Sleepflower

January 1992

ONLY THE MAN WHO SAYS NO IS FREE. DEMAND MORE THAN ANYONE EXPECTS. NOTHING IS AT STAKE. THERE IS NOTHING IN THE REAL WORLD THAT DESERVES YOU. REALITY IS BLOWN UP. IT HAS OUTSTRIPPED ITSELF. DEVOID OF ITS EXTRAVAGANCE IT IS EMPTY. IT IS THROWAWAY. ALL WE HAVE IS ROCK 'N' ROLL. IT WILL DANCE ON THE RUBBLE OF CIVILISATION. DEATH MARCH. ONLY THOSE WITH EYES WILL SEE. THE MUSEUMS ARE TOO FULL OF JUNK. ONLY THOSE WITH EYES KNOW MUSEUMS NEED TO BE FILLED WITH COCA COLA TINS. THE GAP BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE FUTURE IS PERFECTLY EMBODIED IN THE MYTH OF NARCISSUS WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH HIS OWN REFLECTION AND WAS DOOMED TRYING TO REACH IT. A WALKING ACCUSATION LEVELLED AT SOCIETY. TOTAL POWER - THE POWER OF HAVING NOTHING TO LOSE. SECURE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU'VE ALREADY LOST. THOSE WHO KNOW DO NOT SPEAK. THOSE WHO SPEAK DO NOT KNOW. EVERYONE ACCEPTS THE HORRORS OUR GOVERNMENT DOES YET GETS OFFENDED AT SWEARING ON TV. HOW CAN YOU BE FREE IF YOU KNOW YOU'RE GONNA DIE. IT IS TOO HARD TO WORK FOR INNOCENCE. MASSIVE SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS YET WE ARE AT OUR LOWEST EBB OF SPIRITUALITY. THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM IS NOT A TRIUMPH FOR DEMOCRACY. IT IS A TRIUMPH FOR CAPITALISM. PEOPLE GET MCDONALDS NOT THE RIGHT TO VOTE. A BETTER TASTING OPPRESSION. JUST THIRD WORLD FREEDOM ALONG THE LINES OF PINOCHET. TO ALL THAT PASS THAT THEY MAY SEE ROCK 'N' ROLL WAS A PART OF ME. THANK YOU NIK COHN.

March 1992

IN FEBRUARY 1988, A 43 YEAR OLD UNEMPLOYED MAN CALLED DEREK BAINBRIDGE DROVE 160 MILES FROM HIS MIDLANDS HOME TO DOWNING STREET. HEARING A MESSAGE - "TOO YOUNG TO RETIRE, TOO OLD TO LIVE" - HE SET ALIGHT TO HIMSELF AND HIS CAR. HE DIED. AFTER THE BRIEFEST FLURRY, SO DID HIS STORY. IT DIDN'T EVEN MAKE SOME NEWSPAPERS. A STORY THAT WASN'T A STORY; AND YET A REAL PERSON DIED. A NATION ON THE NEVER NEVER CAN ONLY READ THE TRUTH IN FACTS THAT AREN'T THERE. YOU SEE, THEY HAVE TO. ============================= RAGS MAKE PAPER PAPER MAKES MONEY MONEY MAKES BOOKS BOOKS MAKE LOANS LOANS MAKE BEGGARS BEGGARS MAKE RAGS ============================= A MAN ONCE HAD A DONKEY AND WAS TRAINING IT TO LIVE ON LESS AND LESS FOOD. HE ARRIVED AT THE STAGE WHERE THE DONKEY COULD SURVIVE ON ONE BUCKET OF HAY A WEEK. THEN HALF A BUCKET. THEN A QUARTER. THEN JUST A HANDFUL. EVENTUALLY, THE DONKEY COULD SURVIVE A WHOLE WEEK ON JUST ONE STRAW. THE DONKEY DIED SUDDENLY ONE DAY. THE OWNER WAS TELLING HIS FRIEND OF THIS, LAMENTING "IT'S SUCH A SHAME, ONE WEEK LONGER AND I COULD HAVE HAD A DONKEY THAT COULD LIVE ON NOTHING AT ALL." [The above taken from Vagabond 1]

May 1992

EUROPE WAS LIKE THE T.V. BUT DON'T BLAME US 'COS WE NEVER BUILT THE RUINS. REAL LIBERAL ABOUT PORNOGRAPHY BUT MOST PLACES BANNED ARCADES AND FRUIT MACHINES. MORE PETTY MORALS. EVERYONE COMPLAINS THAT THE NEW FRENCH DISNEYLAND WAS MORE AMERICAN CULTURAL IMPERIALISM. THE FRANKFURTER AND HAMBURGER HARDLY SOUND ALL AMERICAN YOU KNOW? DIETRICH, GARBO, FRITZ LANG COLONISED THE IMAGINATION OF THE U.S. AND AMERICA SOLD IT BACK IN TECHNICOLOUR. BIG DEAL. ARRIVED IN AMERICA AS IT FACED ITS WORST EVER CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. FACED A CURFEW IN SAN FRANCISCO BUT THE 60'S WRECKAGE OF HAIGHT ASHBURY WAS MORE OF A STRAIN. NOT A BRAIN CELL ON THE WHOLE STREET. LOS ANGELES TURNED FROM RIOT TO LOOTING TO RACISM AND PREJUDICE. THERE'S NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SELECTED AND DESTROYED KOREAN BUSINESSES - 1992, AND BURNT OUT JEWISH BUSINESSES - 1933. NME CAME OVER BUT NONE OF US BOTHERED HAVING PICTURES TAKEN IN 'THE RIOT ZONE' - WENT TO DISNEYLAND INSTEAD, WHERE LIFE WENT ON AS NORMAL. MICKEY MOUSE IS AS AMERICAN AS RIOTS, POVERTY AND INEQUALITY. STARTED PLAYING "CALIFORNIA UBER ALLES" IN MIDDLE SECTION OF "REPEAT" AND, BY THE WAY, BON JOVI, SOME CHILLI PEPPERS AND SOME GUNS 'N' ROSES CAME TO SEE US PLAY. BEST QUOTE OF THE TOUR FROM ELIVIS - "I GUESS THERE NEVER IS ANY REALLY GOOD TIMES" - THE AMERICAN DREAM LOOKS SAD ON EVERYONE'S FACE. AMERICA'S CONSTITUTION COULD HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST DEAL SINCE THE MAGNA CARTA AND IT IS EXPOSED AS A LIE BEFORE OUR EYES. JAPAN IS THE BIGGEST CULTURE SHOCK JUST BECAUSE IT'S ORGANISED. FINALLY GET A CHANCE TO READ SOME OSAMU DASAI – "ALTHOUGH I HAD A MORTAL DREAD OF HUMAN BEINGS I SEEMED QUITE UNABLE TO RENOUNCE THEIR SOCIETY. I MANAGED TO MAINTAIN ON THE SURFACE A SMILE WHICH NEVER DESERTED MY LIPS, THIS WAS THE ACCOMMODATION I OFFERED TO OTHERS, A MOST PRECARIOUS ACHIEVEMENT PERFORMED BY ME ONLY AT THE EXCRUCIATING EFFORTS WITHIN. AS A CHILD I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO NOTION OF WHAT OTHERS, EVEN MEMBERS OF MY OWN FAMILY, MIGHT BE SUFFERING OR WHAT THEY WERE THINKING. I WAS AWARE ONLY OF MY OWN UNSPEAKABLE FEARS AND EMBARRASSMENTS. BEFORE ANYONE REALISED IT, I HAD BECOME AN ACCOMPLISHED CLOWN, A CHILD WHO NEVER SPOKE A SINGLE TRUTHFUL WORD." BECAUSE WE'RE PLAYING THE SAME VENUE THREE NIGHTS RUNNING WE GET A CHANCE TO PRACTICE SOME NEW SONGS IN SOUNDCHECK 'DRUG DRUG DRUGGY', 'ROSES IN THE HOSPITAL' AND 'ALIEN ORDERS/INVISIBLE ARMIES' ARE CLOSE TO BEING FINISHED. AFTER MASSIVE PROBLEMS WITH THE RECORD COMPANY WE FINALLY GET TO SHOOT THE VIDEO FOR MOTORCYCLE EMPTINESS IN TOKYO. GET PHOTOGRAPHED BY ONE OF MISHIMA'S PHOTOGRAPHERS AND GO TO THE SEGA PARK AND SO ON. BACK TO OUR SAFE EUROPEAN HOME. Richey, May 1992

July 1992

Some thoughts on crusties with credit cards... Recession always works to ruling class advantage. There is no generation gap, just those in and out of society. The moronic Labour party still cannot understand this. Their dinosaur ideology believed that they could capture working class votes with high taxation (over £25,000), not realising that the working class judge their interests not from where they are (dole/squat/school) but where they wish they could be (BMW/Hampstead/Malibu). Second only in ideological stupidity to the Labour party is the pre-industrialised politics of The Levellers. Child-like. Heh Jeremy - if all men are equal then why should the state support the nomadic lifestyle of the happy hitchers. How d'ya justify that? Oh, it's Anarchy. Some kind of Anarchy! Right now you are Northern Textile owners for your T-shirt empire. Soon you'll be franchise coal owners for your camp fires. Cottage Industry Capitalism. Back to nature and Anglo-Saxon morals (with 100k p.a., catering staff and roadies) But you're individualists not socialists. Beg your pardon. That sounds more like Terry Waite's Desert Island Discs Christian humanity, than 20th century realpolitik. And in case you think no one else has read your heroes - for every Lilburne we got Thatcher for every Walwyn we got Henry Ford, for every Overton we got Kinnock, for every Wildman we got Churchill. Crusties with a credit card. Me, I'm gonna go and wash, get clean and play a CD crime? Why don't you stay pure to your principles and only record in mono you luddite Thatcher children. I also hate potato wine and I love my Sega megadrive. Reality. You are Britain's cultural Chernobyl. Richey, July 1992

December 1992

MYTH OF SISYPHUS – THE GODS THOUGHT THERE IS NO MORE DREADFUL PUNISHMENT THAN FUTILE AND HOPELESS LABOUR. GROW UP, GET FUCKED, WITHER. NO ONE IN THIS COUNTRY KNOWS HUNGER, TRUE HUNGER LIKE SOMALIA. EVERYONE HAS CLOTHES, FOOD, A DRINK. EVERYONE IS LAST, PATHETIC WRETCHED. THE ONLY FREEDOM LEFT IS THE FREEDOM TO STARVE. FILL YOUR HOME WITH ANYTHING YOU LIKE BUT YOU CAN'T INVENT ANOTHER COLOUR. POSTCARDS ARE JUST SOUVENIRS OF PLACES WE HATE. REMEMBER ALL MEN ARE BIOLOGICALLY BORN SCUM. 19TH CENTURY DOCTOR ISAAC BAKER BROWN ADVOCATED CLITORECTOMY FOR 'FEMININE WEAKNESS.' BRIDGET BARDOT SAYS "IT IS HARD TO BE HAPPY" AND THAT IS THE TRUTH FOR SURE. LIFE IS MEANINGLESS. TOM JUST WANTS TO EAT JERRY. THERE IS NO TRUE LOVE, JUST A FINE TUNED JEALOUSY. AN OCEAN OF COLOUR DROWNING IN A LAND OF WHITE WASH. EVERYONE OWNS TOO MUCH TO DO ANYTHING. WE SIT IN STRAIGHT LINES, DO WHAT WE ARE TOLD, LIKE SEATS ON LOCKERBIE, DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC. "THESE ARE THE ACCUSED MEN. ALL OF THEM ARE ACCUSED OF GUILT." SAID KAFKA. LIES. HYPOCRISY. ROCK N ROLL. AN ENDLESS QUESTION WHICH ENDS NO. WE ALL REMEMBER PAIN. WE ALL FORGET PLEASURE. SOCIALISM IS SHORT FOR SELL OUT. ADMIT NOTHING. BLAME EVERYONE. BE BITTER. BUY ME I'LL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. CULTURE IS A CHEQUEBOOK. WE ARE ALL BOURGEOIS NOW. ALL ACTION IS FORCED. ALL REBELLION IS FAKE. CARRION PETRIFIED STONE. LATE SHOW, PINTER, AMIS, MCEWAN, DISKI – ALL ARE STYLISED INTELLECT. SCARED ON EASTON ELLIS AND BATEMAN. THE REAL WORLD. THEY LIVE IN A WORLD OF CAFFEINE AND COCAINE AND STUPID PARTIES IN LONDON SONY RECORDS HAVE BOUGHT US SUPPOSEDLY BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTAND OUR 'ART' BUT NOT ONE OF THEIR EMPLOYEES IN SOHO SQUARE ON £20,000 A YEAR COULD TELL YOU WHAT THE FIRST TRACK ON THE LP IS. NO ONE GIVES A FUCK ABOUT ANYTHING APART FROM THEIR OWN SELFISH LIFE. WE ARE JUDGED ON MUSICAL ABILITY NOT WHAT WE SAY. YOU ARE JUDGED ON YOUR QUALIFICATION NOT YOUR KNOWLEDGE OR INTELLIGENCE. THE CIGARETTE INDUSTRY IS DYING IN THE WEST. THEY KNOW THAT THEY SELL DEATH. BUT THEY TRY AND INCREASE THEIR SALES IN ASIA. THEY MUST FIND NEW WAYS TO SELL MORE PILLS INTO STORES BEFORE THE BAN. 20TH CENTURY WE BUILT BUCHENWALD – BURNT HIROSHIMA. GIVE US ALL PILLS, COVER US IN NUMBNESS, TOSS OUR BODIES ON THE RUBBISH DUMP, A DICTIONARY MEANS NOTHING UNLESS YOU LISTEN TO WORDS. RICHEY, DECEMBER 1992.

April 1993

“I LEARNT THAT YOU ALWAYS LOSE, ONLY THE BASTARDS THINK THEY WIN” - SARTRE __________________________________ WE HAVE ALWAYS TRIED TO MAKE THE PERFECT RECORD TO TRANSCEND OUR INFLUENCES. WE ARE AS HYPOCRITICAL AS THE PRESS. BUT OUR MUSIC IS TRUE. SOME PEOPLE STILL HAVE OUTDATED IDEALS ASSOCIATED WITH ROCK ’N’ ROLL. FUCK AUTHENTICITY. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ON SMACK TO LISTEN TO THE SEX PISTOLS, LAME TO LISTEN TO GENE VINCENT, BLIND TO LISTEN TO STEVIE WONDER. LIES. HYPOCRISY. ROCK ’N’ ROLL. NO ONE EXPECTS PERFECTION FROM POLITICS. LIFE IN GENERAL. WHY EXPECT IT FROM A ROCK ‘N’ ROLL BAND? WE PUT PRESSURE ON OURSELVES TO MAKE THE BEST RECORD WE CAN. WE WANTED OUR FIRST RECORD TO BE THAT. SO WE CONVINCED OURSELVES IT WOULD BE OUR ONLY RECORD. ALL BANDS SHOULD ROT AWAY WHEN THEY BECOME CREATIVELY BARREN. JUDGE ON THESE TERMS NOT WHAT WE SAY. HONESTY IS TAINTED. FUCKED UP. WE ARE NEVER THE CHILDREN OUR PARENTS WANT US TO BE. ALL SUFFERING IS FORCED. THE MUSIC PRESS MAKES WHAT YOU SAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE MUSIC. RULES ARE ALWAYS DICTATED BY THE WINNER. THE MEDIA WANTS TO EXCLUDE THE MASSES FROM CULTURE. THE LESS YOU DEMAND THE MORE YOU ARE TOLERATED. WHAT OTHER BAND WOULD BE CRITICISED FOR MAKING TWO LPs? NO ONE. TAKE THE NEW LP FOR ITS WORDS AND ITS MUSIC. DON’T JUDGE IT AS A FASHION ACCESSORY. DON’T JUDGE IT AS A PAIR OF LEATHER TROUSERS OR WHAT STUPID FUCKING HANG UPS I HAVE IN MY HEAD. SCIENCE IS STUPID. IT NEEDS PROOF FOR THE OBVIOUS AND ACCEPTS THE RIDICULOUS. EVERYONE’S OPINION IS A RE-RUN OF SOME EDITORIAL THEY’VE READ. POLITICIANS SELL LIES. WE ALL KNOW THAT. ADVERTS SELL FALSEHOODS. WHY EXPECT FOUR PEOPLE IN A BAND TO BE PURE DRIVEN SNOW? WE’RE THE MOST HONEST BAND ‘COS WE ADMIT IT. HYPOCRISY OF LIVE AID. POP STARS PATRONISE THE DYING IN AFRICA THEN PISS OFF TO BROWNS NIGHTCLUB AND SNIFF COCAINE OFF THE BODIES OF TWELVE YEAR OLD GIRLS. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL IS OVER COMPENSATION FOR LACK OF LOVE. NO ONE TO LOVE SO YOU TURN LOVE ONTO YOURSELF. THE ILLUSION OF INDIVIDUALITY - THE RIGHT TO EXPRESS OUR THOUGHTS ONLY MEANS SOMETHING IF WE ARE ABLE TO HAVE THOUGHTS OF OUR OWN. CHRISTIANITY HAS MADE DEATH UNREAL. YOU GO ON DAY AFTER DAY, MAKE PLANS, EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NO POINT. THAT IS THE PRICE OF INTELLIGENCE. ALL SCHOOL DEMANDS IS THAT YOU BE UNCRITICAL AND SMILE. PUNISHMENT AND BRIBES. WHY DON’T MEN ADMIT THEY HATE WOMEN. EROTICA LIES. PORNOGRAPHY TELLS THE TRUTH. EVERYONE IS SILENTLY DISSATISFIED WITH DEMOCRACY’S REWARDS. FACISM IS NOT A POLITICAL PROBLEM. IT IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL ONE. A HIDDEN NEED TO SUBMIT FREEDOM. BE TOLD WHAT TO DO. SHOULD WE SPLIT UP BECAUSE EVERYONE WANTS US TO? OR SHOULD WE DO WHAT WE WANT. IDEALISM. HONOUR. EVERYTHING PURE STARTS WITH A LIE. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL CRITICS WANT TO CREATE AN UNTHINKING ADOLESCENCE CHAINED TO A POP CONVEYOR BELT OF THEIR MAKING. THE LESS INTELLIGENT AN ANIMAL IS THE MORE IT ACTS NATURALLY. I HATE MEN OF PRINCIPLE SAID GIDE. I AM SEXUALLY SATISFIED BY A LEVI AD. IF £10 HANGS OUT OF YOUR POCKET EXPECT IT TO BE ROBBED. IT IS STILL STEALING. HUMANITY ALWAYS LETS YOU DOWN. LOVE LEAVES FOSSILS. HATE LEAVES ETERNITIES. I AM COVERED IN ITS DUST. CENSOR WHITE FUNK BANDS. RICHEY APRIL 1993

March 1993

"LIES. HYPOCRISY. ROCK ’N’ ROLL. FUCK AUTHENTICITY. ALL REBELLION IS CORPORATION OWNED. YOU CAN BE A LIAR AND STILL TELL THE TRUTH. YOU ARE A FRAUD. WE ARE A FRAUD. YOU ARE A FAILURE. WE ARE A FAILURE. GOING GOLD HELD NO SATISFACTION FOR US. THE CHARTS ARE STILL BAPTISED IN BANALITY WORSE THAN WHEN HE STARTED, GROUPS THE CYCLE OF MUSIC MOVES FROM A PERIOD OF CONSTRAINT TO INDULGENCE. MORE THAN WHEN WE STARTED, GROUPS ARE LOOKING BETTER AND THINKING BETTER. BUT THERE IS STILL VERY LITTLE RENAISSANCE ART IN A WORLD OF PAGE THREE. HONESTY IS SELFISH. IT'S WHAT KEPT THE TORIES IN POWER INTO THE 90's. WE ARE ALL BOURGEOIS NOW. SEATTLE WAS THE SOUND OF DESERT STRIKE. ROBERT SMITH IS AS WEALTHY AS PHIL COLLINS. KURT COBAIN IS AS WEALTHY AS PETER GABRIEL THAT IS THE NATURE OF ROCK 'N ROLL.” Manic Street Preachers, March 1993

April 1993 #2

PROVINCIAL UK. NEVER ENDING. MUNDANE. CONSTANT. BOREDOM. SAME INFANT SCHOOLS COMPREHENSIVE AND COLLEGE. SAME GUITARS SAME DAY MID 1980's. MESS AROUND LEARNING EXILE ON MAIN STREET. TWO YEARS SAVING TO COME TO THE CITY. WANT TO BE ON A MAJOR - SELL. STAY PURE. HANDFUL OF GIGS AROUND LONDON. INDIE DEAL. MOTOWN JUNK BRINGS FRONT COVERS. HAEMORRHAGE AT THE HEIGHT OF MADCHESTER. TIGHT WHITE JEANS, SPRAY PAINT, BLACK KOHL EYES CONNECTS WITH AN AUDIENCE IN AN AGE OF FRAYED BEATIFIC G-MEX SUNSHINE. SUFFOCATING GIGS. CANCELLATIONS. HOSPITALS. BLOOD. SONY DEAL. OBLIVION IS PRIVELEGE. IT HAS A FEE. FIRST SINGLE TOP 40. GENERATION TERRORISTS PRODUCED BY STEVE BROWN. SUMMARY - A HERMAPHRODITIC LOVE OF ENGLISH ROCK 'N' ROLL STONES - ZEPPELIN - CLASH. POETRY OF SMALL TOWN LIFE. GOES GOLD. MOTORCYCLE EMPTINESS HAILED AS THE BLACKEST OF TEEN ANTHEMS IN A SUMMER AMERICA SPRAYED HER NAME ON THE WORLD'S MIRROR. ENGLAND SURRENDERS TO SABBATH RIFFS HIDDEN UNDER LUMBERJACK SACKCLOTH. NOVEMBER, THE BAND START WRITING NEW SONGS. JANUARY, START RECORDING WITH DAVE ERINGA WHO ENGINEERED THEIR EARLY INDIE SINGLES. GOLD AGAINST THE SOUL. ITS DUTY TO PISS ON THE FLOOR OF SEATTLE. EVERYONE NEEDS ONE BEAUTIFUL THING IN THE COURSE OF A LIFETIME MANIC STREET PREACHERS, APRIL 1993