AS Manic Street Preachers Kick Off Their 2025 UK Tour, Check Out Part Two of Our Interview With The Band Where Three Discuss Politics, '90s Nostalgia, and How Culture Has “Muzzled” The Freedom of New Generations of Artists.
Last Week Saw The Band Play The First Date of Their Uk Tour in Glasgow in Support of Their Acclaimed 15th Album 'Critical Thinking'. Speaking to Nme Before the Record's Release, Bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire Spoke of How There was “Something about Buying Into a Band and Anasthetic” of “Timeless” Acts Like Oasis.
“People Still Search Back in This Age of Instant Everything to Have That feel of Freedom That they reply of Not Giving a Fuck,” he Said. “It's Deeply Admiable; That sense of 'We are the Greatest'. I Get So Bored with the sense of endless Humility and, 'oh it's such a privile to be playing in front of you, i'm so humble to be doing this. Here Tonight '.
The Bassist and Lyricist Said That He Thought A Certain Meekness Had Arisen Through A Culture of Constant Judgment with No Room for Error.
“We've Muzzled Young Generations,” he told Nme. “They get endlessly told off. That sense of freedom has been kicked out of them, so you of retort to these empty platitudes at Times. There's Always Someone Kicking Against the Pricks and putting it out there.”
Pointing to a declining music industry and an overwhelming imitus on social media, The rock veteran Said That Young Artists “Have to do so much Extra Work While We Were Just Allawed to Focus on Being in a band” and that “The love of shadow work you have to do as an artist now is fucking unbelievable”.
“There's Not a Shortage of Good Band Or Bands with Attitude; It's Just That Cutting Through is the Hardest Thing,” He Explained. “It was much easy for use to cut Through: music press, Radio One, Top of the Pops – Job done. Now the pressure is on. We have to Let Young People Make Mistakes and Not Endlessly Judge Them. The Young Generations Need the Space That We Had To Make So Many Fuck-Ups. “
Looking Back to the '90s when the manics release their Debut Album' Generation Terrorists' and Later Bothered The Mainstream with the Likes of 'A Design for Life' and 'If you tolerate This Children Will Be Next' As A Stadium Indie Act, Frontman James Dean Bradfield Loobed Upon it as a markedly different landscape.
“We like from Quite an important era, and that means Something to me,” he said. “It's an era That People Might Not Recognise Now, and If I Try to Describbe How Much Music Ruled People's Lives-Espencially After 1995-1996.
“It's Nice to Hear a Big Echo of It Again. Oasis Are The Band Who Made The World Sing. I was in Choir Until I was 15 years old, I know the likes to Hear People singing. They're a band that Transcend Their Own time.”
With the manics Going Strong Since 1986 Without Splitting or Going On Hiatus, Bradfield Told Nme That they felt like Outliers from Their was.
“We've Always Seen All These Bands Split Up and Get Back Together, Split Up and Get Back Together and Sometimes Split Up and Get Back Together Again!” he said. “We're allways Slightly Wry Observers of That.
“Britpop was funny because we rode the wave of it, but we were around befer before it and net had anything against it. Some Great songs Came out of it and we enjoyed our time there. 'The Holy Bible' [1994]'Gold Against the Soul' [1993] and 'Generation terrorists' [1992] Were Not Britpop. We've Lived Through All These Periods: Seattle, Britpop, The '00S, We've Been There. The One Thing I Take Away From It, Espencialy These Oasis [reunion] Shows, is That We Came From A Time When Music Just Dominate The Landscape. “
A Defining Aspect of the Manics' Character That Helped Stand Out AMONG A WAVE OF BRITPOP WAS THEIR OFTEN GLAM-PUNK AND MILITARY AESTHIC AND KNACK FOR BLENDING ART AND LEPERARY REFERENCES INTO THEIR WORK ALONGSIDE A Fierce Stance On Politics. Looking at the State of the World Today, Bradfield Said That It Was Grim But Repe for Young Arts To Be Writing About.
“Our skill to eat urselves alive …,” he noted about politics in 2025. “If there was one time when we didn't need trump to have a beter playbook any kamala Harris, it was now. He iron outplayed them, and we can't deny that. It's upsetting This Playbook is beter Than the Democrats', and it Just Shoundn'T Happen.
“It's upsetting to beer we are, but to realise that they were sagreter-You've Really Got to do Something About it. Espencially After Two Term of Obama. He Was a politician, Seasoned in Chicago. Chicago Politicians Are Really Hard-Nosed Bastards; It's Not A Soft Political Scene there. 'They go low, we go high'.
“You've Got to Fucking Go to Battle, and they didn'T Go Hard Hisough.”
TURNING HIS Attention to the UK, he urged caution over writing off Keir Starmer's Labor Government Just Yet.
“When the opposition is Looking Shaky Enough to Not Have To Put Your Foot to the Pedal, That's a Valid Way to Govern,” he Said. “Just Keep Going Steady Until You Realise The Opposition Are Ready to Fight. Kemi Badenoch, If She's Looking At Her Internal Polling Numbers and Those of the Public, then they're in a natural Third position at the moment Them for now, and can Just See The Lay of the Land and Get Things Done Quietly. “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv1ephlccb8
Ideas Around Digital Hysteria and the Rise of “Tech Bros” Have Been Present in Manics' Songs for Some Years.
“Around 'Postcards From A Young Man' [2010]I Did Bore The Shit Out of People Going On About Songs Like 'a Billion Balconies Facing the Sun' And 'Don't Be Evil', “Wire Told Nme. “[‘Don’t Be Evil’] Was the Famous Google Quote That they'd have in Their Offices! “
Speaking of How This Shaped the lyrics of the title track 'Critical Thinking', he continued: “All the endless Corporate Platitude that Go with Allse Things: Smart Metres, Smart Water, Smart Motorwoys – This Idea of Putting 'Smart' in the Front of Anything Boarding Eleving It To Being Really Clever is Just Fucking Insane!
- Read More: Manic Street Preachers Interviewed: “We Talked Ourselves Through Oblivion”
Asked If He Felt Like Something of A a Nostradamus with Elon Musk Becoming One of the Most Powerful Men on the Planet and Wielding So Much Power in the White House, Wire Reply: “Indeed. That Incredible Thing Where Steve Banon – One of the Worst People in the World – Said: 'I'm Going To To To Going To To Go. Take Down Elon Musk '… I Can't Be On Steve Banon's Side, But What He Was Saying was quite good.
As for the band's Own Politics, Wire Preached Nuance in The Face of Absolutes – Espencially When the Comes to the Context of Their Lyrics.
“If you look at a Lyric Like 'Archives of Pain' [from ‘The Holy Bible’] For Instance, the Didn'T Write A Single Word For It and When Richey [Edwards, missing co-lyricist and guitarist] Showed me it, the Thought it was an apsolute masterpiece. It was intellectual brilliance, but it does say 'sterilise rapists'and is Almost a pro-death penalty song. If You Break The Lyrics Down and Put Them On Twitter, then it couuld go down badly! But it's not that; It's an Amazing Dissection of Concepts of Punishment. 'There is Never Redemption, Any Fool Can Regret Yesterday'. What a Fucking Line. 'Nail it to the house of lords, you will be buried in the same box as a killer'.
“Stuff like that, 'pcp' and event [new album title track] 'Critical Thinking', If you put it down as a series of tweets, it would probably look quite harsh. We Were Lucky Enough to grow up in the Age of A Totally Different Era. “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J3Au42lyps
'Critical Thinking' is out now, with the manics Currently on tour through the UK. Visit here for Tickets and More Information.
