No Rock And Roll Fun

MY BOSS WAS MR MCGEE: Interesting to hear Alan McGee on Steve Lamacq's 6Music show earlier this afternoon. McGee seems keen to slew off the "man who signed Oasis" tag (although he was very quick to point out that Creation was still a going concern, as Oasis' publishers); but he was most fascinating on the subject of Poptones, which has noticeably failed to set the world alight. Twice, he defended the low strike rate of the label by saying "Everybody wanted it to be Creation Part two immedeatly", as if to suggest it was unrealistic to expect the new company to hit its stride right off. Now, this is fascinating for two reasons - first, Poptones really is Creation part two, which spent the first few years of its life sticking out a bunch of poor tracks with only the merest glimmer of genius every so often; second, why does Mcgee think it's unrealistic to expect Poptones to hit the ground running? After all, he has had twenty years experience of running record labels and does have a reputation for being an acute talent spotter - with that on his cv, isn't it only to be expected that people might have hoped for some great things from Poptones quite quickly on? Especially since this time round, he's not having to rely on giro cheques and favours, but has a comfy moneybelt filled with cash drawn from people who maybe expecting great things quite quickly?