ALAN MCGEE

'Alan McGee' is a British music industry mogul and musician famed for founding the independent Creation Records label which ran from 1983 to 2000.

Contents

Career

Early years

Creation Records

Poptones Records/Alan McGee Management

Death Disco and The Queen is Dead

Recent years

Notes

External links

Career

Early years

Born in Glasgow on 29 September 1960, he moved to London in the aftermath of the punk movement, forming the band Laughing Apple who released 3 singles in 1981/2. In 1983, McGee founded Creation Records (named after cult 60's band The Creation) and also formed a new band, Biff Bang Pow! (named after one of The Creation's songs), which would continue until 1991. Whilst working for British Rail he began managing a band called The Jesus and Mary Chain who became an underground sensation when McGee issued their first single on his label in late 1984.

Creation Records

Creation Records was one of the key labels in the mid-80s indie movement, with early releases featuring artists such as Primal Scream, The Jasmine Minks, and The Loft.
When The Jesus And Mary Chain moved to Warner Brothers in 1985, from McGee's profits as their manager Creation was able to release seminal singles by acts including Primal Scream, Felt, and The Weather Prophets. While these records were far from chart successes, McGee’s enthusiasm and uncanny ability to woo the weekly music media ensured a healthy following, especially since he’d projected a notorious image of The Jesus And Mary Chain that often courted violence and loutish behaviour.
Following an unsuccessful attempt to run an offshoot label for Warner Brothers, McGee regrouped Creation and immersed himself in the burgeoning dance and acid house scene. The legacy of which saw him release era-defining albums from Creation mainstays Primal Scream and new arrivals like My Bloody Valentine and Teenage Fanclub. For all their artistic health however, these records were not huge commercial hits and, with McGee’s escalating drug use Creation had run up considerable debt that was only held off until he sold half the company to Sony Music in 1992. Mcgee calls the Sony years as the beginning of the end of the ''real'' Creation Records. One that was driven by mavericks Tim Abbott, Dick Green and McGee himself not by Sony accountants and marketing managers. To this day he claims he hated the 90s and preferred the 80s as he hated Sony with a passion forever more.
At almost precisely the moment it looked as though Creation would collapse into receivership, the recently signed Manchester band Oasis began selling albums in huge quantities as they epitomised the cultural Britpop movement of the mid 90s. The success of Oasis was unprecedented for an act on an independent label, and their second album, ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'' soon grew into the biggest selling British album of the decade. This brought previously unimaginable exposure to McGee, whose position was noted by the revitalised Labour Party that considered him a figurehead of youth culture and courted his influence to spearhead a media campaign prior to the 1997 General Election. Mcgee was largely responsible for changing government legislation in relation to musicians being able to go on the ''New Deal'' which gave musicians 3 years to develop and be funded by the government instead of having to take other jobs to survive. Omnibus even went on to make a documentary on Mcgee and Creation in 1998 for BBC One.Mcgee was awarded by the NME ''The Godlike Genius'' award in Feb 1995[John Peel won it the first year in 1994] and Creation Records was independant label of the year 1995 to 1998 by Music Week.
As Oasis mania continued they went on to sell nearly 50 million records by 2007, Creation continued issuing acclaimed albums by other artists, none of which came anywhere near the success of the Manchester band and rumours of McGee’s dissatisfaction with what his once proud indie label had become began to circulate. In late 1999 it was announced that Creation Records would close. The final album released by the label was Primal Scream's 2000 release XTRMNTR which went gold in the UK. The final single was the third released from the said album, '"Accelerator"'. Two books were written in the wake of Creation Records selling the rest of the shares to Sony in 2000 for an overall price that was staggered through the 90s of around 30 million US dollars. For the often publicly awkward seven year partnership between Creation Records and Sony Music read two books - one by Paulo Hewitt on McGee and his personal lifestyle and the other one by Dave Cavanagh called ''My Magpie Eyes''. Both books are sold out currently and the Dave Cavanagh book is now selling for 150 pounds and more for a used copy on Amazon.co.uk. McGee calls it ''the accountant's tale'' and has openly mocked it. Following Creation's closure, Mcgee developed into property - buying houses, flats, a farm in Wales and even an office block in Primrose Hill. McGee also got into buying art as a hobby because he liked the way a painting looked but, as by chance, McGee had luckily bought paintings by the next generation of upcoming painters: Keith Vaughan, Howard Hodgkin and Roger Hilton. Again as in Music in Property and Art, Mcgee had become successful by default. As a final insulting gesture to Sony Music and The Labour Government who he had now fallen out with, one of McGee's last act's as Creation Records boss was to use £20,000 of Creation's money to fund Malcolm McLaren, in what was known in the media as ''Malcolm for Mayor'', to run for Mayor of London. Up until the point Ken Livingstone decided to stand for Mayor, McClaren had gathered an estimated 6% of the capital's vote in street polls which would have given McClaren a political role in Livingstone's team to run London. This put McGee on the front page of The Sun 3 days in a row and upset Tony Blair and 10 Downing Street. McClaren immediately stood down when Livingstone did finally decide to stand for Mayor. McGee had by 2000 had enough of the Labour Party and declared more interest in football as he is a boyhood fan of Rangers F.C. which is somewhat ironic as his biggest ever artists Oasis are more favourable to Celtic. McGee immediately founded a new label called Poptones in homage to John Lydon and Public Image Limited. It was the end of an era for all concerned.

Poptones Records/Alan McGee Management

With Poptones, although it was written off by Paul Lester of Uncut after 8 days of opening as a label, McGee found platinum success within the second year with The Hives and currently manages under Alan McGee Management, The Charlatans, Dirty Pretty Things, King Biscuit Time/Black Affair[Steve ''Beta Band'' Mason,and Antony Langdon[LA based artist formely of Spacehog]. He also has recording studios in Glasgow and London and publishes under Creation Songs to this day Oasis, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, Eugene Kelly of The Vaselines, and Poptones Music publishes Client and Montgolfier Brothers and the producer Joe Foster.
Poptones is now being run down by Mcgee as he believes that record companies as an idea in 2007 are obsolete and no longer can justify owning a band's recording copyright after the digital age has now come to pass.
McGee managed The Libertines on Rough Trade up until their split in 2004 and now manages Carl Barat's new band, Dirty Pretty Things, for Vertigo after Barat and Doherty split as a working partnership. Dirty Pretty Things reached number 3 in the UK with their debut album ''Waterloo to Anywhere'' and is near platinum at the end of 2006. Dirty Pretty Things will have a new album scheduled for release in January 2008.

Death Disco and The Queen is Dead

McGee also runs the international club night Death Disco and two other London club nights, The Queen is Dead .McGee also DJ's around the globe under the moniker of Death Disco, having residencies in New York, Budapest and Los Angeles. Death Disco now plans to open in Moscow and Tokyo monthly sometime in 2007. He runs Death Disco in London with his son Dan Waks who is now a busy DJ at the age of 18 and like his father has now started a record label called Waks Records funded by his DJ'ing and putting out records by Glasvegas and Hatcham Social to critical acclaim in the NME and Vice.
Another notable residency is the monthy Death Disco Budapest in Hungary, which since it's launch in 2005 September became the center point of the scene in the 2 million capital. McGee returns ever since to play in Budapest, Hungary each month, and he also appeared on festivals and became involved in the Hungarian music scene helping the career of bands such The Puzzle to make their stir in the UK.
He also tours Europe with his closest friend and musical client Tim Burgess of The Charlatans on DJ tours every year mostly by train for fun.

Recent years

Alan McGee now writes for the Guardian music blog twice a week, The Metro Newspaper as the judge for the music blogs in 2007. On 21st December 2006 he then launched 'MEDICATED & SEDATED'^[1] which is a photographic review of Death Disco from all over the world, as well as being a reflection of the London club scene. McGee launched Death Disco TV on Sky TV on July 20th, 2007 via Rockworld TV. It will Launch in America at the end of the 2007.
Mcgee currently divides his time between Los Angeles, which is now his second home due to musical and management interests, and the UK with his family and business interests in Property, Music and Art. Mcgee is now obsessed with the American iconic artist Shepard Fairey, who he collects, and the British artist John Squire, ex-Stone Roses, who he believes is a genius artist as a painter and a guitarist. Another interest is the world stock market, which he moved into after the britpop explosion in the UK. He is currently selling an office block in London for around 13 million dollars. Mcgee at one point at the end of the 1990s owned 9 houses round the world although it's believed he nows only owns six. Alan Mcgee Management exists only on BlackBerry's and mobile phones as Mcgee believes in the virtual office and thinks a physical office is out of date, and that a virtual office gives the artist more time with him and his staff. Mcgee recently claimed he now values quality over quantity with regards to his new management company, and intends to manage no more than 5 acts at any one time, as he believes management is about personal relationships with the artist. He claims his ambition is to die before he is 60, and has also stated his desire to retire to Wales to read all the books he has collected and never read, which are currently in storage at his mansion.
In 2007, McGee was made a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, in recognition of the work that he has carried out with students. After the recent sad death of Tony Wilson - maybe Mcgee's biggest ever musical and personal inspiration - he claimed that without the belief he has for Tim Burgess and Carl Barat as inspirational individuals he would now retire from music as he felt Tony Wilson was the end of an era in music for him. Creation Records was based on Factory Records and McGee has always claimed he tried where Tony Wilson succeeded. In 2007 Mcgee, apart from his management clients who all seem to be close friends, seems more and more obsessed by the art world. He will only now work in music with individuals who he finds ''inspiring''.
McGee has been sober since 1994 and is said to find drink and drugs no longer of any interest to him. His best friend Tim Burgess is now also sober. Neither show any interest in reclaiming their drugs and drink past lives.

Notes

1. Medicated & Sedated website

External links

★ Official site

★ Alan McGee's Myspace Page