Creation Records Founder McGee Tells Bands to "Do It Yourself"

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Alan McGee, the former head of Creation Records who is credited with discovering artists like Oasis and the Libertines, spoke out against record labels in an interview with XFM. McGee urged new bands not to sign with labels, saying "I'd recommend a band not to go to any record label, I think they're all fucking rubbish. You're better off doing it yourself. They're living in the past." McGee apparently practices what he preaches, as Poptones Records, the company he founded following the demise of Creation, has pretty much ceased to exist as the music industry continues to tilt digitally. Poptones was responsible for bringing the Hives to the U.K. and released side projects of bands like the Beta Band and the Icarus Line. The label's website went offline this past May.

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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