Seminal moments in music and London rooftops go hand in hand.
In January 1969, the Beatles performed together (sort of) publicly for the last time atop the Apple Corp headquarters in Marylebone. 25 years later, Oasis took to a rooftop to catapult their career into the cosmos with debut single, Supersonic. The moody, black and white video* is very clearly shot in front of King's Cross station: behind the band can be made out Lewis Cubitt's grand window arches, the station clocktower (the face of which was originally on display in the Crystal Palace), and the Great Northern Hotel.
The video is simple yet swaggering, the perfect introduction to Oasis' brand of no-nonsense rock 'n' roll. Could it also be that their appearance outside King's Cross is a metaphor that they'd arrived in London from their hometown of Manchester, ready to take on the world? Possibly not because a) It's nearby Euston station that runs services to Manchester, not King's Cross, and b) We've an inkling this rooftop was chosen as a convenient location; the headquarters of the band's then-label Creation was at 109 Regent's Park Road — hardly Half the World Away.
And before you go slipping on your best bomber jacket and planning to recreate the Supersonic video with your mates: you're a little too late. The building in question was Belgrove House, built as King's Cross Coach Station, in around 1930, but already taken over by the Post Office in 1947. Later on in life, it was a warehouse and Little By Little it became somewhat unloved and uncared for.
Some Might Say the building was a beaut, including Jane's London, describing it in 2022 as "a well-constructed yet understated neo-Georgian style that sports many key 'Art Deco' motifs including Jazz Age metal grilles and elegant brickwork." But despite the likes of Jane Crying their Heart Out, developers decided to Bring It On Down, and the former coach station was demolished. It's now in the process of becoming the 10-storey Merck building. No plans here for a public rooftop, but it's only a matter of time before a conference gets out of hand and a bunch of scientists start air-guitaring on the balconies. D'You Know What I Mean?
This part of town is also synonymous with another landmark debut video, that of Wannabe by the Spice Girls, which came along two years after Supersonic, and has the feisty fivesome striding into what is now the Pancras Renaissance, before dancing on its ornate staircase.
Fortunately, the staircase DOES still exist, and you can nip into the hotel to see it/have a jive/get some snaps.
We also feel it our duty to point out that in the preamble of the Wannabe video, Baby Spice shockingly pinches a homeless man's hat before the others laugh at him. Very un-2024-friendly content, that. But anyway, we'll try not to Look Back in Anger.
*The UK version of the video, anyway. The US version had the band playing inside some sort of Yayoi Kusama-esque dome.
