Sarah Ditum on Pop

Obedient rebels

HOW DO YOU GET TO BE THE biggest band in the world? There’s a revealing story — just an aside really — in Street-Level Superstar, the new biography of cult music icon Lawrence by the writer Will Hodgkinson. Lawrence (below) was the leader of the band Felt, who were signed to indie label Creation in the eighties. Creation, founded by impresario Alan McGee, was the home of the British underground scene: fuzzy (and sometimes druggy) acts like Primal Scream, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine. These bands did well, but they didn’t go mainstream. They prized cool over PR. Then, in the nineties, McGee found a new band led by two brothers: Oasis. “McGee said that after a decade of dealing with truculent indie bands, he knew…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2024

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