CPI Archive 2009: Before the Chemical Brother and Fatboy Slim, there was Stereo MCs. Andrew Hamilton chats to Nick ‘The Head’ Hallam about birthing an entire genre and the battle with PolyGram Records which almost ended his career.
1992 was the year of Stereo MCs. After conquering the UK, and with their third album Connected selling hand over fist, the fathers of British electro hip-hop crossed the Atlantic and were welcomed with open arms. But all was about to change. The sale of Island Records to PolyGram had brought an end to the world’s first great independent record label, but it had also called a halt to the gallop of Stereo MCs. The band was too edgy, too different for PolyGram - and in the blinking of an eye their career was to enter freefall. “America was amazing. We went there so many times and played many weird gigs. I remember playing a lowriders show in Los Angeles with Hispanic people in cars jumping in the air. There were loads of Spanish rappers on the bill with us. We did some weird shows but it always worked for us somehow. It was interesting, exciting. But then it all went a bit pear-shaped, just when Island sold out to PolyGram,” says Nick.
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