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Old 26-02-2019, 17:46
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sofarsideways sofarsideways is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Age: 34
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A few straight-up contradictions I can recall quickly to give an idea of how often and brazenly it goes down.

Nicky never lived with Richey at King Edwards Road in Swansea, here is a list of housemates to prove it, they only lived in the same student village later on. Backed up by a quote of Richey talking about hating living in halls which I swear I have seen attributed to being about his FIRST year at uni, not second or third; and a quote from Nicky about him and Richey making themselves ill on spraypaint fumes in THEIR tiny room, which I know has had the ‘when me and Richey lived together in King Edwards Road’ cut off from the start.

Rachel confirms near the beginning of the book that the Edwardses sent their children to chapel each Sunday, Richey attending from the age of 5 until 13. Nicky is quoted saying how much church and religion had messed Richey up, and Rachel says she never saw any evidence of this. Later in the book, Richey’s own misgivings about religion and it’s role within his upbringing are dismissed by Rachel’s denial that they attended church ‘that much’.

Rachel speculates that everything might have turned out differently if Richey has gone to the school he won a scholarship for (rather than choosing to stay with the friends he apparently didn’t have), or if he hadn’t been in the band. But she also mentions that Richey thought everything went wrong after they moved house when he was 13, but she thinks if they’d stayed at the old house things would have been the same.

I am fairly sure SHR said in at least one of the interviews for this book that the Vivian info came from James? She now says it’s from Nicky.

Ye olde tale of playing football as kids, bestowing the nickname ‘Teddy Edwards’ etc is begrudgingly brought up after quoting old neighbours on the matter of street footie. Rachel insists (repeatedly) the band knew each other but weren’t close - as a little sister would definitely know? - but that the ‘Stand By Me’ narrative suited and got them a record deal. Right. Yes. All record deals hinge on childhood friendship.

A letter of Richey’s is quoted saying everyone hated him at college and he was glad, but is followed with a snark by the authors about James and Nicky deciding they didn’t like anyone at college and being super dismissive and insular, while Richey was uber polite and would never be like that.

And a few cases of omitted truths/shaping of impressions...

The Manics’ constant editing of each other’s work is disregarded, William’s Last Words being particularly lambasted. Personally I think it’s beautiful that Nicky turned something long, rambling and hard to use into such a gorgeous tribute to their friendship. As ever, he was trying to make sense of Richey, to celebrate and hold onto the love beneath the struggles of understanding when Richey was unwell and thinking ‘faster and faster’.

Nicky is made out to only really mention Richey passingly, and just in terms of his coolness/rock star chic, and missing him as a lyricist. Apparently he never says anything else about him. Weird that those are not remotely the first things I’d mention in a long list of Things Nicky Is Always Saying About Richey. I’d probably go for how much he loves him, that he calls Richey his soulmate, that he insists upon ‘the friend, not the bandmate’.

Silly Nicky comments like ‘that must be why they say you have a personality disorder!’ about Richey cutting his hair - which are clearly black humour amongst friends close enough to talk to each other like that - are held up as TERRIBLE EVIL THINGS.

Richey’s psychotic symptoms in the latter half of 1994 are mentioned and moved on from. Nothing is said of the medication he was taking, whether it was suitable, or the fact that he came off it cold-turkey when he went missing. Much, however, is made of this bizarre idea that Syd Barrett has Aspergers, so Richey does.

Apparently everyone was super miffed that The Holy Bible flopped commercially and became very career oriented, and this was a huge disservice to Richey but whatever because he didn’t want to be in the band he was being driven out of anyway? What.

A quote from Jo: ‘How much control did he have left at that point of the image he was putting out there? I wonder sometimes if he wanted different people to see different things.’ This in the middle of paragraphs trying to suggest the band’s opinion of Richey’s mental state being different to Jo’s opinion meant they know nothing and she knows everything. This is a recurring theme.

There is so much more of both these kinds of shit.

This is all very rambly and all over the place and probably typo city, apologies
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Last edited by sofarsideways; 26-02-2019 at 18:26.
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