US Edition First and foremost, I’d like to put on record the barrage of vaguely abusive contention I had to withstand from my colleagues before I was able to confirm my booking at the W London to review its new Britpop vinyl collection.
“How old were you when Britpop peaked?” they’d ask.
“Six,” I’d say (when Oasis’s debut Definitely Maybe was released in 1994).
They then tried to metaphorically wrestle from my grip my appointment at the Leicester Square hotel. Failing that, they resorted to berating my inexperience of Suede’s back catalogue (which, to be honest, is fair).
Anyway, I won, they lost, and it was I who went to the infinitely funky hotel to finger through DJ Lauren Laverne’s hand-picked collection of 40 records created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Oasis’s chart battle with Blur.
The menu of vinyl available to order to rooms for some nostalgic listening pleasure – along with an impeccably on-trend Crossley vinyl player – features all the definitive albums from the era, with offerings from Blur, Oasis, The Verve, The Charlatans, Manic Street Preachers and so on, as well as efforts from some of the bands influenced by one of the most exciting periods of British music – Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, Libertines and so forth.
The list’s inclusions adds to the existing vinyl collection available at the hotel curated by DJ and presenter Annie Mac, which ranges from hip hop to soul to indie to pop to electronica, just so long as it’s got more edge than a particularly trendy dodecahedron.
The free service provided by W is less a sign of Britpop’s cultural dominance in what the W stands for (the lady on the desk from whom I ordered my selections did not sound completely au fait with Britpop’s seminal releases when I was listing my selections), and more an opportunity to capitalise on the unstoppable charge of the retro-cool value of vinyl. Last year the sale of records in the UK passed the 1 million mark for the first time since 1996, and growth figures show no sign of abating.
Indeed, it is my membership of the hipster vinyl revival club – with a growing, if modest, collection and insatiable appreciation of what makes owning a vinyl record innumerably times more satisfying than a few Spotify plays – that I mobilised to win the discussion with my envious colleagues. It’s also a membership to the target audience of the W’s vinyl service.
So, after my records were delivered to the swanky, shiny seventh-floor room, where the Crossley was already set up, I opened a beer, plonked myself on the bed and began with Pulp’s His ‘n’ Hers (always loved Pulp – never a huge Oasis or Blur fan).
As an owner of a vinyl player, I’m well aware they can be a faff – getting up to change the record every three songs, not having a pause button or being able to skip tracks – but it's worth it for the idiosyncrasies and warmth in the sound, characteristics unfortunately not showcased by a player that values aesthetic, not aural, quality.
But that’s not what the service here is really about, anyway. How many people book a night in a not-cheap central London hotel with its own nightclub to stay in and listen to records from the 90s?
Sure, Laverne’s expert selection adds some weight to an impressive vinyl menu and it is a fun addition to the hotel’s amenities, but the W’s offering is much more about a superficial cool than it is a substantial appreciation of musical value. Funnily enough, the same accusation my colleagues levelled at me.
Doubles from £280 per night, excluding breakfast (£28). Leicester Square, 10 Wardour Street, London, W1D 6QF (020 7758 1000; wlondon.co.uk).