An oral history of the UK "indie sleaze" scene, capturing The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, The Cribs, NME culture, and the last great 2000s British indie moment. This is the UK's answer to Meet Me in the Bathroom—Lizzy Goodman's seminal oral history of the New York indie scene.
"The times in this book could be the last blast of UK indie culture as we've known it, and Janine was there to tell the whole story" —Johnny Marr
At the turn of the millennium, the UK was nursing a post-Britpop hangover.
The music industry had stagnated, churning out identikit girl groups and boybands in an attempt to manufacture the next big thing. However, on the other side of the Atlantic, something was brewing.
In New York City, The Strokes had exploded onto the underground music scene, igniting a new wave of rock'n'roll. Reverberations were felt back across the pond, and young bands in Britain upped tools to answer the call, putting rock music back on top.
The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect is an impactful and entertaining social history of the last true indie scene in the UK; a cultural and musical movement born at the dawn of social media, colliding in person on the dance floors of clubs like Optimo and Trash. It was a subculture that celebrated hyper-local and regional scenes, labels and venues across Britain.
Author Janine Warren, a publicist for many of the most influential bands of the time, collates voices from across the scene to form a tapestry of the era, including members of The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Maxïmo Park and The Cribs, alongside pivotal figures such as NME editor Conor McNicholas and producer Paul Epworth.
Warren chronicles the legendary gigs, records, parties, drugs and cheap decadence that coalesced to form a rare, unrepeatable moment when optimism, music and possibility collided.
The result was a chaotic and creative zeitgeist at the dawn of a new century, when youth culture —not major labels —ruled the music industry.