Richard Ashcroft, storico frontman dei The Verve, ha detto la sua sullo stato attuale della scena indie:

I’d rather listen to Rihanna than 90% of this critically-acclaimed shit.

La dichiarazione è stata rilasciata ai microfoni di Radio X e a questa ha aggiunto:

Just because something’s kinda indie and whatever and only a few people know it, it doesn’t give it more authenticity over Rihanna’s Work work work. I’d rather listen to the intro of her tune than 90% of the shit that is supposedly critically acclaimed or alternative rock.

Ashcroft, per chiarire il concetto, ha chiamato in causa il successo commerciale avuto con The Verve, grazie all’exploit di Bittersweet Symphony:

It proves to me you can do something unique and the public can still accept it and it can still be huge and popular.