The group of the year category at this year’s Brit awards makes you wonder if there is a future in groups at all. It features Blur, who formed more than 30 years ago; the drum and bass DJs Chase and Status; and the drill rapper Headie One and his occasional collaborator K-Trap. Coupled with rising rents, the closure of small venues and the challenges of touring Europe after Brexit, it suggests that bands are in crisis.
“You look at bands today and not one of them would stand up and say anything controversial because they’re all worried about getting cancelled,” says the singer Liam Gallagher. “Character can drag a half-decent band a long way and there are no characters any more. I’d rather
