Lush were part of the London gig scene during one of the most vibrant and creative periods in UK music. Now, Miki Berenyi tells all. Her young life was a blur of travel, celebrities and peripatetic schooling, but frequent relocation and parental neglect resulted in crippling shyness, mental-health issues and a vulnerability to exploitation. The route out was music – a passion shared by schoolmate Emma Anderson. The teenagers eventually formed Lush: talented and exuberant, the band became hot property, swiftly transitioning from shoegaze icons to Britpop darlings. Re-living the tours, recording sessions and music-industry madness they experienced along the way, this uncompromising memoir documents Lush’s thrilling rise and untimely fall. Yet at the heart of the book are Miki’s own battles: the conflict between her mouthy public persona and her thin-skinned private identity; the trials of being a woman in an infuriatingly male world; the struggle to find a middle ground between ‘safe’ indie obscurity and ‘sell-out’ international success.
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