In the summer of 1995, the UK's weekly music press obsessed over 'The Battle of Britpop', stoking the rivalry between Blur and Oasis as they competed for the UK's number one single spot with Country House versus Roll With It. This was deemed very important at the time, with the release date for both singles, August 14, 1995, seen as a red letter day for The British Identity.
Just one week later, however, came the emergence of a band who would present a very different take on British music, culture, and attitudes. Led by charismatic, fabulously gifted vocalist Skin, Skunk Anansie represented a revolutionary voice amid the self-congratulatory 'Cool Britannia' landscape, and when Charity, the third single previewing the release of their debut album Paranoid & Sunburnt, became their first Top 40 UK single, it served notice that the times were changing. The London quartet would go on to make headlines and history of their own, not least when their 1999 Glastonbury performance made Skin (and bassist Cass Lewis) the first Black musicians to headline the festival.
