I've avoided this thread, since my early contibutions but wanted a last bite of this cherry to say that, like so many other threads on here, Pete Waterman has seemed to become an instant metaphor for the increasingly polarised hemispres of 'the scene'. one of my early introductions to the scene was listening to guy hennigan on janice longs evening show, around 1987 I think, he made the scene seem so cool to me listening as an 18 year old. the lust for vinyl, the passion the truely underground nature of the subculture. A far cry methinks from how said popmyster may portray us, aside form the cheese factor, the real concern should be how the scene is presented in general. As living, breathing and still underground? or museum curio harking back to bygone days and echoing the teds in the 70's.
For me this discussion has raised some really interesting questions, like is any publicity good publicity? I can understand and respect those who think that it is, but cant help thinking its a little niave to assume that all publicity wil have a positive effect. its always going to be a contentious subject , national publicity, the scene was build on avoiding it, or at least not really caring about it.