Gotta Hear This, #9

'You Love Us' by the Manic Street Preachers was released on May 25, 1991. It was their second release on the Heavenly label and at the time, the band were chiefly ignored, occasionally despised, and adored by a few. They were heroically unstable and that was also part of the charm. While the cynics viewed them as a punk throwback, it was becoming clear that the Manics were part of a broader and more complicated chain of politics, sedition and posturing.

But this was still the era of dance music and baggy acts like Happy Mondays and Flowered Up. Could these apprentice fire-starters from South Wales make a lasting import? Steve Lamacq wasn't sure , but on May 15, they met at Norwich Arts Centre and Richey took and razor blade and carved '4Real' into his arm, just missing an artery.



Everything changed then. And when the band played the Marquee Club just after, we gawped at the guitarist's bandages and wondered how he was going to follow this bewildering gesture. To be honest, many of us reckoned that suicide on stage was a possibility. After all, the band had already declared their intent to set fire to themselves on Top Of The Pops.

Instead, they played 'You Love Us' with all their heart. People were booing, others were elated, the guitars sounded immense and James bellowed like a pit bull. "We gonna burn your deathmask uniforms," he promised.

We were stunned and smitten. We felt entirely alive.