My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields calls Britpop a government conspiracy

Kevin Shields has been more than a bit outspoken lately, first claiming that his band were “banned” from the Mercury Prize, now telling The Guardian that he thinks Britpop was all a government conspiracy.

Speaking to the paper in a recent interview, the My Bloody Valentine frontman has said that the genre was so ”massively pushed by the government” that he wouldn’t be surprised to “read all the MI5 files on Britpop”.

He continued: “The wool was pulled right over everyone’s eyes there.”

Shields previously criticised the Mercury Prize panel for ignoring his new album, saying that being independent was seen by them as “virtually illegal”.

The band released mbv, their first LP in 22 years, earlier this year via their own website, avoiding mainstream retail outlets and record labels.

Read the full interview here.

[via FACT]