Yes, The Manic Street Preachers have a few connections with Rumble Fish, in case some of you are confused as to why they appear on this site!

(from left to right: Nicky, Richey, James and Sean)

The Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh rock band comprising of four members, Richey Edwards and Nicky Wire who write the lyrics alongside James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore who write the music.

As they made their live debut in local pubs and clubs around Wales, their set included a range of covers as well as a few original songs, one was Rumble Fish inspired, entitled "Colt 45 Rusty James". Unfortunately this song hasn't survived as far as I know.

The band had always been inspired by popular culture in their music, lyrics and image. They never considered music to be superior than other art forms as "In their relativistic man-made patheon of heroes, all authors, actors, fine-artists, poets, politicians and pop stars were interchangable and of equal value." (Everything, S.Price)

Their debut album "Generation Terrorists" in 1992, showed off the band's adrogynous image, as well as their fiercely intelligent and aggressive lyrics that captured fans who were looking for something different than the usual Britpop or Grunge bands.

It also had their first single "Motorcycle Emptiness" which was co-written by Richey and Nicky years earlier at university, as they literally sat down at a desk and wrote together 'while heavily under the influence of Rumble Fish'. At this time, Richey also shortened his name from Richey James Edwards to just Richey James. Maybe he thought it sounded cooler, like another R. James we all know?

 

"I used to come up with a chorus and he'd come up with a verse," Nicky told a magazine,"and we'd say pretentious things to each other like "We want to put Rumble Fish to music and make it sound like The Jesus and Mary Chain". (Everything, S. Price.)

Months after their darkest album "The Holy Bible" in 1994 was released with lyrics mostly written by Richey, he disappeared on the 1st of February 1995. His car was found abandoned on the 14th of February 1995 and he has never been seen again although there have been unconfirmed sightings. The band have always held out hope for his return and their money that they earn still gets divided between four, his share going to a bank account.

The next album to be released in 1996 after Richey's disappearance, was called "Everything Must Go", it became a hit and the band's image changed into casual lad style as the band's success grew.

The music video for the first single off the album, "Everything Must Go" featured a giant clock, much like the one seen in "Rumble Fish". Here are some screencaps from the video.

Click on the thumbnail to see the full screencap.

 

James Dean Bradfield has always considered the movie as one of his favourites and as they played the song "Motorcycle Emptiness" at the music festival V99, clips from the movie were shown on the festival screens.

As The Manic Street Preachers grew more successful, their albums climbed the charts and they got lots of awards which they say always "feel bitter-sweet" because of the people who aren't there, such as Richey and their manager who passed away.

After some solo work by Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield, the band are back touring the UK this summer, in preparation for their new album released later this year.

Nicky dedicated the song "Motorcycle Emptiness" to Albert Camus the philosopher, in the Everything Live video, and Camus has already had a documented influence on "Rumble Fish".

In 2006, Q Magazine readers voted the "Motorcycle Emptiness" song as the 88th Best Song Ever.

Here are a few interview extracts with James where he talks a little about "Rumble Fish", from Excellent Online.com

Lisa: So, in terms of composing, who are your influences and who inspires you when you compose - are they different from when you're writing music for the band?

James: Early on it was...kind of really strange - it was Stewart Copeland. I just really love the soundtrack he did for RumbleFish - that was amazing. There's not many other things I've liked of his besides that to be honest. And obviously, there's all the stuff by Ennio Morricone - everybody likes him. But it's just those two, really. I think if I can do something as good as a Morricone or the Rumble Fish soundtrack, I'd be happy with that.

"Richey was always much more into books and films than rock'n'roll and I think those art forms are much more idealized. I think they influenced the way he viewed life, and the way he thought it would be. Whenever I talk about Richey, I think of that quote from Rumble Fish, y'know 'He's merely miscast to play; he was born on the wrong side of the river; he has the ability to do anything he wants to do but he can't find anything he wants to do'.

Related Links

A brilliant analytical essay about the film, book and the band by Angela Lynne Readman, is located here. It is really worth a read as it goes into a lot of depth.

Here is a website that focuses solely on the Manics and their cultural references.

More overall background on the band can be viewed in brief at their wiki and their official website is here.

If you're interested in knowing more about the Manic Street Preachers, Simon Price has written an all encompassing collection of essays, "Everything" that tell the band's story from the beginning.

All Manics photos on this page are copyright of Mitch Ikeda, from his excellent book, "Forever Delayed. Photographs of the Manic Street Preachers".