My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields believes it would be ‘interesting to read the MI5 files on Britpop’ as he believes it was a musical era ‘massively pushed by the government’.
The rising popularity of British music and culture in the mid-90s, spearheaded by bands such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp, was seized upon by Tony Blair during his campaign for the 1997 General Election, famously resulting in a Downing Street invite for Noel Gallagher and many others after Labour won a landslide victory that year.
However, during an interview with The Guardian, Shields has suggested Blair’s association with Britpop was much more sinister than mere opportunism.
“Britpop was massively pushed by the government,” he believes. “Someday it would be interesting to read all the MI5 files on Britpop. The wool was pulled right over everyone’s eyes there.”
“I was terrible in my 30s, I did some silly, crazy things,” he recalls of his own experiences during the era. “That’s when I really went for it in every respect. Taking drugs recreationally – lots of them. So it’s all very hazy and jumbled up.”
Another complete prat! Kevin …. Britpop took off because, at the end of the day, people like tunes and songs they can sing along to. Always have, always will. Go back to hibernation, will you, old man!