Riffs & Meaning: Manic Street Preachers and Know Your Enemy

by Stephen Lee Naish

Despite high and low brow pop culture references in their lyrics, sleeve art, and in interviews, no concise in-depth study exists of the Manic Street Preachers. This book is in some ways a response to that fact, a study of the band through one particular record. "This book brims with passion and insight and care... every five pages or so Naish had me scrambling to hear various Manics songs from across the years." — Paolo Hewitt "The Manic Street Preachers have long been a blind spot for me. In Riffs and Meaning, Stephen Lee Naish does a great service by creating a solid context for the band — how it developed and how it intersected with its rivals and critics (both in the press and on the stage). Centering his attention on one of their thorniest, most sprawling albums, Know Your Enemy, about which even the band has seemed ambivalent, Naish explores how the 'untameable child of Manic Street Preachers’ records' was a fundamental work, finally letting them escape the shadow of their lost guitarist/songwriter Richey Edwards and 'to forge a different version of the Manic Street Preachers that was almost completely set apart from their previous incarnations.'" — Chris O’Leary, Rebel The Songs of David Bowie, 1964-1976 and Ashes to Ashes Like many bands worth obsessing over, the Manic Street Preachers are virtually unknown here in the States. [But this is a] passionate discourse about a divisive album that you should absolutely listen to again immediately. — John Sellers, author of Perfect From Now How Indie Rock Saved My Life

Genres: Nonfiction, Music

152 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 28, 2018

About the author

Stephen Lee Naish is a writer, visual artist, and the author of six books of nonfiction, notably, Create or Die: Essays on the Artistry of Dennis Hopper (AUP), Riffs and Meaning (HeadPress), and Screen Captures: Film in the Age of Emergency (Newstar Books). His work has appeared in Aquarium Drunkard, Film International, Sublation Magazine, The Quietus, Empty Mirror, Dirty Movies, Albumism, and Merion West. He lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Reviews

[Steven Atkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Riffs & Meaning - Manic Street Preachers & Know Your Enemy’

If ever you needed a reason to fall back in love with the Manics much (unfairly) maligned 2001 album ‘Know Your Enemy’ all over again, then this is it. Most fans embraced it, half the critics didn’t. I personally thought it was genius and audacious.

Here, author Stephen Lee Naish masterfully goes against the grain of pushing out yet another bloated (and sometimes inaccurate) rock biography, and instead casts an intimate eye on the album he and many of us of a similar age bracket would consider our ‘Holy Bible’. I, like Naish missed the boat on the ‘Richey era’ first time round as I was quite simply still a little wet around the ears. However, that didn’t stop the mighty ‘A Design for Life’ making an everlasting impression at the tender age of 13 upon first release. A love affair that continues to this day and is only strengthened when you read books like ‘Riffs & Meaning’.

This is a book for the fans, by a true fan and this is reflected in his writing as he weaves in and out of each the albums 16 songs (17 if you include the hidden cover version of McCarthy’s ‘We Are All Bourgeois Now’), offering earnest critique in the process.

Many writers would have picked other ‘classic’ albums over this one to dedicate a book to, but in writing about ‘Know your Enemy’ Naish encapsulates what it takes to be a true fan, by loving the imperfections of a lost classic whilst also being frank about what simply doesn’t grab him about the album. A quality many fans of KYE can relate to. Speaking of fans, Naish also makes wise use of fan input by questioning them on what the album also means to them, maintaining the books intimate inclusive feel.

As Naish rightly puts it in his book, ‘Know Your Enemy was a bewildering experience’, but isn’t that the fun of listening to an album, especially for the first time? I strongly recommend immediately following up the book with a full listen of KYE with undivided attention. This book will surely make you see the album in a new light, with a renewed sense of urgency and meaning.

ESSENTIAL PURCHASE.

[Chris Bookley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Self-destructive.