1996: 30 Years On is a free exhibition at the Barbican Music Library running until 19 September, and it has Mel B’s *iconic* leopard print catsuit.
There is a reasonable argument that 1996 was the most concentrated single year of British cultural output in living memory. The Spice Girls released Wannabe and scored three number ones. Oasis played Knebworth to 250,000 people across two nights. Euro ’96 came home (nearly) with Three Lions soundtracking a summer of genuine collective feeling. Trainspotting came out. Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst were the most provocative voices in British art. The Sex Pistols reunited. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, London felt, briefly and probably not quite correctly, like the centre of the earth.
The Barbican Music Library is marking thirty years of all that with a free exhibition, and it has the objects to back it up.
What’s on display
Mel B’s leopard print catsuit, worn at the 1997 Brit Awards, is the headline object. It’s joined by Geri Halliwell’s Union Jack platform boots, Emma Bunton’s blue dress and Liam Gallagher’s tambourine, which between them constitute a fairly comprehensive physical record of an era. A 1996 Brit Award trophy, on loan from the British Phonographic Industry, sits alongside them. Oasis took home three that year, alongside Annie Lennox, Paul Weller, Take That and David Bowie.
Beyond the memorabilia there’s photography by Jill Furmanovsky and Derek Ridgers, two of the most important documentary photographers of the British music scene, concert flyers, front pages, music magazines and personal items from DJs Paul Oakenfold, Dave Pearce and Judge Jules. The full sweep of the year is the point: not just Britpop but dance culture, football, art, fashion, food and politics converging in a way that hasn’t really happened since.
The exhibition is curated by Dominic Mohan, former editor of The Sun and its Bizarre showbusiness column, who was in the room for most of it. His accompanying book, 1996: My Backstage Pass to the Wildest Year of Britain’s Wildest Decade, published by HarperCollins in April, is worth reading alongside the exhibition if you want the full story rather than the highlights.
Why it’s worth going
Free, no booking required, and running until 19 September, which is long enough to plan properly. The Barbican Music Library is one of those spaces that doesn’t get nearly enough attention as a cultural venue in its own right, and this is the kind of show that justifies a dedicated visit rather than a detour. Go on a Tuesday or Thursday evening when it stays open until 7.30pm.
The London x London Take: Nostalgia exhibitions live or die on their objects, and this one has the right ones. The broader point the exhibition makes, that 1996 was a genuine convergence rather than a media invention, holds up thirty years on.
Need to Know
- Where: Barbican Music Library, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
- When: Until 19 September 2026
- Hours: Mon, Wed, Fri 9.30am to 5.30pm; Tue, Thu 9.30am to 7.30pm; Sat 9.30am to 4pm; closed Sunday
- Price: Free, no booking required
