Five quintessential songs that defined life in 1996

The article argues that 1996 captured a distinctive moment when analogue culture and growing digitalisation overlapped, with optimism and few barriers between musical genres. It presents five songs as snapshots of that era, while showing how the music also reflected political tensions and resistance.

The selections are 2Pac’s ‘California Love’, which embodies hip hop’s growing commercial reach; Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’, whose association with Trainspotting brought rave culture to a wider audience; and Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Bulls on Parade’, a protest against militarism and the arms industry. The Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’ channels rave culture’s defiance amid restrictions on gatherings, while Oasis’ ‘Champagne Supernova’ represents Britpop’s scale and confidence; Noel Gallagher recalled a quarter of a million people at Knebworth in 1996, without mobile phones or internet.