Cover Story August 2012

British Music—Then, Now and Beyond

In an ideal setting, high up among gentle streams and in a wooded valley, about 140,000 music lovers at the Fuji Rock Festival 2012 on 27–29 July enjoyed dozens of acts, among them 1970s and 1980s classics sung by Elvis Costello, Ray Davies and The Specials. Featured from the 1990s to the present were the headline acts of The Stone Roses, the Gallagher brothers Liam and Noel, and Radiohead. And representing what many believe is the future of British music was The Heartbreaks, ALT-J, and Michael Kiwanuka.