During the 80’s, Alan McGee’s Creation Records were Doing It For The Kids; the bands he signed were The Patron Saints of Teenage. Such tags indicate the precious reverence in which many knowing boys and girls with floppy fringes held Creation, embracing the initial releases by The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine as the soundtrack for their lives.
By the turn of the decade, Creation were looking like a prestige label, releasing indisputable touchstones Screamadelica and MBV’s Loveless, putting out records as diverse as Teenage Fanclub’s debut Bandwagonesque and Sugar’s Copper Blue and nurturing such new talents as Ride and Swervedriver, all while discovering Acid House. The phenomenal success of Oasis in the mid-90’s meant cosying up to New Labour and ruling the Britpop roost.
The background to all this is a tale of nearbankruptcy, hard partying, bitter feuds, sell-out accusations, heavy drugs and nervous breakdowns. McGee, with the help of key players at Creation, puts his side of the story in Danny O’Connor’s brilliant, passionate and significant documentary, which does justice to arguably the last British indie label to really matter.
Michael Hayden,
BFI London Film Festival
Danny O’Connor will attend the screening.
