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 Believe it or not,
and Sleaze might remember this, but when the early Manics hype first hit
these shores in 1990, or so, I bought "New Art Riot", and "Stay Beautiful"
almost immediately, and while I dug there Clash and Sham 69 -like
political stance, and their sugary Generation X –like melodies, I was
still slow to embrace 'em. I had just been replaced in a band, by another
guy willing to sing the bassist's lyrics, and I thought singers should
sing their own words, or what's the point. I was a kid still, and pretty
hardline about my beliefs, in spite of a million obvious contradictions
like Mike Monroe singing Andy McCoy's lyrics in the vintage Hanoi Rocks
days. By that time even, Mike had started writing alot of his own stuff.
Song doctors were scorned back then. If you had to hire-in Desmond Child
or Holly Knight, well, it was obvious you kinda lacked a fundamental
creative spark. Nowadays, Butch Walker and Linda Perry make zillions
playing Cyrano to these suckshit ventriloquist dummies, and I got no use
for any of it.
Also in the first wave of Manics Mania, not only did I have a rough time
connecting with the idea that James Dean Bradfield was beltin' out all
this angry beat poetry and punk sloganeering penned by longgone-missing
cult-hero, Richey James Edwards, and Nicky Wire, in an almost
faux-opera-metal voice, but I was even challenged by summa their epic,
Queen-scale, Boston/George Martinesque prog- rock overproductions. AND
they
were always going on and on about their fooking favorite video games in
NME and Melody Maker. I slowly started warming to "Stay Beautiful" and
appreciating them for always shamelessly championing classic Van Halen,
Hanoi Rocks, and Guns N Roses, in the grunge age, where to do so, was to
totally sabotage one's "indie cred".
The fact that the
Afghan Whigs despised Manic Street Preachers with such characteristic
fratboy bully venom made the Manics even more appealing.
Obviously, the
brilliant songwriting, musical virtuosity, 4-Real social commentaries and
media manipulations, and rock'n'roll myth-making eventually won me over
completely by the end of "Generation Terrorists", and I was a
devoted convert, they became my favorites. Sleaze and others have noticed
how I've long dragged my heels when it comes to penning a feature on 'em
for our FLASH METAL SUICIDE series, and that's definitely just cos, so
much has already been written about 'em, I've been loathe to attempt the
Herculean task of trying to convey my own adoration of them. I'm not sure
I have anything worthy to add. Get the bio, "Everything". That's the best
one I've
read.
One of my many exes
took alot of really excellent snapshots of Richey from two feet away when
they played our neighborhood pub on the Generation Terrorist's tour. I was
outta town at the time. Ignorantly, I cut most of these irreplacable rock
shots up to incorporate into my cut'n'paste fanzine collages, but how was
I to know that Richey was about to pull an Eddie and the Cruisers?
Their songwriting
just gets better and better. "Everything Must Go" still gives me chills.
So Here Come The Warm Solo Albums*...Nicky's is a splendid batch of well
sung, minimalist punk demos, that dabble in power pop and new wave, a bit
like all those Godawful Brooklyn artpunk trendoid bands from three years
back, but this is NICKY WIRE singing and writing the shit, so it's all a
helluva lot more convincing. Fun stuff that hearkens back to the "Stay
Beautiful" glory years-reminiscent of TV Smith, the Undertones, Only Ones,
and Jesus & Mary Chain in places. Sneering slogans, heartfelt confession,
all shimmering with punk rock attitude, beauty, and grace. Excellent
stuff- I think it blows Babyshambles outta the water.
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