London Calling

angry young brits are creating movies, music and nightlife that are the talk of scenesters around the world

Blame it on the French. Last fall, Le Monde reported that Parisian youth were wild about chunneling their way to London. Once home they touted the énergie and dynamisme that Paris lacked. They even crowned London the Manhattan of Europe. Then two more Brits took over French fashion houses (Alexander McQueen was nabbed by Givenchy and Stella McCartney landed Chloé; John Galliano was already at Dior). Before you could say "Good show" every pond-jumping, binational fashionista from Los Angeles to Milan was raving--with good reason--about how cool London had become.

Visit London and you'll be swept up by gold-rush fever. From the gen-trified enclaves of Notting Hill and Clerkenwell to the complexes springing up on the Thames, the restaurants have the packed glamour of South Beach, the nightlife has eclipsed New York and the prices for everything take aim at Tokyo. This town is booming and, once again, its echoes are reverberating around the world. Right now London is the most sophisticated place in the universe.

The breathy attention it's receiving gives London's community of droll and angry artists, film makers and pop stars an international forum not seen since the Swinging Sixties of Mick Jagger and Jean Shrimpton. Add to the mix a resurgent economy, relaxed drinking laws and an explosion of new construction and you have a city that's hotter than its beer. Brits have known this for a while, but until recently they've been feeling too polite to mention it. A government decision to redirect some profits from the National Lottery into the British film industry helped turn the U.K.'s film culture into what one critic called "the strongest in the world." Richard Curtis, screenwriter for the first British blockbuster in recent memory, Four Weddings and a Funeral, set up an artists' colony on Portobello Road. The Scottish-set film Trainspotting, which was produced in collaboration with London-based Channel Four, expanded the market for films and Britpop bands.

In a longstanding tradition, bands across the country head to the capital to gain bigger audiences and start feuds with one another. At the start of the current boom, Oasis arrived on the scene from Manchester (and still hasn't left). Oasis immediately declared war on its rival, Blur--at one point Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher even wished AIDS upon Blur bassist Henry James. The tabloids reported snarly encounters between the enigmatic (concluded on page 145)London Calling(continued from page 100) trip-hopper Tricky and jungle whiz Goldie over their onetime mutual Icelandic love, Björk.

In the U.S., the energy the French were trying to describe is called attitude--and London's rising stars have it. "These icons of our time are square pegs in a round hole," wrote The Guardian, referring to McQueen, the Gallagher brothers and artist Damien Hirst.

Thanks to odd licensing laws that once had all pubs and drinking establishments issuing last call at 11 P.M., London now, paradoxically, has one of the most vigorous nightclub scenes in the world. You may continue drinking if you pay to do something else: listen to jazz, go to a rock concert or dance. Or you can join a private club. So many clubs mushroom into and out of existence that when the gigantic Ministry of Sound celebrated its fifth birthday, it came up with the slogan "Lasts longer than a royal marriage."

For years the Brits have struggled with a well-known lack of national self-esteem, which is typically attributed to the loss of empire, to the Labor Party and to lingering economic scars from World War Two. The new generation has jettisoned the old self-deprecating attitude. Some credit the economy. (It's had three years of steady growth driven by London's strength as an international center of finance.) One magazine recently claimed Brits have only lately realized they can still do things well (e.g., make a good-looking--if not necessarily fine-tuned--car such as the Jaguar XK8). Still others point to the good showing in the 1990 World Cup. Some people say 1988 was the defining moment--when Hirst and a group of other unknown and marginalized artists staged their own art exhibit in a warehouse. Most film critics will argue that the baroness Thatcher's boot on those in the gutter actually inspired the kind of animosity that drives writers and directors (such as Danny Boyle) to show the harsh realities wrought by conservatism. (The subsequent success of the films is merely a windfall--no thanks to the Iron Lady.) Now Labor is in power again. Tony Blair is Britain's youngest prime minister in 185 years--Lord Liverpool was 42 when he took office in 1812--and the optimism of Blair's victory is still fresh.

Whether or not you decide to visit London, London will be visiting you. (We're not talking Austin Powers or other examples of Hurley-gone-Hollywood.) The brashness and independent posture of its stars are welcome antidotes to Tom Cruise--era handlers and spin doctors. Even if things fizzle, we'll have the boom to thank for the Spice Girls.

Liam VS. Noel

You know their music. But even if you don't like Oasis, you have to hand it to Liam and Noel Gallagher for setting new standards in sibling rivalry. Here are some of their greatest hits:

In an interview with Vox, Noel is asked if Liam is "a brainless lager lout." "He is," says Noel, who then refers to Liam as a "little twat when he's in a bad mood" and threatens, "If he's still like that when he's 34, I'll have to take the shovel to the back of his head."

After a fight with Noel at a studio, Liam explains that "he had a row with me about his ignorance toward people who he don't know. Then I trashed the place 'cause I went right off me tits."

Big brother, little brother. Noel: "How old are you, 21?" Liam: "No, I'm a fucking thousand and five twenty-one." Noel: "No, you're 22." Liam: "No, I'm 21." Noel: "No, remember, I watched you being born."

In 1994 Liam decides not to perform at Royal Albert Hall. Noel sings solo while Liam heckles from the balcony.

What is it like being rock-and-roll animals? Noel: "It's something I'm not proud about." Liam: "Well, I am." Noel: "Well, if you're proud of getting thrown off ferries [Oasis was deported from Holland after a drunken brawl on a ferry], then why don't you support Westham and get the fuck out of my band and be a football hooligan?"

People to Watch

These Days in the U.K., all Rogues Head to London. While the Rest of the World Recognizes the Globe-Trotting Advances of Liz and Hugh, Ken and Emma and Naomi and Kate, the Current Brit Stars are more Inclined to have the World Come to them. and Why shouldn't they be? From Snotty Designers to Arch Beauties, they are Cultural Ambassadors who don't Necessarily Care about being Diplomatic. Here's a List of the Jewels in the Crown for whom Knighthood is still decades away

Jarvis Cocker: He is best known in America for mimicking Michael Jackson onstage at Earls Court during an awards telecast. In the U.K., he's best known as the fey lead singer of the slacker band Pulp. His insouciant style may catch on in the States. Then again, it may not. Either way, says Cocker, "I don't really want it engraved on my tombstone that I was the person who waggled his arse at Michael Jackson."

Alexander McQueen: Recently, this 27-year-old bad boy was named chief designer of the venerable house of Givenchy. At one time, McQueen was on the dole. Then he invented bumster trousers--pants that look two sizes too large and scoot down around the buttocks. Alex, who's a dead ringer for the Three Stooges' Curly, says he has "no respect for Hubert de Givenchy."

Kate W1nslet: This heavenly creature's star turns in Sense and Sensibility, Jude and Hamlet have made the actress the most intoxicating British export since Julie Christie. "She's a natural," says Kenneth Branagh, who directed Winslet in Hamlet. " She's just bloody good at what she does."

Mike Leigh: It took this director 20 films (Naked and Life Is Sweet among them) to get noticed, but the old man of the new guard finally copped his Oscar nominations this year for Secrets and Lies. Don't worry, folks: He'll never go Hollywood.

John Hodge, Andrew Mac Donald, Danny Boyle: The film making trio of screenwriter Hodge, producer MacDonald and director Boyle is at the vanguard of a revived British movie industry. Their hit Trainspotting has already grossed $70 million worldwide, and has critics wondering if it's the first Britpop movie. Check out their early effort, Shallow Grave.

Damlen Hirst: He's the London artist who puts dead animals in formaldehyde. Why is it considered high art? Simple, Hirst says--it's in a gallery.

Nick Hornby: London loves Nick Hornby, the Brit writer most likely to score next in the States. Fever Pitch is a memoir of his life as a soccer fan and High Fidelity is his first novel.

Stella Tennant: The eyebrowless übermodel is Chanel's new face. Every article about the 26- year-old mentions that she's also an aristocrat. "That happens to be a fact," says the granddaughter of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. "It's a horrible label."

Stella McCartney: This past spring McCartney, 25, became the youngest chief designer ever at Chloé, the French couturier. She's also the daughter of Paul McCartney. "Let's hope she's as gifted as her father," says designer Karl Lagerfeld.

Patsy Kensit: The 29-year-old actress wed Oasis singer Liam Gallagher in April. Kensit, tagged Prozac Patsy by The Independent, has been married twice before, to Big Audio Dynamite's Dan Donovan and to Simple Minds' Jim Kerr.