their Revolver-isms, from 2005's Road to Rouen
"Butterfly", with the soaring guitar lines, from 2008's Dimaond Hoo Ha
Maybe in the wake of the band's demise there will be a nice rarities compilation released?
Supergrass "Hollow Little Reign" (live)