The U.K. went mad for Brit-pop in the Nineties, while the U.S. went mad for grunge. Hardly anyone went mad for the Auteurs’ Luke Haines, even though his caustic Kinks-style indie balladry resulted in a few of the decade’s finest albums. (New Wave and Now I’m a Cowboy with the Auteurs, England Made Me with Black Box Recorder.) “Writing these psychotic episodes that I am now going to pass off as songs” — it leads to little fame, less fortune, and missing the whole Brit-pop gold rush. Bad Vibes is his revenge: a gleefully spiteful satire of rock life on both sides of the Atlantic. How petty is this book? There’s a footnote at the bottom of page 46 to explain who Radiohead are.
