I forgot to write about one more "dormanter":

Travis -- The Man Who (1999). In the UK, this album was very near the second coming of "What's the Story Morning Glory?". For two solid years, everyone from grannies to youngsters, ages 7 to 70, was singing along to "The Man Who" on the radio, on TV, and at outdoor festivals. In North America, only "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" was played on the radio. On rare occasions. And that line following the title in the chorus "is it because I lied when I was seventeen?", oh, oh, so, SO SO SO Smiths, so Morrissey. So uncreative. "Driftwood" was a bit better, and the video was admittedly kinda cool, but I still couldn't see what the big deal was.

And I still don't. Travis don't do anything particularly creative or original. They're simple guys in a guitar band, so what? Well, one day I woke up and it shook me : "Driftwood" is an absolutely amazing song. And I bought the album and thought, "gee, it's really been a long time since I got into a plain, ordinary guitar band with no fancy frills or walls of sound or intricate soundcapes -- just killer, heartfelt tunes". And I saw them in concert and could sing along for a whole hour and a half and it came to me, "when was the last time I went to a show and sang along with a couple thousand strangers for an hour and half?". As I said, there's no big deal about Travis. They write great songs. They write about sadness and teenage angst and all that other good stuff. And that's enough.