Yep - twas indeed Britpop that caused me to defect to electronica and hip-hop for ten years. Didn't like it's parochialism, its unashamedly retro outlook or the fact that it tried to make a virtue out of sounding lightweight and inconsequential.
Having said that, there was plenty of shite indie music around both before and after Britpop. I'd go along with Ian B's point about how the term eventually became synomynous with a narrow musical style as opposed to an alternative means of operating within the music industry.