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Stephen Merritt: Bubble Gum With a Punk Attitude

Eric Weisbard, The New York Times, 21 May 1995

TO STEPHIN MERRITT, one of alternative rock's newest cult figures, Top 40 jingles are purer music than any punk. Yet it's punk fans who have always been most charmed by his music. So it's no surprise that independent rock record labels have issued and reissued all four of the albums, credited to a group called Magnetic Fields, that Mr. Merritt wrote, produced and largely performed on. (The group is, in effect, one man, Mr. Merritt.)

Total word count of piece: 903

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