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The teenage Michael Cragg was obsessed with the \\u201cglorious shiny ludicrous pop\\u201d of the period that began with the Spice Girls, included Hear\\u2019Say, Five, Steps, Atomic Kitten, Blue and countless others and ended with the closure of Popworld and Smash Hits ten years later, a tale less about music than the media that covered it and the machinations of the industry. All the key leading players \\u2013 bands, managers, songwriters, critics \\u2013 are interviewed in his sparkling and soon-to-be-published account of it all, Reach For the Stars, and our conversation with him includes \\u2026

\\u2026.. why Chris Morris should make a film about it.

\\u2026 why there are no groups anymore.

\\u2026 Russell Brand auditioning for Five.

\\u2026 the secret of the Spice Girls\\u2019 success.

\\u2026 which is more cynical, the worlds of TV or music.

\\u2026 why pop stars needed \\u201cbullet-proof exteriors\\u201d.

... the band that couldn\\u2019t go to gigs or football matches without security to protect them.

\\u2026 why Blue would never have survived in the age of social media.

\\u2026 why pop stars were like contract players in 1930s movies.

\\u2026 how TV drained the fun and frivolity.

\\u2026 whether girl groups appeal to 100 per cent of the audience and boybands to only 50?

\\u2026 the extraordinary fall and rise of Whole Again by Atomic Kitten.

\\u2026 and the band mistakenly delivered by private jet to Donatella Versace.

@MichaelCragg

Reach For The Stars \\u2026

https://www.waterstones.com/book/reach-for-the-stars/michael-cragg/9781788707244

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