A sad/emotive british Indie song from the 90s

[albie]

But really good. I taped it off the radio, probably radio 1 because that's all I listened to.

It's a male singer and very ballady but still indie sounding. I could sing it if it helped, but the words fail me. The only lyric I recall is something like "things will be better when we were young." (which is probably wrong as it doesn't make sense)sung three times then lots of high notes, almost falsetto. The band name had the word BLUE or OYSTER in it. It wasn't blue oyster cult as Grok keeps telling me. Nor was it OYSTERBAND. It was firmly 90s. It wasn't the Bluetones or BLUE. It wasn't a famous band at all. So not DEACON BLUE.

That was the only time I heard that song on the radio, when I taped it. And they never had another one of the radio etc. But it was a FANTASTIC and miserable song.

I actually tracked the song down already, maybe ten years ago but flipping lost track of it!

Anyone?

update...there is a site that lets you upload a song and then it names it. I'll try that if you guys can't help. I'm not much of a good singer and the song is all high notes. I suppose I could pitch shift it.

[TubThumper]

This is really interesting.

I love 90’s Indie, and I have a huge collection of records from the Britpop era.

Essentially, there were almost no 90’s UK indie bands with “Oyster” in the name. (you’ve already ruled out “Oysterband”). Annoyingly, there are very few 90’s UK indie bands with “Blue” in the name too — but I won’t let this stop me. I like a good challenge!


Closest name match:

- The Blue Nile
- Blueboy
- The Blue Aeroplanes

These bands have songs that match the sad/emotive theme you suggest.

but something doesn’t sit right with me. Is it possible you’re misremembering the band name? Do you think that your brain has filed this song in your memory under the title of “Blue” due to the song being sad (and blue)? Just a thought?

Here is my choice of closest bands (and songs) that closely match the the male lead 90s British indie thing — is an emotional/miserable ballad — has the possibility of falsetto/high notes — was played on BBC Radio 1 — possibly obscure/one-off play:

- “Oxygen” by “JJ72”
- “Olympian” by “Gene”
- “Beautiful Alone” by “Strangelove”
- “On and On” by Longpigs
- “India” by - “Puressence”
- Any song by Placebo
- Any song by Radiohead

If it is none of the above then give me a few more clues. What type of “Indie” was the song? Was it Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Britpop, Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Jangle Pop…? This may help even more.