Creation Records: The Label That Changed Everything

Alan McGee founded Creation Records in 1983 in a bedsit in London, with no money, no contacts, and no clear idea of what he was doing. What he had was taste — an almost preternatural ability to hear something in a band before anyone else could. The first release was a flexi-disc. The label nearly folded a dozen times in its first decade. By the time it closed in 1999, it had released some of the most important British records ever made.

The early years were chaotic and glorious. McGee ran the label from his flat, booked bands into the Living Room club night in London, and operated on instinct. The Jesus and Mary Chain arrived in 1984 — a feedback-drenched, leather-jacketed provocation that felt like nothing else in British music. Their debut single 'Upside Down' sold out immediately. Creation had found its sound: noise, melody, and a studied indifference to commercial convention.

"He had taste — an almost preternatural ability to hear something in a band before anyone else could."

The signing that changed everything came in 1988. McGee saw My Bloody Valentine play in a small venue and offered them a deal on the spot. The band spent the next three years making 'Loveless', running up bills that would eventually reach close to a million pounds and nearly bankrupt the label. McGee later said it was the best decision he ever made and the worst business decision of his life. Both things were true.

Oasis arrived in 1993. McGee caught them at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow — a gig he almost didn't attend — and signed them that night. 'Definitely Maybe' and '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?' turned Creation from a beloved indie into a genuine commercial force. The money from Oasis funded everything else. It also changed the label's character in ways McGee has spent years trying to articulate. Creation closed in 1999, two years after Oasis's commercial peak. McGee has said he simply ran out of things to prove.