Manic Street Preachers

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Manic Street Preachers
Singer James Dean Bradfield
Singer James Dean Bradfield
General information
Genre (s) Alternative rock , britpop , punk rock (early stage), glam rock (early stage)
founding 1986 as Betty Blue
Website www.manicstreetpreachers.com
Founding members
James Dean Bradfield
Nicky Wire
Sean Moore
guitar
Richey James Edwards ( missing since 1995)
Current occupation
Guitar, vocals
James Dean Bradfield
bass
Nicky Wire
Drums
Sean Moore

The Manic Street Preachers are a British rock - band from Wales .

The band had a number one album on the British music charts , five more albums reached second place and two singles came top. At the Brit Awards in 1996 and 1999 they won two awards for Best Band and Best Album . The band plays melodic rock, initially characterized by punk and glam rock , over time their sound became more poppy and soulful .

The band cultivates an aggressive image influenced by socialism , which is reflected in song lyrics and in their public appearance. So they dedicated a prize to Arthur Scargill , union leader of the UK National Union of Mineworkers ; they were also the first western band to give a concert in Cuba after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 .

Band members

Manic Street Preachers live in London (2005)

The members of the Manic Street Preachers met at Oakwood Comprehensive School in Blackwood , Wales. Coming from an area that was a stronghold of British mining and the British trade union movement , you saw the struggle between Margaret Thatcher and the trade unions in your youth . This ended with the defeat of the trade unions, which lost a large part of their political and economic influence in Great Britain. The band's origins from a classic working-class area and from Wales still shape the band today.

The band bassist Nicky Wire said in an interview with Vox magazine about their homeland Blackwood : “If you built a museum to display Blackwood, all you could do there would be shit. We used to meet at this lake called Pen-y-Fan . It was built when they closed the mines, but the water turned green and slimy. They released 2000 fish in the lake, but they died. There is a vortex in the middle of the lake in which one or two people die every year. "

James Dean Bradfield (born February 21, 1969 in Newport , Monmouthshire ) determined the musical direction of the band. He is a singer and guitarist, together with his cousin Sean Moore he composes the music for the Manics. At the beginning of his career he also tried his hand at copywriting, but quickly came to the conclusion that Nicky Wire was the far more talented copywriter. He only wrote the lyrics for the song Ocean Spray from the album Know Your Enemy . In addition to working with the Manic Street Preachers, he sang duets with Tom Jones ( Reload album) and Kylie Minogue ( Impossible Princess album). In 2003 he wrote the music for the play The War Is Dead Long Live The War by Nicky Wire's brother Patrick Jones .

Nicky Wire live in London (2005)

Nicky Wire (real name Nicholas Allen Jones (born January 20, 1969 in Tredegar , South Wales )) is the songwriter, bassist and occasional singer of the band. The former captain of the Welsh U-16 national football team completed his A-Levels in Politics and Law at Oakdale Comprehensive and later graduated from the University of Wales at Swansea with a degree in Political Science . According to his own account, he would have applied to the UK diplomatic service had it not been for his music career.

Wire has a tendency to be androgynous , in contrast to Bradfield, who is more reminiscent of the male rock'n'roller type. His appearance as Marilyn Monroe in the video for the early single You Love Us became famous . Wire is married to his childhood sweetheart Rachel; they live with daughter, son and dog in Wattsville , Wales . Although he is privately considered to be rather introverted and closed, he is responsible for the often provocative and aggressive lyrics of the band. The Tottenham Hotspur fan played a Gibson Thunderbird, a Rickenbacker or a Fender Jazz Bass . For a number of years, however, it has practically only been seen with basses made by Italia (Maranello model). In 2006 he released his first solo album, I Killed The Zeitgeist .

Sean Moore (born July 30, 1968 in Pontypool , Monmouthshire ) is the band's drummer, composer and occasional trumpeter. The cousin of James Dean Bradfield played in his youth in the South Wales Jazz Orchestra , is a vegetarian, Liverpool FC fan, married to Rian and has one daughter.

Richey James (aka Richey James Edwards , born December 22, 1967 ) is the missing member of the Manics since 1995. He played rhythm guitar, wrote lyrics and was responsible for the band's design and performance. He was particularly fascinated by the hunger strikers of the Irish Republican Army and especially by Bobby Sands , who starved himself to death in prison. James has a sister named Rachel. Until his disappearance, he was the undisputed star of the band, who contributed significantly to the public appearance and image of the Manics. Together with Nicky Wire, they became known as the 'Glamor Twins'.

Nicky Wire's brother Patrick Jones, who often works artistically with the band or individual members and wrote some of the lyrics for the album Lifeblood , such as "Emily" or "Fragments", as well as the Philip brothers († 1993 ) belong to the closer band environment ) and Martin Hall, who managed the band until Philip Hall's death. Since Philip Hall died of cancer, Martin Hall has taken on this role alone.

Band history

"Suicide Alley" - The early years

The story of the Manic Street Preachers group began in 1985. The four had been friends since school. They found that, living in the midst of the economic decline and political struggle, they couldn't do anything with the quietism that prevailed on the one hand or the widespread good-mood mentality of the music scene at the time. All were big fans of the bands The Clash and Joy Division and tried to make a career by absorbing this style and yet transforming it into something new.

In 1986 the first plans for a band began: James Dean Bradfield (guitar), Flicker (bass), Sean Moore (drums) and Nicky Wire (guitar) founded the band "Betty Blue". Jenny Watkins-Isnardi was a brief singer, but soon got out again, whereupon Bradfield took over the singing alone. Nicky Wire wrote lyrics and switched from guitar to bass after Flicker left in 1988. At that time, the band members were positive and not very ambitious about the future of the band. This only changed two years later.

After Flicker left the band, the rather relaxed and casual self-image of the band gave way to a more ambitious and success-oriented way of thinking, as was common among the Welsh teenagers of the time. They drove straight to London with their first demo tape and handed it to John Peel in person - at the time, however, unsuccessfully. The first single Suicide Alley was released that same year. The cover, which was very reminiscent of The Clash's first album, was designed by Richey James Edwards, he also began writing lyrics for the band, helped as a driver at concerts and mimed the guitar on stage. He said he didn't play badly himself, but that James Dean Bradfield was clearly a class better guitar player.

The Manic Street Preachers, as they called themselves before their first album, began their career with provocative performances with which they openly opposed the then prevailing fashions and bands ( Madchester , Shoegazing , Acid-House , Synthie-Pop etc.) .

"Us against the world" - early style politics

Richey James was instrumental in shaping the band aesthetic of the early years. The Manic Street Preachers owed him a rather unique aesthetic mix of The Clash and Guns N 'Roses , lyrics based on Albert Camus , and a kind of broken glamor similar to that of (later friends) Marilyn Manson . Based on the situationist Guy Debord , he saw style as a direct political expression, he consciously used artistic style in order to make substantive and social statements. James Dean Bradfield, whose personal heroes include Mick Jones (The Clash) and Slash (Guns N 'Roses), endorsed the course. The band proclaimed that each new generation of musicians should destroy the legacy of the previous one and launched massive public attacks on the current music scene. The statement by Richey James from 1991 that he hated the band Slowdive more than Adolf Hitler (“I will always hate Slowdive more than Hitler.”) Was particularly memorable .

In a 2003 interview with the Daily Telegraph, Nicky Wire describes the band structure at the time: We were and are very close to each other. We have always been a bizarre, perverted moral, and fundamentally flawed collection of people. We thought the four of us were an army, we even had our own 10-point manifesto written down: no girlfriends, no drugs, no love songs, we always had to wear uniforms. By now, I think we've got two points: no drugs, we don't touch pharmaceuticals, and I don't think we've ever really written a love song either .

"4 Real" - First successes

The band found a sponsor in Melody Maker's journalist Rob Stanley. He brought out four of the Manics demos on the EP New Art Riot on his little punk label Damaged Records . The publication caused a wide press coverage, both because of his musical qualities and because of his attacks on other musicians. On January 21, 1991 a single followed on the new and hip Heavenly Records label : Motown Junk . The single was the one with Public Enemy - and The Skids - Samples musical openness, on the other hand, the band retained her by Punk and Metal in-influenced rock style. They also continue to focus on direct confrontation with the public: Among other things, the song contained the line I laughed when Lennon got shot . The NME later wrote of the period: They were spectacularly educated situation art terrorists who loathed the values ​​of the western capitalist adult world enough to say kill yourself before you turn 13 . Shortly afterwards they released You love us again on Heavenly, a clear musical sign of their self-confidence. The pieces are not only part of the band's standard program today, but also helped their record company, which then received funding from major labels .

On the advice of their manager Phil Hall, the Manics moved to London and, with the help of numerous live performances, earned a permanent audience and euphoric reviews from the NME . Their former performances they were insulted regularly pelted with various objects, then Edwards and James berated the audience and short, energetic gigs crossed that the Ramones reminded, a punk-like interaction between band and audience that since The Jesus and Mary Chain some Hadn't happened years before.

Legendary among fans is the interview with journalist Steve Lamacq of the New Musical Express of 15 May 1991, critically questioned in which Richey James, of Lamacq how serious it at all would take the band during the interview with a razor blade, a 4 Real in cut the arm. The wound then had to be sewn with 17 stitches.

In 1992 Columbia Records and the Manics signed their first record deal with a major label before even a long-playing record was released. At that time they wanted to release an album that was more successful than Guns N 'Roses' Appetite for Destruction , then tour the world and then break up again. Their first album Generation Terrorists achieved a respectable success with number 20 in the British charts and sold 250,000 copies worldwide, but it did not achieve the goal set by far, so that the rest of the plan became obsolete and the Welsh decided to carry on. In November 2012, Generation Terrorists was re-released in various versions and with lots of bonus material for the 20th anniversary of its first publication.

Years followed in which the band had to learn to deal with their rapid success; in retrospect they call this the worst part of the band's history. The album Gold Against the Soul was unfocused in their opinion and showed a tendency towards arbitrariness. The band even appeared as the opening act for Bon Jovi . The iconoclasts themselves had suddenly become part of the music industry without being sure how to deal with their new role. Nevertheless, the album contains some songs that are still very popular with fans today, such as the two singles La Tristesse Durera and From Despair to Where .

The band suffered a severe blow when manager and friend Phil Hall succumbed to cancer in 1993; Richey James' personal problems increased significantly.

The Holy Bible

The studio album The Holy Bible , released in 1994, is still regarded as the band's reference work by many older fans. After a phase in which the band, according to their own statements, threatened to lose a line in terms of content and style, they decided to adopt an uncompromising and dark style.

The band's public appearance at this time was characterized by military outfits and a style based on the early Clash or the film Apocalypse Now . In all video releases, the band members wore Army or Navy uniforms; after appearing on the show Top of the Pops 250,000 protest letters were received at the transmitter, a record-breaking, as Bradfield one during gigs balaclava in IRA wore style. The album was accompanied by a European tour with Suede and Therapy? , which ended with a concert in London where the Manics smashed equipment worth about £ 10,000 on stage and Wire commented: We will never be as good as we are today .

The Holy Bible was the last album that was created with the participation of Richey James; he had a greater share in him than in the previous publications. Nicky Wire said in an interview years later: It's the direction Richey wanted us to go in, very aggressive and automated , not that he had a musical plan . At the end of 2004 there was a revised release of the album on DVD, enriched with numerous bonus materials .

The disappearance of Richey James Edwards

The most dramatic experience in the band's history was the disappearance of Richey James Edwards on February 1, 1995. In the band's public appearance, he has so far acted as the dominant part, the “mouthpiece” of the band. After that, all activities that had to do with the Manic Street Preachers were suspended for half a year. The remaining members considered breaking up the band altogether, but ultimately proceeded with the blessings of Richey's family, as they agreed that this decision would be in Edwards’s favor and that he might return at some point if it remained successful.

The Severn Bridge, England-Wales border, where Richey James' car was found

Richey was already noticed in his youth by excessive behavior, at the age of 13 he wrote an 859-page text on a school project about William Shakespeare , just to keep himself busy. Richey has had previous episodes of depression and is prone to autoaggression by cutting himself or putting out burning cigarettes on his body. His alcohol and drug problems were well known. Many of his heroes such as Sylvia Plath , Kurt Cobain or Ian Curtis committed suicide at an early age or withdrew completely from the public eye ( JD Salinger ).

In 1994, at a concert in Bangkok , Edwards showed the massive self-harm he inflicted on himself with a knife on his chest. Shortly after The Holy Bible was published, he agreed to seek psychiatric treatment. He spent ten weeks in therapy, first in a National Health Service hospital , then in a private clinic ('The Priory' in London), and later stated that he had sought therapy for alcoholism, anorexia nervosa and self-harm.

In his last interview in January 1995, he was wearing striped pajamas and had his head completely shaved. He spoke to Midori Tsukagoshi of the Japanese magazine Music Life about his new sobriety, how he had never been able to maintain a love affair as an adult and that his beloved dog Snoopy recently died at the age of 17 be.

On February 1, 1995, the day before the band was due to embark on a major US tour, Edwards, who at that time only weighed 90 pounds, was last seen. After he left the London Embassy Hotel at 7 a.m. , he disappeared in public without a trace. His passport, credit cards, a receipt for the Severn Bridge toll from the same day, and his Prozac were later found in his Cardiff apartment, where he was apparently still after his disappearance. His car, a Vauxhall Cavalier, was later spotted at a rest stop near the Severn Bridge over the Severn in Wales - a place traditionally viewed as the passage from England to Wales, but also notorious for its numerous suicides. Although relatives, friends and fans initially drew hope from the fact that Edwards had withdrawn £ 2,000 in individual daily rates from the bank two weeks before his disappearance - enough to keep himself afloat for a long time in a foreign country - he is missing from himself every trace since then. Numerous fans claim to have seen him surprisingly in one place or another, such as Fuerteventura or Goa in India. The sightings are spread over almost the whole world, but none led to a concrete clue.

On February 1, 2002, it became possible under British law to have him pronounced dead; his parents refused to do so until 23 November 2008, when he "presumed dead" for (presumed dead) was declared. The band refused to speak publicly about the event for years. Only after the longer creative break after the year 2000 does this seem to be slowly changing. The other band members mention him again in public, the 2004 album Lifeblood contains Cardiff Afterlife, a song that explicitly deals with him. In 2009, Journal for Plague Lovers was released , the ninth album, which exclusively contains lyrics by Richey James Edwards.

"A Design for Life" - mainstream successes

After a long break, the band recorded a new record in Normandy . While a larger part of the lyrics on Everything Must Go came from James, it was musically more open and easier to access, so that the band could also reach listeners outside of their regular fan base. For the album, which received the best reviews of all albums and garnered a series of awards within Great Britain, the band received a double platinum record , the song A Design for Life became the world's best-selling Manics hit to date.

The trend continued: This is my truth tell me yours brought not only the first number one hits in Great Britain, but also international recognition. The band played a sold out tour of the UK in 1998 that ended in three concerts at the sold out Cardiff Arena . In the beginning of 1999 they toured in (continental) Europe, Japan and Australia, later they headlined the Glastonbury Festival and played concerts in the USA for the first time since 1996, which ended in a mixture of chaos, controversy and long discussions in the music press. In the same year they again won the Brit Awards in the categories of Best Band and Best Album , making them the first musicians to receive the Best Album award for two consecutive releases.

The band themselves took on the great successes without Richey James with mixed feelings. Nicky Wire says years later in an interview with VH1 : It was bittersweet. We never felt guilty, but sad that he was no longer there. Especially when a song like If you tolerate this your children will be next was number one on the charts. When the song was there, we felt like it was the sum total of everything we wanted to achieve: a song with such a mindset that actually penetrated the public consciousness. That was always our plan and we felt it would have been a perfect moment for him. A lot of people don't see the point, but he would have loved the success of the song and would have been happy. Simply because it was a song about the Spanish Civil War that takes something from the past to show what is wrong in the present .

Cardiff and Cuba - re-releases and spectacular concerts

While the band held back with new releases in the next few years, they played two spectacular concerts around the turn of the millennium: New Year's Eve 1999/2000 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in front of 65,000 spectators, and on February 17, 2001 in Havana . It was the first concert by a western pop band since the Cuban revolution of 1959. They played in the Karl Marx Theater and met with Fidel Castro . You did not comment on Fidel Castro yourself, but dedicated the song You Love Us to the boxer and folk hero Félix Savón who was present at the concert . When asked about the human rights situation in the country, Nicky Wire replied that Cuba was not perfect, but that the country was most likely of any country to have come close to socialism . The single The Masses Against The Classes , which was sold with the Cuban flag on its cover, reached number one on the UK charts despite no one making any effort to promote it at all. With the next album Know Your Enemy they were able to follow up on the success almost seamlessly . The album sold very well and found favor with many old fans as it was much more rocking again.

"Cardiff Afterlife" - After three years a new album

In the years that followed, the band became quieter. The band members primarily dealt with the publication and processing of old material: In 2002 Forever Delayed appeared with the best or most commercially successful songs of the band, depending on the opinion of the reviewer, and in 2003 Lipstick Traces (named after the book by Greil Marcus ) with B-sides and rarities. There was also a photo book and various DVDs. It wasn't until 2003 that the band began to record an album again: The Lifeblood , released in November 2004, deals directly with the band's history in the songs Cardiff Afterlife and 1985 , it is much quieter and more introverted than all previous releases.

"Send Away the Tigers" - Back to the rock roots

After the tour to Lifeblood , the band took a break, according to James Dean Bradfield "the first break in 20 years". In the second half of 2006, both Bradfield ( The Great Western ) and Wire ( I Killed the Zeitgeist ) released solo albums. But the band had already stated in advance that this was no sign of an end to the Manic Street Preachers.

The band's eighth studio album was called Send Away the Tigers and was released in May 2007. Your Love Alone is Not Enough was released as a pre-release single , a duet with Swedish singer Nina Persson ( The Cardigans ). The single, like the album, reached number two in the UK charts and confirmed the popularity of the Manic Street Preachers. In Germany Send Away the Tigers made it to number 50. As part of the tour for the album, the band also made appearances on mainland Europe. In Germany she was seen at the Hurricane Festival and the Southside Festival 2007, among others.

Further singles from the album were Autumnsong and Indian Summer . The reviews of Send Away the Tigers were mostly positive, as the Manic Street Preachers turned to their rock roots again after the quiet Lifeblood and many songs reminded of the era of Everything Must Go .

At the turn of the year 2007/2008, the band published the song The Ghost of Christmas, which was not on the album, as a free download on their homepage . In February 2008 the Manic Street Preachers were honored by the New Musical Express with the "Godlike Genius Award". For the occasion, the band recorded a cover of Rihanna's song Umbrella , which was released as a download single on iTunes and reached number 47 on the UK charts.

Journal for Plague Lovers - Tribute to Richey James Edwards

The ninth studio album by the Manic Street Preachers was released in May 2009 under the title Journal for Plague Lovers . It had already received a lot of attention in advance, as the band announced that the lyrics on the album came exclusively from the pen of the missing Richey James Edwards . The press release said that shortly before his disappearance, Edwards gave each of the three other band members folders with lyrics. The Manic Street Preachers had already processed four of the designs contained in it on Everything Must Go . Almost fourteen years after Edwards' disappearance, the band dared to use most of the remaining text fragments and to compose music. However, according to Nicky Wire, not all of Edwards' designs were used, as some of them were merely haikus and about eight to ten others were classified as "too impossible". Steve Albini , who was responsible for the Nirvana album In Utero , among other things, was hired to produce the album . Journal for Plague Lovers received mostly positive reviews internationally. In keeping with the gloomy nature of the lyrics, the musicians had decided on a raw and unfinished sound, which should consciously tie in with the era of The Holy Bible . Although the Manic Street Preachers decided not to release any singles from the album, the album reached number three in the UK charts. In Germany, 49th place was the highest ranking.

On the tour for this album, the Manic Street Preachers played concerts in the USA for the first time in ten years .

"National Treasures": The second greatest hits collection

In 2011 the compilation National Treasures was released with 37 singles that have been released to date. With This Is The Day there is also a brand new recording on the album. It is an adaptation of The The -Song of the same name from 1983 and also the first cover version in almost 20 years that the Manic Street Preachers release as a single.

In April and May 2012 the Manic Street Preachers played a "Greatest Hits" tour on the European mainland and also gave numerous concerts in German-speaking countries.

"Rewind the Film" and "Futurology": double hit album

In July 2013, the band returned from a short break and announced the release of a new album called Rewind the Film . The album, which was recorded in the Hansa Studios in Berlin , among others , was released in September 2013. It received generally better reviews than its predecessor Postcards From a Young Man . The songs on Rewind the Film were mostly quieter than on the previous albums.

Even before Rewind the Film was released , the Manic Street Preachers announced that they had recorded enough material for another new album. On July 7, 2014, Futurology was released , on which the German actress Nina Hoss ( Europe goes through me ) and Green Gartside from Scritti Politti ( Between The Clock And The Bed ) can be heard.

"Resistance Is Futile": New album after four years

Although the band gave regular concerts in the following years, it took until April 2018 for the new album Resistance Is Futile to be released. Part of it was recorded in the band's new studio near Newport. Stylistically, it offers a cross-section of the previous albums. In the summer of 2018, the Manic Street Preachers played a few concerts as the opening act for Guns'n'Roses.

Fans and reception

While the Manic Street Preachers in the British Isles and especially in Wales can count on a large fan base and secure placements in the charts, their following in the German-speaking countries is much smaller. In addition to a small fan base, it is usually either fans of British pop music or people who are generally very interested in pop who notice the band. In the USA, despite several attempts to gain a foothold there, the band is barely noticed and has no notable following. The transition from the punk to the pop band and the corresponding change in public perception shows similar parallels with the Manics as a few years earlier with the Stranglers , who also only became suitable for the masses on the festive continent with their softer numbers.

Unlike most British bands, the Manic Street Preachers were never seriously assigned to any particular movement or group within British pop music and so remained a singular phenomenon - the band could stand on its own, but there were never any other well-known bands that did mainly related to the manics. In their influence on other bands, the Manics are especially decisive as pioneers for modern music from Wales. While at the beginning she often had to grapple with the clichés of traditional male choir music, of goats and remote mountain villages in reviews, numerous other bands such as Catatonia , the Stereophonics , the Super Furry Animals or Feeder were able to gain international recognition in their wake .

Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre uses the band in his book Solo Album as the background of a futile love. The girl and the manics belong together in his memory: The two kiss and think of, well, of what, of my pimples, certainly not. (...) At home I am writing something to the girl from just now. (...) I'm crumpling up this unspeakable mess and I'm glad I can't send any emails. (...) Well, after all, she sang the Manics out loud, including and especially “A Design For Life”, so that was clear from the start (to her!) : We don't talk about love / We only want to get drunk . In Tristesse Royal , And if you tolerate this, then your children will be next is placed before a chapter as the motto.

Discography

Awards

  • Godlike Genius Award February 28, 2008, given by the New Musical Express
  • Best Track for Your Love Alone Is Not Enough , 2007, Q Awards
  • Best Album for Everything Must Go , 1996, awarded by Music Week
  • Best Album for Everything Must Go , 1996, awarded by the Sunday Times
  • Best Group and Best Album (1996 for Everything Must Go ) and (1999 for This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours ), given at the BRIT Awards
  • Best Band in the World 1998 - Q Awards
  • Writers' Best Album 1996 - Melody Maker
  • Best Band (Readers) and Best Album (Journalists) - 1996 New Musical Express
  • Writers' Best Life Band - 1996 Brat Awards
  • Readers Best Album - 1996 - Q Awards
  • In the Top 10 of the Metal Hammer readers' poll: Album 1996
  • In the top 5 of the best albums 1995 - Independent on Sunday
  • Best album 1996 - The Guardian

literature

  • Mitch Ikeda: Forever Delayed - Photographs of the Manic Street Preachers. Vision On, London 2002, ISBN 1-903399-60-2 (the band's official photo book).
  • Martin Clarke: Manic Street Preachers, Sweet Venom. Plexus, London 2000, ISBN 0-85965-259-9 .
  • Simon Price: Everything. A Book about Manic Street Preachers. Virgin, London 2002, ISBN 0-7535-0139-2 .
  • Mick Middles: Manic Street Preachers. Omnibus, London 1999, ISBN 0-7119-7738-0 .

swell

  1. Announcement on the Manic Street Preachers homepage about the publication of the anniversary version  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 14, 2013@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.manicstreetpreachers.com  
  2. ^ Edwards obituary in the Guardian, published November 26, 2008 , accessed April 9, 2013
  3. Interview with James Dean Bradfield on 3Sat on the occasion of his solo album. At about 0:19 he talks about his band's break. , accessed April 9, 2013.
  4. Festivalhopper.de website on Southside 2007 , accessed on April 9, 2013
  5. Article on the band's homepage about the honor ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 9, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.manicstreetpreachers.com
  6. Message on the band's homepage about the US tour for the "Journal For Plague Lovers" ( memento of the original from October 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 9, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.manicstreetpreachers.com
  7. Interview with the NME, in which Bradfield and Wire talked about the creation process of Journal for Plague Lovers Speak, Retrieved April 9, 2013
  8. On Metacritic , Journal For Plague Lovers received 85 out of 100 points based on 18 reviews as of April 9, 2013
  9. Review at Amazon.de
  10. Overview on the band's homepage for dates and concert locations ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 14, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.manicstreetpreachers.com
  11. ^ Announcement on the band's homepage from July 8, 2013
  12. ^ Rewind the Film at Metacritic.com
  13. Official message on the band's homepage

Web links

Commons : Manic Street Preachers  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files