How Supergrass’ I Should Coco remains a staggering debut thirty years on from its release

No matter the feeling levelled at pop music in the 1990s, this rise of interest in glam rock revival and guitar-steadied rock, the results are bountiful. With thirty years between I Should Coco and modern-day Supergrass, it is fascinating to hear what has remained the same. The self-liberation of Alright, a song which feels almost jaded now Gaz Coombes is not young or running free, but committed to an exceptional solo career, still beats on regardless. A new generation has adopted it, and in turn, the band has a new audience to play these hits and deep cuts to. Those memorable moments are still occasions to thrive in. Lenny and Caught By the Fuzz are still essential selections from Supergrass. But there is more to I Should Coco than a time capsule experience. There is a contemporary brilliance still surging through it. 

Elvis Costello plays a big part in this. Not with anything he did for the band, but you can tell where Supergrass is pulling the punk and rock-like mixture for the opening song, I’d Like to Know. Those endless energies are all part of the charm and remain there today. Punchy work which, for a debut, is staggering. Volatility is the key to I Should Coco. An anniversary is an excuse for a reunion. Supergrass reforming was an inevitability, like the sun setting or the coffee machine flooding your countertop. Alright may be the defiant track in their discography, but it is far from their best. Catchy differences of I’d Like to Know seek out the strange ones, the outcasts of the Oasis and Blur battle. Pulp and Suede were already catering to those masses, but Supergrass organised something that was a little bit easier to ease into.

That is not to say their work is any less complex than, say, Different Class or Coming Up, but it is a straighter shot and a broader style of understanding of life. Caught by the Fuzz has those rebellious tones, but it is not a microscopic advantage or sexualised encounter; it is a mere chance to rally in the streets. To what end? To the point of no return heard on Alright. Self-liberation is a driving force behind Supergrass in these early days, and their energetic guitar work underscored it so well. Hit after hit, but a few feel like a pastiche of what the band had been picking up from The Kinks and, to a degree, their contemporary allies of the time in Blur. A little bridge between the ultra-popular and accessible charts and a modest attempt at finding their niche. Mansize Rooster gives it a go and gets far in its attempts at unique angles for the bitter back-and-forth of love, even if it holds one of the more embarrassing lyrical choices from Coombes. 

Wherever Supergrass gets their influence and charm from is not the point. What they brought to the table in this summer of fun, now thirty years and stagnant yet still persevering with reunion tours, is a reminder. Despite the rebellion and rock-heavy showiness of it, I Should Coco dazzles best of all when it provides the lighter side to these stories of struggle. Alright is an anthem for it, that feeling of just fine is not complacency but, the older you get, something to strive for in a world snowballing towards disaster. I Should Coco remains one of the few musical refuges to both have its feet firmly planted in the culture of the times and also evade the sore spots, not through cowardice or indifference, but because escapism while nodding at the trouble is a necessity.  

Bands of the 1990s, particularly the popular boom from those in Oasis and Suede, find themselves constantly compared to the influences which came thirty years before they released any work. It feels a bit of a flimsy tie to the past, especially when the likes of Pulp and Supergrass were pushing on with a modern twist to the world around them. Something like Lose It depends on the confidence of the instrumental work, while closer Time to Go has the flashy appeal of a sudden exit. This all still appeals. That is what works so well for I Should Coco and why the band can still perform to the high standard set by their debut effort. Times have, unfortunately, not changed. Rebellion still rages in the younger generations, and rightly so. Finding anthems which continue to encourage such action is hard to come by, so we turn to the songs of the previous rage. 

Punchy variants of what to do to push against those repressive powers that be. Sitting Up Straight pushes for some belief in the punk spirit of old, the tones sound the same yet the times have changed. Supergrass were mere teenagers when they made I Should Coco and yet it remains a refined and thoroughly mature, embittered piece of work. They are finding their voice at the right time, too. Instrumental variations are frequent, drifting from the harsher sounds of Sitting Up Straight to the acoustic-driven joys, but still heavy style of She’s So Loose. This remains a truly rare album. A piece which captures the spirit of teenage rebellion, those hormonal actions which, in hindsight, are the fast and loose desires not yet fully realised.  

Removed from that now, slightly, after hitting the quarter-life crisis, is an eye-opening experience. Listen in well to the fury Supergrass provides. It is the sort of communal rage which propelled Common People into a constant anthem for the trodden on. Of all the songs, We’re Not Supposed To reigns supreme on Supergrass. Get over the annoying vocal style, prepare yourself for the Motown-like structure of follow-up song Time and realise there is no expectation of instant success. I Should Coco is not just an album of pulling at the loose threads of an indifferent, ever-shifting mass but enjoying the journey there, no matter how tough or gritty it gets. Find the lighter spots, the bright sparks which make I Should Coco a bouncy and dependable album, even now. The lights are getting dimmer. The band is getting older, further removed from the youthful spirit and charm which formed their debut. And yet they persevere not just on the reunion circuit but as artists with a desire to lift listeners up. I Should Coco still does.