creationism vs revisionism

in the summer of 1987 indie pop went a bit wrong.
someone broke it.
i think i lay the blame at the feet of alan mcgee.
he'd been a heroic figure to me through the 80's up to that point.



all those early creation records were astonishing - even the bad ones.
and there were a fair few bad ones - sorry everett, but yours is definitely amongst them (i do love "some of us still burn" if that's any consolation).

biff bang pow!'s "pass the paintbrush honey" was simply an incendiary slab of psyche punk pop.
mcgee had proved, to me at least, that he could make the records he preached about.

but by the mid 80's - as is beautifully described in david cavanagh's creation story - creation records and the world they'd created bought the rock cliché lock stock and barrel.
money offered by major labels didn't help.
leather trousers and cocaine.
the result of this?

two terrible records in my collection and a whole heap of disappointment.



"sonic flower groove" is, quite simply, a lame record.
listening back to it now it hasn't bettered with age.
i remember the weeks leading up to "sonic flower groove" being released.
getting excited that finally there was going to be a primal scream album.
then "gentle tuesday" came out as the taster for the album and it was SO bland.
"OK", i thought, "it can't all be like that".
and i was right - it wasn't all like that. most of it was worse.



but in terms of disappointment "sonic flower groove" had nothing on "mayflower".
the loft were a great pop band. they had that harsh wasp-in-a-tin-can (©the june brides) guitar sound that spat and sparked all over some great song writing.
unfortunately trying to be a bit rock round at creation records HQ seems to have somehow ended with someone saying, "yeah. i know. lenny kaye. that's what the weather prophets need".
now i have HUGE love for lenny kaye. after all he put together the first nuggets compilation.
and i can only imagine he had a torrid time in the studio faced with a bunch of pasty skinned english kids who thought they might like to try and be just a little bit like television (though without the style, artistry or knowhow).
the result of this crime against indie pop?
a record that sadly can only be described using the most terrible thing i think anyone can say about music..."mayflower" is pedestrian.
it's your mum's record collection.
it's a restaurant's muzak tape.
what a shame.



even the biff bang pow! records reflected the scene - punky psychedelia gave way to painfully faked california influenced wannabe west coast pop art experimental band boredom.

i gave up on creation and started buying more of the real thing - the afformentioned west coast pop art experimental band and joe byrd's astonishing united states of america.

music is like clothing - if it's dirt cheap then it's probably a fake.