The Verve were an English rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Simon Tong later became a member in their first reunion only.
members: Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones, Peter Salisbury, Simon Tong
formed in: Wigan
labels: EMI
genres: alternative rock, psychedelic rock, space rock
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The founding members of the band met at Winstanley Sixth Form College, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan. The band was initially known as Verve, and their first gig was at a friend's birthday party at the Honeysuckle Inn, in Wigan, on 15 August 1990. Most of the band's early material was created through extensive jam sessions. Fronted by Ashcroft, the band caused a buzz in early 1991 for their ability to captivate audiences with their musical textures and avant-garde sensibilities.
Jason Ankeny of AllMusic described the Verve's sound as "oceanic", saying that it fused the "exploratory vision of '60s-era psychedelia with the shimmering atmospherics of the shoegaze aesthetic". The band have been classified as neo-psychedelia, Britpop, alternative rock, and post-Britpop.
"Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song by the English rock band the Verve, released on 16 June 1997 by Hut Recordings and Virgin Records as the lead single from their third album, Urban Hymns. It was produced by Youth at Olympic Studios, London.
"Bitter Sweet Symphony" is based on a sample of a 1966 orchestral version of the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time" by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra. Andrew Loog Oldham was an early producer and manager of the Rolling Stones and enlisted musicians to create symphonic versions of Rolling Stones songs. The strings in the sample were written and arranged by David Whitaker.
The "Bitter Sweet Symphony" music video was directed by Walter Stern and released on 11 June 1997. In the video, Ashcroft walks down a busy pavement in Hoxton, London, oblivious to passersby and bumping into them. At the end, the other Verve band members join him and walk down the street into the distance. Critics likened it to the 1991 Massive Attack video "Unfinished Sympathy", which has the singer Shara Nelson walking in Los Angeles. The music video was played frequently on music channels and was nominated for a number of awards, including three MTV Awards at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.
"Bitter Sweet Symphony" was named the Rolling Stone and NME Single of the Year for 1997. In 1998, BBC Radio 1 listeners voted it the third-greatest track of all time, and it was named the third-best single of 1997 by The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll. In 1999, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. In a 2005 poll for the Channel 4 series 100 Greatest, the music video was voted the eighth best. The song received further exposure when it was used in adverts for Vauxhall and Nike.