Manic Street Preachers Biography

Guess what? The band's debut album, Generation Terrorists in 1992 WASN'T followed by a split. The album was a sprawling double LP that kicked against the pricks with targets such as high street banks, Nat West Barclays Midland Lloyds and our beloved monarchy in Repeat. But the band also proved they had a way with a melody in the soaring melancholy of Motorcycle Emptiness.

After a US tour the band began work on a follow up album, Gold Against The Soul. Released in 1993 the album lacked the vicious spite of their debut but did reveal a more polished sound in La Tristessa Durera and Life Becoming A Landslide.

The band continued to court controversy. At the 1993 Reading Festival Wire said he hoped that REM's Michael Stipe would "soon go the way of Freddie Mercury."

In fact 1993 began a downward spiral for the band. Their co-manager, publicist and close friend Philip Hall died that year of cancer and Richey was spiralling into a vortex of depression, anorexia and self-mutilation. (At one gig in Thailand he appeared on stage with his chest slashed by knives given to him by a fan). Edwards was eventually admitted to a rehab clinic for several weeks. Richey's trauma was detailed in the harrowing 4st 7lb on the band's third album, The Holy Bible released in 1994. Lyrically, the album was bleak, centring on death, war and Nazi genocide. The album was critically acclaimed and in October of that year Richey re-joined the band for some European dates. He spoke frankly of his illness and insisted that suicide had never entered his head. However, a few months later on February 1, 1995 Richey checked out of his London hotel. His abandoned car was found two weeks later at the Severn Bridge and rumours of suicide abounded. After a protracted police search there was no trace of the guitarist and Edwards remains missing today. Several fans claimed to have spotted him shortly after the disppearance, most notably in Goa, India but police continue to draw a blank.

After initially stating that they couldn't continue without Richey, the remaining three members eventually decided to carry on, contributing a poignant Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head to the 1995 Warchild charity album, Help. The band reunited properly for 1996 album Everything Must Go which , complete with quasi-Phil Spector wall of sound and string arrangements, would become their most rounded and sophisticated album yet. The album's first single, A Design For Life, reached NO.2 in the UK charts and was a pointer to the band's new, almost lavish sound. Dedicated to the Tower Colliery Welsh miners, the album entered the charts at No.2. That year the band won three Brit awards for Best Live Act, Best Single (Design For Life) and Best Album.

In the summer of 1998 the group managed to consolidate their success with their first No.1 single, If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, inspired by the Spanish civil war. The accompanying album, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours featured the anthemic Tsunami, The Everlasting and You Stole The Sun From my Heart and debuted at No.1 in the UK album charts.

Underlying their popularity the band played a sold-out Millennial eve concert at Cardiff stadium. A month later they topped the charts with the limited edition Masses Against The Classes, a vitriolic return to their punkier roots and an abrasive response to critics who had accused the band of selling out.

In February 2001 the staunchly socialist Manics became the first major western rock act to play in Cuba. The country's leader Fidel Castro reportedly showed great interest in the track Baby Elian, a track taken from the band's sixth album, Know Your Enemy and dealing with the controversial legal dispute surrounding six-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonsalez. The band's next single, Found That Soul, a blistering punk-garage track was released on the same day as the single So Why So Sad, a retro Motown, wall-of-sound affair. The remaining tracks adopted a hardline political stance harking back to the band's early period although Ocean Spray was a poignant homage to James' mum's battle with cancer. The album received mixed reviews from the critics and was followed in 2002 with a greatest hits set, Forever Delayed. A resulting Greatest Hits tour was rumoured to signify the end of the band but Nicky Wire remains defiant and at the time of writing the band are hard at work on a new album, tentatively titled Life Blood. "I always think we can reinvent ourselves," he says. "We've never been short of confidence."

So, yes, they may be guilty of over-confidence, naivety, bombabast and even double standards but few bands play and perform with the emotional and political intensity of the Manics and they remain relevant to today's rock audience. But what will Wire do when he eventually hangs up his bass? "Complete anonymity," he says. "And a concrete bunker like JD Salinger. You'll never see me again."