Manic Street Preachers, one of the most important bands ever to emerge from Wales, arrived in the late 1980s with heavy eyeliner, feather boas and political sloganeering. Not the sort of thing you'd usually find in the small South Wales town of Blackwood, but from unlikely beginnings came a band very much relevant 20 years later.
They came together in 1986, when James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore and rhythm guitarist Flicker formed Betty Blue. Two years later, Flicker had left and Nicky's friend Richey Edwards, previously the group's driver, joined in his place.
Read the full Manic Street Preachers biography.
Key works
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Journal For Plague Lovers (2009)
Litsten to the BBC Wales Music review -
Send Away The Tigers (2007)
Read the BBC Music review -
Forever Delayed (2002)
Ten years on: the group's long-awaited greatest hits collection. Read the BBC Music review -
The Holy Bible (1994)
Read the BBC Wales Music review
See also
- Manic Street Preachers biography
- Interview: Manics' own top 10 singles
- Review: Postcards From A Young Man
- Manics quiz
- Manic Street Preachers photo gallery
- Nicky Wire interview (2007)
- Fans' questions for Nicky
- Interview (2005)
- Profile of James Dean Bradfield
- Profile of Nicky Wire
- Profile of Sean Moore
- Profile of Richey Edwards
- Manic Street Preachers video clips
- Review: The Holy Bible
- James Dean Bradfield solo biography
- Nicky Wire solo biography
- Rock music in Wales
- Manics on Welsh love songs
Artist search
Browse the BBC Wales Music database.
Rock in Wales
Miners' benefits
Listen to Billy Bragg talking to us about the shows he played in aid of miners' families.
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