Exciting new book explores how Wales conquered the ’90s charts

A new book has launched today, 25 years since the peak of ‘Cool Cymru’, providing an in-depth exploration of one of the most fertile and exciting periods in the Welsh music scene.

The 1970s and ‘80s were a bleak time for much of Wales: the closure of steel works and coal mines led to mass unemployment while the country’s culture and language was disregarded by politicians and the music industry alike.

Some bands even travelled across the Severn Bridge to make sure their records arrived at the London offices sporting an English postmark.

Bright young things

The 1990s changed everything. 

Wales was already known for Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and Male Voice Choirs.

But suddenly bands such as Catatonia, Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals 60ft Dolls and Gorki’s Zygotic Mynci exploded into the charts and showed the UK population the breadth of what this small but inherently musical nation could offer.

Meanwhile, S4C – the Welsh-language television channel became increasingly prominent and a new National Assembly for Wales was on the horizon.

Featuring fresh analysis and new interviews, International Velvet charts the UK in a decade in which ‘Cool Cymru’ won over the masses and shows how it inspired the still-vibrant Welsh music scene into the 21st century and beyond.

Key moments in music history covered in the book include: 

• 25th anniversary: On 31 July 1999, Stereophonics played their biggest headline gig (at the time) to 50,000 fans at Morfa Stadium in Swansea.
• 25th Anniversary: On 29 May 1999, Catatonia played to 30,000 fans at Margam Park in Port Talbot – the euphoric peak of their career.
• 30th anniversary of the Manics’ album The Holy Bible on 30 August 1994 (released on the same day as Oasis’ debut Definitely Maybe)
• 25th anniversary – Super Furry Animals’ third album Guerrilla released on 14 June 1999.
• 30th anniversary – Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci’s second album Tatay (released on St David’s Day 1994) and the 25th anniversary of their sixth album Spanish Dance Troupe (released 4 October 1999).
• 25th anniversary – Manics headlined Glastonbury on 26 June 1999.
• And not to be outdone… 25th anniversary – released on 16 September 1999, Reload was massive in terms of Tom Jones’ renaissance

International Velvet’s author, Neil Collins is a Cardiff-based writer and co-host of the Welsh Music Podcast. He is the author of the Liverpool FC books Make Us Dream and Red Mist.

Neil told Nation.Cymru: “Although there have been great books individually about the Manics, Catatonia, Super Furries and Stereophonics, there hasn’t been one written in-depth that delves into the Cool Cymru scene and explores all the other amazing artists beyond the “big four.

“Now, 25 years on from the peak of that era, it seems like the perfect time to revisit when there was a real feelgood factor in Wales encapsulating music, culture, sport, politics and language.”

Inspiration

Neil added: “International Velvet examines the nation’s transformation from being a laughing stock for the London music press at the start of the decade to achieving chart-topping success just a few short years later.

“That seismic shift in confidence was sealed when Cerys Matthews sang ‘Every day when I wake up, I thank the Lord I’m Welsh.’

“The Cool Cymru era continues to inspire musicians and fans alike, and hopefully I can do the same with International Velvet – it’s definitely the kind of book I would want to read myself as an obsessive music fan!”

International Velvet: How Wales Conquered the ’90s Charts is available from University of Wales Press as a hardback and eBook and all good book shops.