Chart entered : 25 May 1991
Chart peak : 62 ( 16 in re-recorded form in 1992, 49 on re-release in 1997 )
Number of hits : 37
This was the next release on Heavenly after Nothing Can Stop Us, the contrast between the bands emphasising what a fractured , confusing period the early nineties was.
Manic Street Preachers were formed at Oakdale Comprehensive School in Blackwood, South Wales in 1986 as a straight punk band. James Dean Bradfield ( vocals/ guitar ) was a teenage guitar prodigy who sometimes went out busking, Sean Moore ( drums ) was classically trained and Nicky Wire ( guitar ) was a copious lyricist. Miles"Flicker" Woodward made up the original quartet on bass but quit in early 1988, feeling they were moving too far away from punk. That's hard to credit when you hear "Suicide Alley", the self-financed single they released as a trio ( Nicky had switched to bass ) on SBS a few months later. Though the sound is surprisingly clean, it is still a punk thrash with snarly vocals and lyrics of youthful disaffection and sounds pretty similar to The Clash's Tommy Gun although some of James's guitar work also has echoes of The Rods' Do Anything You Wanna Do. Only 300 copies were pressed at the time so few heard it but Stephen Wells of the NME made it his single of the week after a re-pressing the following year.
The sleeve for the single was designed by another school friend Richey Edwards who was in his last year at university in Swansea, studying political history. He often drove the band to gigs and acted as their roadie. After graduating he joined the band as principal lyricist and rhythm guitarist although, like Sid Vicious, he couldn't actually play.
Richey was fond of slogans both on shirts ( as per The Clash ) and in his lyrics e.g "And consumer self hate leads to designer bullshit" throwing up challenges for the band's musicians Sean and James to fit them into disciplined songs, particularly the latter who had to sing them. Their first record with Richey was a four track EP "New Art Riot" on Damaged Goods in 1990 which again is pretty much in thrall to The Clash although the final track "Teenage 20/20" borrows heavily from Sham 69's If The Kids Are United .
The deal with Damaged Goods was just for the one EP and the band then signed with Heavenly. They released their first mass produced single "Motown Junk" in January 1991. It's not a direct attack on the label more of a rejection of eighties values such as holding Motown up as a touchstone of quality. The line "I laughed when Lennon got shot" was included for shock value. The music remains rooted in 1977 sounding a bit more like The Sex Pistols than The Clash.
"You Love Us" was the follow up single. Despite starting with a sample from the modern classical piece, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima by Polish composer Penderecki , it's one of their simpler songs, a statement of their dedication to provocation. It's also their first to have any sort of hook in the chorus. It's still in a punk vein, with a coda based on Iggy Pop's Lust For Life, although James's guitar solo betrays a desire to appeal to the metal-loving hordes in provincial Britain. The video takes the provocation a stage further with both Richey and Nicky flirting with make-up. The band re-recorded it for their debut album on Columbia , dropping the Lust For Life segment and it became their biggest hit to date for a second time. The song charted again in the wake of their fourth album's crossover success.
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