[Thackray, Jerry ]
(b Chelmsford, England, April 21, 1961). English popular music critic and publisher. True is known as an incendiary character in British popular music journalism due to his self-aggrandizing tone, his polemical attitude, and his general curmudgeonliness. His pseudonym comes from an early 20th-century comic strip of a similarly behaving character.
He is known as the Legend, after Creation Records head Alan McGee gave him the role of MC at his club, Communication Bar. McGee let him write for the club’s fanzine, but True quit after two issues and started his own fanzine The Legend! He then wrote for New Musical Express (1983–8), was fired, and went to work for its rival Melody Maker (1988–2000). A 1989 assignment to profile Sub Pop Records for Melody Maker led him to befriend Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. True was at Cobain’s house at the time of Cobain’s suicide. He later published ...
