A Brief History of The Verve
Formed way back in 1989 in Wigan, it's been a rocky road to fame for the lads from The Verve: Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones, Peter Salisbury and Simon Tong. They've endured lineup changes, breakups, health problems, drug abuse and various lawsuits but despite this they're still regarded as one of the best British bands of the nineties.
Amazingly for the band behind songs like 'Bittersweet Symphony' and 'The Drugs Don't Work' it took them nearly six years to have a major hit. Their first album, 'A Storm In Heaven', was loved by critics but didn't chart that high and is only really recognized as being the time the band started to get in to drugs in a big way. But through some erratic behaviour they released a second album 'A Northern Soul' in 1995 and toured with Oasis to break in to the spotlight.
FACT: Ashcroft is good mates with Noel Gallagher and the Oasis song 'Cast No Shadow' is about their friendship.
The band's troubles were brewing as guitarist Nick McCabe walked out several times during the recording of their next album, 'Urban Hymns'. Even though this album contained their biggest hits including their first No.1, 'The Drugs Don't Work', The Verve split up in 1999 citing artistic differences.
FACT: The classic song 'Bittersweet Symphony' samples The Rolling Stones song 'The Last Time' and due to legal wrangling The Verve hardly made any money from the song!
Richard Ashcroft went on to launch a successful solo career releasing two albums and hit single 'A Song For The Lovers'. The rest of the band have joined in other groups including Gorillaz and The Good The Bad and The Queen but as time went on a reunion seemed to be on the cards. Finally in 2007 Ashcroft and McCabe made peace and the band decided to tour again - a tour which sold out in 20 minutes! They've also got a new album entitled 'Forth' coming out soon and its first single, 'Love Is Noise', is storming up the charts as we speak...
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