Full Bible. No apocrypha.

Joining the 'playing an album in full to celebrate its 20th anniversary, thereby making you feel both giddily excited and incredibly ancient' gang: the Manics, doing The Holy Bible.

What the pop papers say: Legacy and stances

In a week when it's been announced that the entire NME readership is lower than the average home gate at Portsmouth, it's time to take one of our semi-regular dips into the magazine.

This week, it's another backward-looking issue - 20th anniversary of the Holy Bible, which is covered in depth, and actually feels like there's something still to say about a record. It helps when the LP has some depth to it. And as a one-off, irregular thing, why shouldn't you mark two decades since a band released something so rich?

Trouble is, they're trailing that next week will be a 20th anniversary issue again. This time of Oasis. The trailer line for that is a quote from Noel in 1994 saying that the album would be what will be remembered in 20 years' time, "not incidents on ferries or drug busts or whatever". Yeah, good luck with that, Noel out of Wibbling Rivalry.

It's not just the Manics' legacy that the issue has explored. There were other questions of history to be addressed, not least the NME's cover this week:

That @NME @Manics cover? That photo of Richey was a MELODY MAKER photo by Tom Sheehan. I was there. My idea. Fucking history-stealing fucks.

— Simon Price (@simon_price01) August 16, 2014

Price - understandably - was upset that there wasn't even mention of the Melody Maker's contribution to the history the one-time rival was rifling. He suggested a though experiment:

I'll never forget the time Richey cut 4 REAL into his arm in front of me as I was interviewing him for Melody Maker. How do like THAT, @NME?

— Simon Price (@simon_price01) August 16, 2014

A point well made, although... not everyone seemed to grasp it.

@David_C_Lewis @simon_price01 Doesn't Steve Lamacq also claim he was interviewing him when he did that? Said in a BBC doc on the Manics.

— Craig Brown (@sloan1874) August 16, 2014

Who knew, though, that the MM-NME war would still be raging this long after one of the flags was lowered for the last time? Even British communists would be surprised at the longevity of ill-will emanating from IPC veterans.

With this week's ABC figures suggesting that the print edition of NME might be reaching an event horizon, you'd have thought the team on the magazine would be taking more care about how they look after the work of former associates, lest one day an NME.com team thinks it's okay to, say, pass off the Brett Anderson and David Bowie photo as their legacy.

Elsewhere, there's good things for readers to explore - Laura Snapes uses a response in Sounding Off to raise the question of why Radio 1 didn't playlist La Roux on grounds that there's a lot of "female-fronted pop acts" competing for airtime. Yeah, 2014, and apparently there's still a quota for women to get onto formidable One FM.

Equally strong is Dan Stubbs call for Insane Clown Posse to either own or condemn the Juggalos:

If Juggalos behave like a gang, then Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are their de facto leaders, whether they like it or not. And if violent crimes are being committed not just in their name, but in their honour, they need to issue a decree to the faithful telling them that it's simply not cool.

There's also a great piece on Howling Owl and how they've worked round a ban from Bristol venues. I'd have liked some more around how The Louisiana had ended up on the wrong side of scrappy pop history, but otherwise Hazel Sheffield had delivered a celebration of DIY culture that could have graced Maximum Rock & Roll. Or Punk Planet, at least.

There's a lot of heart and vibrancy in the NME at the moment, even though it's starting to get lost again in a sea of Uncut-lite jubilee articles. If they can channel that voice, and find a way to celebrate the past without just getting a Google alert that it's 20 years since X and choosing a cover based on that, there's a magazine worth fighting for there.

Manics grounded

The Manic Street Preachers won't be at V in Chelmsford; their plane refused to leave Budapest. They still hope to be at the Staffordshire leg tomorrow. If they can find the Ted Danson plane.

The Manics against the fascists

It doesn't seem to be any heightened sense of irony, and just plain-old ignorance, that led to the English Defence League using the Manics' If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next to promote one of their hatey-hate rumble marches.

Someone clearly didn't get as far as the "then I can shoot fascists" line when they came up with idea.

the NME claims at first that the Manics are taking "legal action" as a result, although further down the article the "legal action" starts to sound a bit watery:

A spokesperson for the Manics told NME that the band were "horrified" that their track was being used in the promo and that the label requested the video was taken down immediately.

Which is action, but hardly the full force of the law.

1993 all over again: 11 - Manic Street Preachers

11. Manic Street Preachers - From Despair To Where

Here's what Richey Edwards told the Melody Maker about this track:

In the Western world, living conditions really aren't that bad. Most people have somewhere to live and enough to eat - and yet most people are unhappy. I don't think many people ever come home at night thinking 'What a great day that was!' And that's why totalitarianism will always be tempting - because a fascist leader can say 'I'll make all your decisions for you. You don't need to have any responsibilities. I'll take care of your life.'

[Part of 1993 all over again]
[Buy: Gold Against The Soul]

What the pop papers say: NME at sixty and a half

With a multitude of covers to choose from, this week it's the NME's 60th birthday.

Only it isn't, is it? As the free facsimile of issue one inside shows, the magazine launched in March 1952. Were you looking for a metaphor for "slightly behind the curve", turning up six months late to your own party would be a pretty good one.

So, who do we get on these multicovers? There is a nice surprise - a Patti Smith variant, meaning that at least there's one woman given front page prominence. A fifty per cent drop in the number of women who appeared on the front of issue one, but - hey, who said progress would always be a straight line, eh?

Smith is a slightly risky choice for the anniversary - she's not been considered worthy of a cover for over thirty years and so, unlike some of the other cover stars is a bit less grateful, a bit less eager to please. She tells an anecdote about how, to punky New Yorkers, NME was too expensive, so they'd read the content but not buy the magazine. Ah, for the days when that was just a problem in overseas markets, eh, IPC?

Other covers- well, obviously there's not one but two Gallaghers.

Liam is reminded that the NME in the 1990s was "practically stalking" him every week - imagine that, eh? Asked why the NME is important (a leading question) he burbles out something almost incomprehensible that they transcribe anyway:

When I go and do my weekly shop I get NME and I read it while my misses is putting all the gear in."

Ah, the magazine of choice for boorish middle-aged men; such a quick read you can get through it while someone lobs a couple of foccacias and a bottle of merlot into the Bag For Life.

Noel, meanwhile, makes a more spirited attempt to justify the NME's existence:

I don't read about things in the Daily Mail, or a Sunday supplement, or the fucking Guardian. I read them in the NME.

Me, Liam, Noel. Is there anyone in the actual demographic that NME sells to its advertisers buying the thing?

Talkingnof demographics, there's an inadvertently revealing quote from Noel when he's talking about his brother's covers:

I'd go into the shop, and me two Asian mates, they'd be reading it under the counter.

"Me two Asian mates", Noel? Apart possibly from David Cameron, who mentions irrelevant ethnicity in the middle of an anecdote?

Paul Weller awkwardly tells a story about the Melody Maker (hey, how is that Meldoy Maker website coming along, IPC?) but does spark a wonderful admission from Gavin Haynes, that the Preston from The Ordinary Boys interviews his hero Weller piece was a bit of a sham:

[Preston] wasn't even a fan, despite claiming to be. [...] He only didn't because that was the feature that would get him in the NME.

Really? Preston pretending to like someone just to raise his profile? Hard to imagine, innit?

Weller helpfully announces that he, too, reads the NME rather than blogs. The advertising department must have been screaming "can you find someone who doesn't wear trousers with elasticised waistbands who reads the bloody thing?"

There are some teenaged readers in the Arctic Monkeys piece, but, erm, they were the teenaged Monkeys.

Nicky Wire actually has something interesting to say, recalling a time when NME spoke confidently about Roth and Amis and - wonderfully - singling out the Sing Me To Sleep Youth Suicide issue, which normally gets pointed to as an example of what the NME shouldn't have been doing, despite it coming from an era of more solid sales and a more creative product.

John Lydon out of the estate agency business gets a front, too - I think he's the only person to mention Sounds, and as far as I can see, there's not a single mention of the fourth power, Record Mirror, anywhere in the issue.

The sixth cover is The Killers, who use their platform to announce that Razorlight get a bad rap. Which is true; Razorlight are no worse than The Killers.

Perhaps what's more interesting than the people who turned up is the people who didn't - most notably, no Bowie, who was something of a God for the 40th and 50th anniversaries and used to hold the record for most covers back when you had to wait for a while between reappearances. I wonder who fell out of favour with whom.

And there's barely a whisper of Pete Doherty.

What else do we get? There's a collection of "crazy covers" which ignores Wire's genuine enthusiasm for a time when NME was interested in the culture that created music rather than just rerunning old Lennon interviews. An arch eyebrow is raised for the Karen Grant and Blind Date covers - imagine, eh, the NME putting TV on its front cover. What were they thinking? It'd be like, say, half the 2012 NME website being given over to film and telly, wouldn't it? That would be crazy.

There's a two-page history of the magazine, which runs thought the well-trod path: Accordian Times, singles chart, Beatles, swinging London, falling sales, Tony Parsons, indie pop, lion rock, The Arctic Monkeys.

Alright, it might not have mentioned Lion Rock. But the is a namecheck for shrromadelica.
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Rather awkwardly, the history starts with an error, suggesting it was a merger between the Musical Express and the Accoridan Times which created the NME - a "fact" which the Guardian repeated this week.

The reprint of issue one is lovely, although to be honest, I'm more curious to see what the final Musical Express & Accordian Times looked like. It's interesting to see a tension as to what the magazine might be known as back in March 1952 - there's a small lobby for The New ME, and NME appears only once. The page given over to Accordians mentions the first ever electric accoridan. Dropped from the masthead and electricity - it must have been a worrying week for accordianists everywhere.

Perhaps the most heartening thing in the issue, though, is a short bit by Matt Wilkinson setting out a manifesto for the next 60 years. Part a diagnostic on what's gone wrong in alt rock - no stars, no spirit - and part a pledge for the future:

Personally, I'm for smashing the whole fucker wide open

Next week's cover is Palma Violets. That's a start. But only time will tell if this really is a new rallying call, or merely the new music ed doodling in the corner while the churn of Gallagher - Beatles - Gallagher - Clash covers roll on.

24 Hours from David: 1. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Manic Street Preachers, live at the Exit Festival, 2009

[Buy: Studio version]
[Part of 24 Hours from David. More in an hour]

James Dean Bradfield: Sweatin' out my soul on the radio

For the next couple of weeks, James Dean Bradfield is sitting in for Bethan Elfyn on Radio Wales of a Saturday night.

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Oh, we'll all go together when we go

The struggling Waterstones book store and the struggling HMV um, shop, have come together to share their annual sales conference.

Why has parent HMV brought them together? Embedded spokespoke Gennaro Castaldo has the official line:

"We want to bring together all elements of the business because there is a strategic underlying remit to demonstrate how the whole business is working together."

In other words, as both parts of the company are going down the toilet, it makes sense to gather together rather than splash money out on two conferences.

Still, it turns out there is some cash sloshing about HMV still:

Manic Street Preachers were among bands to entertain delegates at the event

Who knew that the Manics were doing corporates? Every delegate got a torch, a CurlyWurly, a book of stamps, a free digital watch with denim strap, a vodka miniature, a Bic-style razor and a copy of the Daily Express.

Nicky Wire: It's like the olden days

What's this? Nicky Wire making an intemperate attack on a smaller band? Such a historic move, it's surprising it's in the NME and not the National Trust handbook:

"When I seen bands like The Drums being fawned over, it makes me feel ill," he added. "There is literally no soul in that band. They've taken nothing from the depth or poetry or amazing lyrics of Ian Curtis, they've just taken his kooky dance. The whole generation is attired in American Apparel, there's no individualism any more."

When the parents criticise the behaviour of the children, it might not be entirely the children's fault, right?

Streaming Now: Manic Street Preachers

The Guardian has got the whole of the new Manics album streaming on its site. Right now.

Unless you're not in the UK, when you only get a snatch.

Downloadable: Manic Street Preachers

There's a new album out in a few short days. This track isn't on it:



[via Soundcloud]

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Cover-up

Gennaro Castaldo has already enjoyed himself with the story of the Manics album sleeve, taking the opportunity to sniff at supermarkets selling music. Now, with the Manics coming second in some sort of limited poll for 'best album cover of 2009', he's able to have another go:

HMV’s pop guru Gennaro Castaldo said: “It shows that when someone tries to ban something that you attract even more interest.

“That has happened throughout entertainment history; just think of the Sex Pistols and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It’s good that despite their attempts to block this album it’s done so well.”

That's the South Wales Echo dubbing Castaldo "pop guru", by the way.

I'm not sure that comparing 'not having your record in some shops' is quite on a par with having Mike Read condemn you live on the Breakfast Show; nor, indeed, that coming second (to Muse) in a year-end poll is quite on a par with actual success, but it's to HMV's credit that they kept the record on their shelves.

Downloadable: The Manic Street Preachers

Also from RCRDLBL, This Joke Sport Severed. It is, though, a remix by Patrick Wolf, which doesn't feel entirely comfortable - a bit like getting Rolf Harris to add a trademark touch or two to the Seagram Murals. Still, it's free, so make your own mind up.

Glastonbury 1999: Manics

At least the copyright creep hasn't travelled back in time to start removing 1999 performances by the handful, so the Manics doing My Little Empire is still there:



[Part of Glastonbury 1999]

Manics and Tesco: There will be blood

Yesterday, you know, I might have been a bit hard on dear old Tesco. Perhaps it isn't fair to compare their attitude to the new Manics album cover on the shelves with their website's gorily-written game puffs.

So, to be fair, I popped in to Tescos. Yes, we have a Tesco store near us - unusual in the UK, I know.

You'll recall that this is the image which Tesco have refused to display on their shelves:



And the reason, given by their spokesperson, is that it is "inappropriate" and "we are a family retailer and we feel that it is the right thing to do."

It's touching to know that Tesco operate a family-friendly only shelving policy for their stores, isn't it? This, you have to conclude, is appropriate for your kids:


A child with a birthmark? Horrifying. But a dismembered head and manacles dripping blood? What could be a nicer post-kindergarten treat?

Why, children would be upset by the Manics album - sure, it's a birthmark, but it looks like blood. That's really unhealthy for the nippers.

Now, an actual head, with what's clearly blood, that's fine. It's not so confusing, is it? You know where you are with proper bloody heads.

Why would you bother hiring clowns or balloon animal makers for your next child's birthday party, when Tesco is offering all this family-friendly material?

After all, it's never too early to learn the correct order of doing things - certainly, by the age of six, my Dad made sure I was knew why you had to bind before you tortured, and only then killed.

Now, I know what you're saying: Some of these grisly DVDs are on shelves as high as three feet off floor level, and surely Tesco must take care to see that the place where the smallest children are are a bit less gory, right? And indeed they do:

Down on the bottom shelf level, it's just scary faces, half-naked porn stars and blow job gags. Tesco is always aware of avoiding inappropriate items for its family customers.

And, yes, I'm still being unfair. This is, after all, the horror section of the entertainment part of the store, and Tesco make every effort to keep children out of wandering into the blood-and-blowjob part of the shop by, erm, having a small sign saying "Horror" right above the DVD rack.

It's different elsewhere in the shop, right?

Ah, yes. Nestling next to kid-tastic animated Bee Movie fun, a bloody sickle - and at pocket money prices, too.

Still, be reassured, parents: At least your kids won't have nightmares about a child with a birthmark. Even if they had seen the Manics sleeve, by the time they'd walked through the gore-and-torture strewn shelves of their local Tesco store, they won't be able to sleep in the first place.

Photos taken in Tesco Extra, Kingston, Milton Keynes, afternoon of Saturday 16th May

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Face off over the Manics sleeve

The ridiculous and offensive decision by supermarket chains to cover up the sleeve of the new Manics album gives HMV's quotemeister Gennaro Castaldo a chance to stress the youth club's liberal values:

HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo said: “It’s not the retailer’s place to censor the choice that it makes available to its customers.

“The fundamental difference here is that while specialist stores see music first and foremost as an art form, to be respected and appreciated, to supermarkets an album is no different to a tin of baked beans.”

It's not just Gennaro with an opinion here, of course. The supermarkets are keen to defend their decision to hide a figurative painting of a child with a birthmark:

Tesco say the painting, by Jenny Saville and titled State, is “inappropriate”.

Well, that's a firm and clear line, at least. Why is it inappropriate, Tesco?

But a spokesman admitted yesterday he did not know what the image depicted, adding: “We are a family retailer and we feel that it is the right thing to do.”

Ah, yes. A family retailer. Let's have a look at some of the stuff on that family retailer's website, shall we? How about the second-best selling PS3 game Dead Space, for example? Tell us about it, family retailer:

Strategically Dismember the Necromorph enemies - limb by bloody limb.

Ah yes. Fun for all the family there.

And then there's Assasin's Creed:

Experience the power of the Assassin.

Jerusalem, 1191 AD during the brutal times of the Third Crusade. The streets are bustling with activity, but in a few seconds, everything will change - all because of you, Altair, a feared Assassin.

Plan your attacks, strike without mercy, and fight your way to escape.

Experience heavy action. Use a wide range of medieval weapons, and face your enemies in realistic swordfight duels.

Ah, yes, smiting people in the holy land without mercy. You can see why a family who expects that sort of thing from Tesco might be shocked at the Manics album sleeve.

Doubtless Tesco would protest that there's a difference between a record on a CD rack and a bloodthirsty description of a computer game on their website, and they'd be right. Kids are much less likely to be wandering around the shop unaccompanied by an adult who can explain the difference between birthmarks and pretending to be a killer.

The Manics are not happy:

Manics singer James Dean Bradfield called the situation “utterly bizarre.”

He said: “We just saw a much more modern version of Lucian Freud-esque brushstrokes. That’s all we saw.”

So, should we be blaming the supermarkets, then? Maybe not:

Nicola Williamson, Sainsbury’s music buyer, said: “We felt that some customers might consider this particular album cover to be inappropriate if it were prominently displayed on the shelf.

“As such, the album will be sold in a sleeve provided by the publisher.”

Provided by... the publisher? So the label is actually behind the cover-up sleeve. You have to wonder if the record company hadn't turned up offering packets to hide the 'offensive' art from view, if anyone would ever have bothered in the first place.

BNP bungle again; use Manics to soundtrack video

The BNP are increasingly looking less like a political party, and more like they're being run as a challenge on The Apprentice. First there was the accidental use of a Polish spitfire to promote their attempt to get votes in the European elections; followed by a desperate attempt to justify their ignorance as having actually been a political point.

Now, they've managed to make a nasty little video over which they've put the Manic's If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next.

But - guess what? This turns out not to have been a BNP bungle at all:

Simon Darby, a spokesman for the BNP, said it did not use copyrighted material, and claimed the song had mistakenly been automatically streamed on to its site and had nothing to do with the official party.

BNP supporters often posted material online that had not been approved by BNP leaders, he said. Asked about the irony of the situation, Darby said: "You can interpret the lyrics any way you want."

You can interpret the lyrics "any way you want", can you?

The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
So if I can shoot rabbits
Then I can shoot fascists

I'm pretty sure that the only way you could interpret that as supporting an outdated, extreme right wing grouping would be if you ignored the words and merely banged out the tune on your head using a rusty frying pan.

You also have to wonder at a grouping that believes it is capable of holding political office and yet seems incapable of controlling the videos being streamed through its own website.

Sony have intervened now, and had the offending videos removed from YouTube - although it's not clear if it's doing so because of the political uses to which the track has been put, or simply because they were afraid they might miss out on the 0.00004 pence.

Richey is dead

After thirteen years, and at the request of his family, Richey Edwards has been formally presumed dead.

Manics mate makes a holy show of himself

Remember Patrick Jones, brother of Nicky Wire and former Manics collaborator? He was worried you wouldn't, as it turns out, so has taken to trying to promote his new book Darkness is Where the Stars Are by sending copies to extremist Christian, Right-Wing and Muslim groups with a nudge that, ooh, he'd love to know what they thought of the poems that attack their deep-rooted beliefs.

Some think he was hoping to provide a common enemy that would see the likes of Combat 18, strident Muslims and Christian Voice uniting in the face of their common enemy, realising they have more in common than that which divides them, kissing each other and then rushing off to have a gay wedding in any place where they've not campaigned it out of existence.

Others think that Jones might have been working with a Far East betting syndicate, creating a market in bets on which bunch would react first. This seems unlikely, though: Combat 18 would have had to have found someone to read them to them which would have slowed down their riposte.

If it was some sort of gamble, those who got the tickets with Christian Voice on have won. Even they, though, seemed to spot they were being played:

Stephen Green, of Christian Voice, said he believed Mr Jones had deliberately "whipped up" feelings about the book.

"We got this stuff on e-mail from Patrick Jones and another e-mail from someone else telling us about his book signing," he said.

"His e-mails contained some of his prose and there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that he wanted to cause a frenzy."

It's perhaps not surprising that Christian Voice - an organisation whose understanding of the last couple of thousand years of culture is that it's some sort unspoken threat to their families - can't tell the difference between 'prose' and 'poetry in pretty much the same way they can't tell the difference between 'a different opinion' and 'an insult to their beliefs'.

However, even though they spotted that Jones was just trying to whip up some controversy to help stretch the promotional budget for his book, they just couldn't help themselves:

[A] campaign by activists Christian Voice [...] called the book "obscene and blasphemous".

It called on the chain to remove copies from stores, which Waterstone's refused to do.

However, Waterstones did cancel the planned launch event for the poems. Jones was delighted. Sorry, did I say delighted? No, no. Outraged:

He insisted he did not want to create any protests, but rather to spark a debate about the issues in his poems, which include religion and domestic violence against men.

"I sent a few poems to many different organisations on 2 November and I said 'Please find a few poems. I would appreciate your feedback'," he said.

"I was hoping that maybe they would come out and have a debate. That's within my rights to do that.

"Even if they had come out to protest, that doesn't mean Waterstone's should give up [on the launch]. That's freedom of expression.

"My book didn't set out to be provocative at all. I had support from people when I went to a book reading in Cwmaman last night. I'm really proud of my book."

You'll note that Jones, for a poet, is slightly loose with his language. Waterstones are not removing the right to freedom of expression from the perpetually-wounded groups; all it is choosing to do is not provide a focus for a firestorm which Jones has provoked.

The really strange this is: Jones claims all he was trying to do was provoke a debate - not, in itself, a bad thing. And yet at first, he denied that he'd sent the emails out. Maybe he'd forgotten about this debate he was desperate to get going.