Britpop had an enormous gravitational pull among English bands back in the mid-90's, and the Charlatans were one of the tangentially related group that the genre pulled into its orbit during that period. One-time exemplars of the Baggy/Madchester scene, the band had been gradually drifting away from the organ-heavy grooves of Some Friendly since at least 1994's Up to Our Hips. The subsequent year's Charlatans is properly regarded as a Britpop album, albeit one with a decidedly Baggy bent and few memorable vocal hooks.

It wasn't until 1997's Tellin' Stories that the Charlatans fully-embraced a more hook-centric, Britpop approach. Perhaps a couple years late to the Britpop party, but close enough to the genre's heyday that the band's newfound focus earned them their biggest popular success to date.