THE TOP 100 OF THE 1990S – Parisian domination is over. In Bordeaux, Nantes, Clermont-Ferrand, local scenes are consolidating, first with rock then with song. Decentralization singing?
Philippe Katerine, Vendéen already a bit crazy in 1995. Photo Renaud Monfourny/DALLE
By Odile de Plas
Published on May 6, 2024 at 8:00 a.m.
LThe yé-yé were mostly Parisians, or almost, from the area around the square de La Trinité where Johnny met Dutronc before all these little people gathered at Golf Drouot, around Françoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan and Eddy Mitchell , all this under the eye of Jean-Marie Périer, official photographer of Hi buddies. Before them, we were left bank or right bank and, in the 1970s, there was no question of decentralization yet. Sanson, Berger, Gall? 17th district.
Otherwise ? Quite a few suburbs — Delpech, Julien Clerc, Le Forestier. Sometimes red (Francesca Solleville, Ferrat). Or maybe we come from somewhere else, like Moustaki. In any case, there is no question of local, provincial scenes. The existence, claimed as such, of a French scene outside Paris began in the 1980s. Paris has Taxi Girl, but the Dogs come from Rouen, Marquis de Sade and Daho, from Rennes, Starshooter, from Lyon, Gamine, from Bordeaux…
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In every corner of France, it repeats with the feeling that the underground is becoming more creative there than in Paris. From his native Auvergne, Jean-Louis Murat succeeded in attracting a large audience in 1987 with If I were to miss you, and forged his image as a grumpy singer, between variety and rock poetry thanks to Col de la Croix-Morand. In Bordeaux, the phenomenal success of Noir Désir will soon relegate Telephone to the status of an antique. In Nantes, while Tostaky becomes the anthem of a generation, we are preparing the return of sweetness and subtlety with Dominique A and a Vendéen who is already a bit crazy, Philippe Katerine, who calls his sister Bruno. Further west, Miossec reminds us that the drizzle of Brest can give birth to an author.
This revenge of the province goes far beyond song and rock. Rap sets up its other capital in Marseille with IAM. Techno decrees that its biggest events will take place in Concarneau, Nîmes, Lyon, Grenoble or Lille. Concert halls now cover the entire territory, soon it will be the turn of festivals. Apart from the historic Fête de l’Humanité, Paris will wait until 2003 before hosting its first Rock en Seine, after the failure of a Rock in Paris in 1997. Normally, all the youth had descended on Boréalis , in Montpellier, to dance in front of Daft Punk live.
