From Ballyhoo to Britpop: XTC (Part 1)

On the improbable endurance of XTC, a band signed during the punk frenzy that would bring song-craft back to the fore in the early 1980s. Following a fractious period of financial instability and pressure from Virgin records, the band went on strike in the early 1990s, unable to wrest themselves from one of the worst contracts ever signed. While there are conflicting accounts of the Elvis Costello/Stephen Stills incident, I mistakenly state it occurred during EC’s “first time in America,” when it was his third tour if I recall correctly. This is both factually wrong and in...