Creativity Quote by Graham Coxon

Coxon’s praise comes with a musician’s allergic reaction to scale. “I liked Germany” is the diplomatic opener, the tour-diary pleasantry that signals openness and curiosity. Then he swivels: “I’m not into Berlin.” The phrasing matters. He doesn’t call Berlin bad, just not for him, turning critique into taste - a soft shield that still lands. And the adjectives do the real work: “huge and empty and imposing” is a three-hit rhythm that feels like walking through a city designed to dwarf you. It’s not geography he’s describing so much as mood: Berlin as a stage set where history echoes louder than the people.

That’s the subtext of a British indie guitarist navigating Europe’s symbolic capitals. Berlin, especially for English artists of Coxon’s generation, is a myth: reunification, club culture, war memory, avant-garde cool. Calling it “empty” punctures the romance. “Imposing” hints at architecture and atmosphere that make you feel observed, measured, made small - the opposite of the scrappy intimacy indie rock likes to project.

“Munich was good” lands almost comically plain, and that’s the point. Munich isn’t burdened with the same globally broadcast narrative, so it can be encountered as a livable place rather than an idea. The line reads like a tour-bus verdict, but it’s really a statement about how cities perform: Berlin performs History; Munich performs hospitality. Coxon chooses the city that lets him be a person, not a visitor to a monument.