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‘I’d rather stab my f**king eyes out with a pencil than accept an OBE’ says Manics’ Nicky Wire

20 Jul 2021 3 minute read
Manic Street Preachers (Credit: Alex Lake)

Manic Street Preachers’ Nicky Wire has taken aim at “supposedly left-leaning” musicians and actors who accept honours from The Queen.

In an interview with music journalist Keith Cameron in this month’s MOJO magazine, the 52-year-old was asked about whether he still abides by his working class values.

“I’m so riddled with doubts and contradictions now, even though I still kept to those principles,” he said. “My kids have been through comprehensive education, I still believe in high taxation and all those kind of things, I stay close to my roots… I haven’t abandoned any of those things at all. But I don’t know if they’re relevant to modern life.”

“You see supposedly left-leaning actors and pop star queuing up to get MBEs and OBEs – and I’d rather f**king stab my eyes out with a pencil than do that. What was it, (Paul) Weller and David Bowie turned down knighthoods? That’s good enough for me.”

Refusal

It’s not the first time the band have taken a swipe at the Monarchy.

They famously took aim at the Royal Family on ‘Repeat (Stars and Stripes)’ from their debut album Generation Terrorists, with its famous refrain of “Repeat after me, ‘F*** queen and country.”

Back in 1999 the band refused to play a gala concert to celebrate the opening of the Welsh Assembly because of the Queen’s presence.

The Manics had been asked to perform at the concert in Cardiff, which featured the likes of Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and Sir Harry Secombe performing in front of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.

Manics spokeswoman Terri Hall commented at the time: “They would not play in front of the monarchy. It is probably a political thing as well as a personal thing, but they just did not want to play in front of the Royal Family.”

Manics’ forthcoming new album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’

The bass player’s comments come ahead of the release of the band’s 14th studio album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ on September 3.

A departure from their last release, 2018’s ‘Resistance is Futile’, it’s the first Manics’ album initially conceived on piano rather than guitar.

It was recorded over winter 2020/21 in Wales at Rockfield in Monmouth and the band’s Door to the River studio in Newport with longtime collaborator Dave Eringa, before being mixed by David Wrench.

The album features two guest vocalists: Julia Cumming (Sunflower Bean) on ‘The Secret He Had Missed’ and Mark Lanegan on ‘Blank Diary Entry’.

Find out more HERE


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Dai Rob
Dai Rob
2 years ago

Legends! Alwaya been my fave band since I saw them in Birmingham(!) around 1991!!!

William Glyn THOMAS
William Glyn THOMAS
2 years ago

At least with Brownie points, they are earned. Why celebrate an Empire that fortunately no longer exists. It is social snobbery. Everyone has a title Master Mister, Missus, or Miss.

Chris
Chris
2 years ago

Or he could just say no thanks.
I don’t think it’s got to be one or the other

Chris
Chris
2 years ago
Reply to  Chris

OO marked down for suggesting NW was a bit excessively dramatic?
Okay … erm … damn the Hanoverian hag and her “special badges” for suck ups and sycophants. Take to the streets fellow Cymry! The time is now! Rage, rage against the knighting of the Dai’s!
Better?
Honestly, one can be passionate about independence without playing to the cheap seats with hyperbolic hyper-bollox

hdavies15
hdavies15
2 years ago
Reply to  Chris

You are really bothered by all this, aren’t you. The man has a view on life, he gets by without craving the gongs from a clapped out institution. Good on him.

Chris
Chris
2 years ago
Reply to  hdavies15

Where do you get that I am bothered by this?
I agree with him about special badges. But the self mutilation hyperbole is a bit silly.
Still, if you feel that celebrity foolishness should not be called out, then I’ll stop. I see that melodrama is popular

Anthony
Anthony
2 years ago
Reply to  Chris

Hahahaha haha! You got really upset by the down votes 😂

Glen
Glen
2 years ago

Once any Welsh entertainer or sportsman accepts an ‘honour’ I lose all respect for them.

O Rob
O Rob
2 years ago
Reply to  Glen

Hear, hear. Gareth Edwards, Bryn Terfel, Tom Jones et al really went down in my estimation when they knelt down before english royalty

Bruce
Bruce
2 years ago
Reply to  Glen

I lose respect for any entertainer who accepts a gong. And as for politicians getting life peerages don’t get me started. We should really call them “Unelected Senators for Life” as this a rather better tin-pot banana republic vibe about it.

Mark
Mark
2 years ago

solid!

Dafydd Iwan
Dafydd Iwan
2 years ago

Da iawn Nicky. That makes two of us – and many more. I cannot think of many worse things to hang around my neck than the British Empire….

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
2 years ago
Reply to  Dafydd Iwan

Dafydd, what do you think about Welsh lords being in the Palace of Westminster?

Chris
Chris
2 years ago
Reply to  Dafydd Iwan

That’s already been hanging around our necks for too many years eh?

Eifion
Eifion
2 years ago

Just shows how rotten this union is, still clinging onto the empire and ruling the waves.
Its completely beyond my comprehension how this concept of royalty continues to this day. Just shows how the ruling classes still control the UK. Theyve openly made racist comments, been close friends with a pedophile and sex trafficker, and it all magically disappears from the news. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
North Korea are meer amateurs in comparison.

Robin Lynn
Robin Lynn
2 years ago

Is accepting the weight of the gong around your neck an acceptance of the weight of the legacy?

Chris
Chris
2 years ago

AW COME ON NC. I was replying to M R-R’s diatribe and by the time I finished he was deleted.
You could just set an auto rule to delete anything he writes using a low code system like Microsoft Power Automate (other low code systems are available). Save you some time

Last edited 2 years ago by Chris
Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
2 years ago
Reply to  Chris

I thought it was something we had said…

Mark
Mark
2 years ago

the Plaid Cymru candidate for Brecon and Radnorshire gave his award back, just saying.

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