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Preview
  • Creation Stories

  • Riots, Raves and Running a Label
  • By: Alan McGee
  • Narrated by: Phil McKee
  • Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (280 ratings)

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Creation Stories

By: Alan McGee
Narrated by: Phil McKee
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Summary

Alan McGee's role in shaping British musical culture over the past 30 years is hard to overstate. As the founder of Creation Records, he brought us the bands that defined an era. A charismatic Glaswegian, who partied just as hard as any of the acts on his notoriously hedonistic label, he became an infamous character in the world of music.

In Creation Stories he tells his story in depth for the first time, from leaving school at 16 to setting up the Living Room club in London which showcased many emerging indie bands, from managing the Jesus and Mary Chain to cofounding Creation when he was only 23. His label brought us acts like My Bloody Valentine, House of Love, Ride and, of course, Primal Scream.

Embracing acid house, Alan, decamped to Manchester and hung out at the Hacienda, and took Creation into the big time with Screamadelica. His drug-induced breakdown, when it came, was dramatic. But as he climbed back to sobriety, he oversaw Oasis' rise to become one of the biggest bands in the world, Alan himself becoming one of the figureheads of Britpop.

Having sold the label to Sony to stave off bankruptcy, he became disenchanted with the increasingly corporate ethos and left in 1999. Since then he's continued to be an influential figure in the music industry, managing the Libertines and most recently setting up a new label, 359 Music, with Cherry Red.

©2014 Alan McGee (P)2019 Audible, Ltd
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What listeners say about Creation Stories

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creationable

Great pace ...Great delivery ....only slightly disappointed to discover it wasn't Alan himself reading it aloud !!

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Really enjoyable

I initially bought this for the Oasis part but was pleasantly surprised that the rest of the book was really interesting.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

creation stories

fascinating read listened to whilst bathing in the glorious sunshine during our holiday to Costa Teguise in Lanzarote December 2021

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Honest and funny.

Alan McGee is very believable and funny. Refreshingly honest and captures the spirit of the era. Fun and compelling.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating stories told with wit and honesty

As a fan of Creation records it was fascinating to learn the back story to the label and bands. Even more interesting was learning about Alan McJlGhee. He bares all as he takes you on a rollercoaster journey of his life. You don’t have to be a fan of this kind of music to enjoy the book .

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Stick with this it’s a really great story

Really interesting and witty insight into a glorious time in music. An insiders and often out of control account of the highs and lows of the music business

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Rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish

You know you've listened to a good book when your gutted it's ended. Fantastic!

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Perfect

Loving obviously Oasis, I knew as much as I thought I wanted about Creation and Alan. How wrong, great bloke, colourful life, great stories.
Please read or listen, I can’t recommend it enough.

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Honest, Interesting and Very, Very Funny

Just finished listening to this book and I absolutely loved it. The story is endlessly interesting and along with the anecdotes and way it is written, constantly laugh out loud funny. It is also perfectly narrated by Phil McKee, just like having McGee sat next to you telling you first-hand about his incredible life and how he came to have dinner at Chequers with the Blairs and Jimmy Savile. I also appreciated McGee's plain speaking and his casual / lax approach to business, which is so refreshing in our modern times and made me miss how things were so much simpler not all that long ago.

I knew who McGee was, but wasn't aware of the background of Creation or some of the great earlier music they put out, which I've been listening to alongside the book.

Can't recommend this book highly enough.

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Brilliant

What an interesting character McGee is he’s definitely lived a colourful life . worth a read or a listen !!

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