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#766
02-04-2019, 22:52
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I play my Derek Smalls card and ask "Is the diary of a Manic Street Preachers fan" from Melody Maker referenced at all?
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#767
03-04-2019, 00:29
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I'm so CoR everything is rubbish etc etc
__________________
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more," - Byron 'I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.' (from Sea Fever - John Masefield) "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all" - Emily Dickinson
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#768
03-04-2019, 09:38
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The only thing I can work out about the Vivian reference is that she may have been linked with the band and/or Richey at some point and was able to approach someone in the manics camp to tell her story. Whether true or not I don’t know but it’s such a huge revelation that surely if it was true Nicky would have thought it would be so important and would have alerted the press or public to her story. The fact we are only hearing this now 24 years later doesn’t sit well with me as truth or Richey cannon.
I agree with Raven above that the book implies that Richey from the outset was developing his story and rock myth at the very beginning of the band seems highly unlikely. In the beginning of his involvement he was focusing on playing up the manics to the press to be discovered. The band already had what they described as a dossier on members of the press and set things they wanted to say and do to draw attention to the band often saying very provocative things for attention. For example, Nicky said something about a sexually transmitted disease like herpes or syphalis to the press to further their image of culture sluts until his mom got very angry and told him to stop. I have no problem believing that Richey became very disillusioned with these stories they generated to the press hence the song “yes” and were tired of those tactics. However, I don’t put much credence in that in light of him seeking out The female reporter with them in Thailand to discuss his exploits with a prostitute to make some statement regarding his sexuality, I think he played up his naivety with sex and women as he did have many groupies. I think he felt his image should be one of purity I guess. If he truly felt like he said I don’t think he would continue sleeping with groupies after a few tries if he was truly asexual. It’s hard for me to know when he and Nicky were exaggerating the truth or lying to maintain their image. Someone mentioned well this story is the truth because Richey said it when we all know Richey said a lot of things lol doesn’t mean it was true as there are other examples of the incongruous between his truth and reality. A few things from the book that caught my attention was the mention of a suicide letter written before his first attempt which I had never heard before as well as some of the letters he wrote Jo. I was never quite that sure about her as she had been described as being a huge fan of another group and was only around the manics camp sometimes but not consistently. Although those around the time verified her existence, I think her comments showed me she was real if that makes sense. As described above by Ravin I too believe that the woman who was friends with Richey at the priory reported a lot of insight about Richey during the time. I’m also a very firm believer that Richey did indeed provide his lyrics to the band so they can be used. A couple of other things I wanted to point out and was confirmed by some fans around that time was that the fan Becky got herself checked into the priory at the same time to get closer to Richey (?). Regarding Pete Doherty and the libertines, they also used a few lines from someone on the song can’t stand me now which resulted in the inclusion of this persons name as co-writer for the song. Last edited by vaiden; 08-04-2019 at 11:12. Reason: to spell manics correctly
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#769
05-04-2019, 20:24
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Book thoughts
I have to preface this by saying that my views were prejudiced by what I read about SHR’s behaviour, before I started reading. I am up to the end of chapter 5, and it is not as bad, or as badly written, as I was expecting. That said, three things stand out so far - some of the praise of Richey’s geniuses is laughable; and he really, really does not sound nice. But most importantly, what is with that one paragraph about when Richey was 10 years old?! Re the evidence of his genius and foreshadowing- mentions of the Severn Bridge are not profound for a person living so close to Cardiff. I lived in the Valleys for a short time, the bridge is a huge feature of life, escape to England, escape to Wales, it’s not a special motif. I live in the North East now, and my son must have done ten pieces of work about the Tyne Bridge before the age of six! School reports. Not exceptional, sorry. Two Bs doesn’t make ‘excelled at history’. And the comment from his teacher about not being so wide-ranging, is a common mistake for young students, just because you can spill out lots of knowledge, doesn’t mean you’re demonstrating good understanding. Being discerning with your sources is part of the academic skill. I’m not criticising Richey’s teenage enthusiasm, but it’s not good evidence of his intellect in the way it’s presented. Richey predicted Nirvana’s Pennyroyal Tea more than ten years before it was written? So Richey wasn’t close to the other Manics at school. And? I don’t remember reading that they were best friends until later, but even if that was part of the myth, so what. Doesn’t mean that they didn’t become close later. Regarding girlfriends, I just have to say it - some of those descriptions are pretty incel-like. Girls are perfect or they are sullied. Eurgh. And finally, trigger warning for child abuse * * * What the fuck was that throw-away paragraph about ten year old Richey running scared out of the woods, from the ‘local weirdo’? Am I alone in thinking the darkest possible interpretation? At the very least, it seems he was in fear of harm. You can’t just throw that in with no substance or analysis!! Will return in a few more chapters!
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#770
05-04-2019, 21:09
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I laughed because all the way through I was thinking how Richey would've been on /rk9 posting incel manifestos if it'd been around when he was younger! The only thing about "the Woods incident" I agree that it seemed like it was just thrown in there. They were desperately grabbing at anything (and maybe padding the book out a bit). " I don’t know if it was an incident". So don't mention it? Too much of the book's a filler.
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#771
05-04-2019, 21:19
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People. The book is awful. Genuinely awful.
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#772
05-04-2019, 22:11
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I feel that the point really was to colour everything with his future disappearance, find clues in everything and although I agree with you its ridiculous that's the reason why I think you get these early stories referencing the Severn Bridge and nothing really from his late teens on as they probably couldn't make many links between his thoughts on say American foreign policy and his disappearance....though I'm sure they probably could if they'd tried Quote:
 There are a few bizarre theories around Nirvana. Resented them along with his bandmates don't you know? Me neither. Drug Drug Druggy? Referenced Kurt & Courtney don't you know? No, me neither. Then there's the Kurt was killed conspiracy theory. What isn't really mentioned is the impact Kurt's death may have had on him. Of course he didn't know him but it happened less than a year prior to his disappearance, and like the death of River Phoenix (not referenced in the book) these things seemed to lodge in his mind....Quote:
I think if he doesn't come across as particularly likeable it's in part because of the way the authors continually want to point score against the big bad band mates and the evil Man down the record label stifling his creativity etc....it gets increasingly frustrating the feeling that you're being allowed close to Richey but only under supervision and with nearly everything he says or does having the author jump up to say he was referencing how orrible the band, record company are There's practically nothing of the family dynamics touched on beyond his father a little bit and his relationship with his mother is not touched on nor his relationship with his sister really. Apart from it all being wonderful till they left their grandma's house which seemed to make him feel a little adrift though why isn't clear except that he'd clearly spent a lot of time with his gran so it must have been not just a wrench but at that age maybe didn't make much sense as to why things had to change..Growns up eh Quote:
I wanted to know - did she go home with him? Tell their mum? Problem is there is a lot of theory and not a lot of substance throughout that it's hard to know if this is true or means anything or he did get a scare but not the kind we're all immediately having our minds turned towards. It's also a bit too neat, like a classic children's horror story beware the weirdo in the woods
__________________
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more," - Byron 'I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.' (from Sea Fever - John Masefield) "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all" - Emily Dickinson
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#773
05-04-2019, 23:57
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Speaking of no Nirvana, it's always stated that In Utero was the tape in the car but this book says it was Sex Pistols. Did I miss something?
Speaking of Nicky's wedding, I found that description of a man broken by his friend's marriage strange. He's beaming harder than anybody else on the wedding photos.
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#774
06-04-2019, 06:33
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I haven’t got as far as the wedding etc. But now you mention it, the lack of discussion about family is strange.
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#775
06-04-2019, 10:53
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The funny thing about the book is that this "exposé" of the what really happened with Richey around this time shows that nobody actually knows anything.
90% of the book is quotes from other already published TV or print interviews, the writers' interpretations of Richey's interest in the arts, and awful interpretations of Richey's lyrics. 10% is "archive stuff" that is really just schoolwork essays and letters to people that obviously mean very little. It's clear that SHR doesn't know anything. It's sad that it appears that Rachel wasn't so close to Richey around this time and doesn't offer anything either. As I've said before on here - a REALLY interesting investigative book would be to write about his last year in the band. Simply as a music bio that would be captivating. It is clear (as we all knew before the writing of this book) there were HUGE tensions in the band. Human tensions that the band now gloss over when preferring to just touch upon the myth of the genius of Richey. But this Traces book is awful.
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#776
07-04-2019, 09:04
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I believe the last few posters, Raven, Europa Gluten Free, and Glass Angel are all spot on. I feel the beginning chapter of the book was just filler and wonder if the cause is that it is just filler or something legally removed? The book, dare I say it, was not especially well written. Leaving out the archive, I feel like any of us could have written the book with all of the articles we already have and with more accuracy. Even then, I think it would have been better particularly if we were called to task by the posters that are here now and were there then. The song analysis, the last chapter I believe, was so poor I could barely leave out a giggle every now and again. Richey and Nicky wrote in the liner notes what each song meant to them as did Price in Everything. To make mention of what somebody wrote earlier"...hmmmm.
person in the woods? One paragraph? not convinced nor do I have ANY insight whatsoever about his family. Even though Im not his biggest fan, read Everything by Simon Price for a better book. Meanwhile I'm crossing my fingers that one of the band will get around to an autobiography.
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#777
07-04-2019, 09:06
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Oh and Handbag, Nirvana what? I much like you barely glanced over that part as my eyes glossed over. It has always been reported that Richey was playing In Utero when he picked up the reporter and when they located the car.
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#778
07-04-2019, 20:17
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I'm surprised SHR didn't attach some deep meaning to the tape left in the car.
"At the end of the Sex Pistols final gig, Lydon repeated, No fun, no fun, this is no fun at all...Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Was Richard telling us he felt cheated by the other band members? Are the lyrics to No Fun telling us how alienated they were making him feel? No fun to be alone/Walking by myself. Let's look at every track by the Sex Pistols for clues. Holiday in the Sun...[write something about the reference to Belsen and Richey's striped pyjamas look]." That could've been half chapter's worth of word count.
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#779
08-04-2019, 05:11
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#780
08-04-2019, 06:00
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The more I think about it, the more annoyed I am that they mentioned that at all.
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Linear Mode
