Over the span of the Auteurs brief career, they provided the sharply sardonic, uncompromising counterpoint to the sunny optimism of the Brit-pop scene. Led by Luke Haines' darkly literate and unromantic lyrics, the group's dour take on glam rock twisted the knife into the competition with evil satisfaction. Their debut album, 1992's New Wave, staked a claim for perfection that proved hard to live up to, though they tried. The Steve Albini-recorded After Murder Park put an even bleaker spin on Haines' already pitch-black vision, while 2009's How I Learned to Love the Bootboys expanded their sound to include synths, full orchestras, and even a shiny pop song ("The Rubettes"). While Haines continued to record high-quality solo albums at a furious pace after the band broke up, there was a magic created by the Auteurs that was hard to replicate.