Question: Are the Manic Street Preachers big in the States?
- Thread starter jbj
- Start date
Peen Simmons
Let’s Get Obtuse!
No. They’re a cult/fringe band here mostly known only by pasty, weird Anglophiles.
Who?
Denverdave
Resident Ragamuffin
I have heard of them, but almost nothing from them. I do not recall ever hearing them on the radio.
Chicken Man
Kick Henry Jackassowski
Not at all. I imagine they're about the equivalent of the Gin Blossoms over there.
Bones McHorror
bones
Nirvana sold like 10 times as many records probably.
They both had about the same number of actually good years as a band, though.
The Manics put out a great record a few years ago, International Blue, probably 20 years after Everything Must Go
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PunkKitty
The fates already f'ked me sideways
Ah. It's a band. I thought were actually talking about manic street preachers. We see those from time to time here. There used to be one that hung out in front of the Old Navy that told people that they "could not be homosexual and enter the kingdom of heaven". What a nut case.
I've read a story they got their name from some drunk guy calling accosting their singer when he was busking and shouting: "what are you, some kind of manic street preacher?" There's a lot of lore about the band as their guitarist disappeared and his body was never found but it's a cool story nonetheless.
Motorik
Kick Henry Jackassowski
I think that's a good comparison in terms of popularity. In terms of the importance of the Manics in the UK vs. their lack of importance in the US, maybe it would closer to The Tragically Hip in Canada vs. The Tragically Hip in the USA?
That's also not fair, because the Manics were a big deal in the UK, but they weren't 'the UK's band', in the way the Hip were 'Canada's band'.
But I guess what I mean is, the Manics were a big deal in the UK. #1 albums, #1 singles, the mystery of a guitarist who disappeared off the face of the earth etc.
Motorik
Kick Henry Jackassowski
They played the Limelight in Belfast in the early days, before the first album was released. Johnny Hero, the DJ at the Limelight, said they were staying in his gaff and used his washing machine. He said they washed 4 pairs of white Levis and it was funny, because there could be no mistake whose jeans were which. One pair for an average bloke, one pair for a giant, one pair for a chubster, and one pair for an anorexic.
My cousin is one of the Lime Light resident DJs now. Small world.
I remember them telling a story about loving King Tut's because they got fed before gigging there. I only got to gig there once but spent the whole time in awe at the amount of bands I loved that had stood on the same stage.