I Should Coco (National Album Day 2022)

I Should Coco is the debut studio album by Supergrass, released through Parlophone in May 1995.

“We are young / we are free / Keep our teeth / nice and clean” is hardly an incendiary motto, but the lyrics to Alright rather summed up Supergrass’ influential Britpop statement of intent, I Should Coco. It’s about being young, about riding on buses, about smoking cigarettes and about getting a little bit tipsy. Harmless fun, even if it does involve being caught with a little bit of hash, as frontman Gaz Coombes memorably recounts on Caught By The Fuzz.

I Should Coco 20 years down the line sounds every inch an unforced classic. I’d Like To Know and Caught By The Fuzz clatter along with vintage punk cheer, but later Time and She’s So Loose demonstrate a mellow capacity for reflection. I Should Coco is so much more than kid’s stuff; it’s an almost too-perfect snapshot of adolescence.