When the 24-year old Nic Armstrong's girlfriend sent in a tape of his demos to a contest at a music magazine, he didn't think much of it--and thought even less of it when he didn't win. Despite the loss, a staffer at the magazine was so impressed with the Newcastle native's music that he passed the tape on to a friend who worked at Bjork's record label. A week later, Armstrong had a record deal and started sharing his world-weary, punk-influenced neo-British invasion pop-rock with legions of new fans all over the world.
