This reminds me of when the band had just got signed to Sony and just finished Stay Beautiful as their first single for a major record label and they were asking their agent / manager / whatever - can't remember the details off the top of my head if it's going to be good enough. Agent / manager geezer, before hearing it, goes, "So long as it hasn't got a massive FUCK OFF in the middle of the chorus, it will be fine."

Wasn't it Steve Brown, the album producer, who told James that one of the rules of a hit single was not to have swearing in the chorus. Then thhey went away and put together Stay Beautiful...

I think the story was on the DVD that came worth the GT reissue.

Did they ever play Stay Beautiful in the same set as It's So Easy?

"Why don't you just fuck off!"

"Why don't you just... fuck off!"

Plenty of times.... they were both live staples around 1992/93.

I wonder what the most songs containing swearing they've played in the same set is....

Off the top of my head, Nynex 1997, Stay Beautiful, Yes, Motorcycle Emptiness and that brilliant scream of Motown "GET FUUUUUCCCKKED!!"

Also, the last Astoria gig had Yes, Repeat, Motorcycle Emptiness, and Roses In The Hospital in there.

And Of Walking Abortion.... I wonder if you can get those five plus Stay Beautiful anywhere

Elvis Impersonator as well, with its brief f-word in the chorus.

Also Symphony of Tourette. I'm surprised they've never played it live or James' guitar solo.

Possibly in one of the sets from the original Holy Bible tour in 1994.

Seeing as I've got nothing better to do on a rainy Sunday morning I've had a check on setlist.fm, and several times during the October 1994 they did play six swearies together. Such as here:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/manic...s-3d75db7.html

And then I remembered that IfWhiteAmerica... has some swearing too, but that was only played at the Astoria gigs on the original Holy Bible tour so that tour appeared to peak at six.

But I've managed to find seven in one set.... From the Past Present Future tour we had Roses in the Hospital, Elvis Impersonator, My Little Empire, Of Walking Abortion, Motorcycle Emptiness, Stay Beautiful and IfWhiteAmerica together in the same night!

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/manic...d-bd7894e.html

My JDB interview
 

Thanks for this, I enjoyed it immensely.

I admire the ease of your writing style, accessible but highly resonant, especially introducing the Manics in context for non-fans. Very tricky without going into detail overload or over simplification, given the givens.

And JDB comes over as soooooooo likeable.

Exciting couple of days coming up......

Thank you all for your feedback - I really appreciate it.
I was a little worried that it would come across too "fanboy" and nerdy! But I want to give some extra details for the fans too... hard balance.
My partner said to me "Hmm, he likes to say 'fuck' a lot doesn't he?" - glad I left those in (albeit censored) as it shows how James really speaks.

Anyway - luckily I got to meet Nicky and James yesterday - Nicky said he read my piece and thought it was a good article. James, meanwhile, whipped out his phone to show me pictures of his new Troublemaker. :-) Fantastic.

Late as usual but, I thought your interview was brilliant and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you!! :-)