| "Motown Junk" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Manic Street Preachers | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | 21 January 1991 | |||
| Recorded | Late 1990 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:00 | |||
| Label | Heavenly | |||
| Songwriter(s) | James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore, Richey Edwards | |||
| Producer(s) | Robin Wynn Evans | |||
| Manic Street Preachers singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Motown Junk" is the second single by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 21 January 1991 by Heavenly.
"Motown Junk" was released on 21 January 1991 by record label Heavenly, the band's first release on this label. It peaked at number 94 on the UK Singles Chart. [3] Despite its relatively poor charting, the single gained the band much attention from the press. [4]
In 2008, the band added a "Johnny Boy Anniversary Mix" free embedded version to their official website, which featured spoken dialogue by Richey Edwards. [5]
In 2011, Heavenly re-released "Motown Junk" to sell at the Manic Street Preachers gig on 21 May 2011 and at the Berwick Independent Marker. [6]
The track has long been a live favourite throughout their career. [5]
The title track shows the band during their pinnacle of iconoclastic attitude, [7] such as in the lyric, "I laughed when Lennon got shot". The "Motown" in the title refers to famed 1960s and 1970s label Motown Records. The song also displayed their diverse cultural scope with a Public Enemy-sampling intro and an outro sample of The Skids. [5]
Mark Corcoran of NARC adjudged the song to pertain to the punk metal style. [1]
Both B-sides featured on the single, "Sorrow 16" and "We Her Majesty's Prisoners", were on the later singles "Slash 'n' Burn" and "You Love Us", respectively, both from the band's debut album Generation Terrorists (1992). The single was the band's first from their then record label Heavenly Records. [6]
The single's cover features a watch recovered from the Hiroshima bomb site depicting the exact moment of detonation. [8]
The outro of the song samples the outro of the single 'Charles' by the Skids with James Dean Bradfield often citing Stuart Adamson as one of his influences.
In 2011, NME ranked the song number three on their list of the 10 greatest Manic Street Preachers songs, [9] and in 2022, The Guardian ranked the song number 12 on their list of the 30 greatest Manic Street Preachers songs. [10] NME included the song at no. 244 in their list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, with the description: "They were still stencilling their own t-shirts and playing to half-full pub back rooms, but this icon-skewering single showed that the Manics meant business." [11]
In subsequent live performances of the song, Bradfield generally skips the lyric "I laughed when Lennon got shot," or replaces his name with a different word, such as in their Millennium concert Leaving the 20th Century , in which Lennon is replaced by the word "Misty". In a 2008 interview with The Quietus , Bradfield remarked, “I remember when I got that lyric, it felt like that Bill Hicks notion: why is it that the good people always get assassinated?" [12]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Motown Junk" | 4:00 |
| 2. | "Sorrow 16" | 3:45 |
| 3. | "We Her Majesty's Prisoners" | 5:22 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Motown Junk" | 4:00 |
| 2. | "Sorrow 16" | 3:45 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 3. | "We Her Majesty's Prisoners" | 5:22 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Motown Junk" | 4:00 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 2. | "Sorrow 16" | 3:45 |
| Chart (1991) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC) [13] | 94 |
Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire and cousins James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore. They form a key part of the 1990s Welsh Cool Cymru cultural movement.
Generation Terrorists is the debut studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 10 February 1992 by Columbia Records.
Lipstick Traces (A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers) is a compilation album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 14 July 2003 by Sony Music Entertainment. It consists of various B-sides, rarities and cover versions and reached number 11 on the UK Album Chart.
Everything Must Go is the fourth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 20 May 1996 by Epic Records. It was the first record released as a trio, following the disappearance of lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards.
Forever Delayed is a greatest hits album and DVD by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 28 October 2002 by Epic Records. The album included three singles which had never appeared on any of the band's earlier albums, as well as two new songs, the single "There by the Grace of God" and "Door to the River".
"Tsunami" is a song by Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers, released as a single on 5 July 1999 through Epic Records. It was the fourth and final single released from their fifth studio album, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998). All three members of the band—James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore and Nicky Wire—share the writing credits. The single peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Australia" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 2 December 1996 through Epic Records as the fourth and final single from the fourth studio album, Everything Must Go (1996). The song peaked at number seven in the UK Singles Chart and was the fourth consecutive top-10 hit for the band.
"There by the Grace of God" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 14 October 2002 by record label Epic as a single from the band's greatest hits album Forever Delayed.
"Kevin Carter" is a song by Manic Street Preachers, released as the third single from their album Everything Must Go in 1996. The song peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart.
"A Design for Life" is a single by Welsh band Manic Street Preachers from their fourth studio album, Everything Must Go (1996). It was written by James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore and Nicky Wire, and produced by Dave Eringa and Mike Hedges. Released on 15 April 1996 by Epic Records, the song debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The accompanying music video was directed by Pedro Romhanyi.
"Revol" is a song by the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released in August 1994 by the Epic record label as the second single from their third studio album, The Holy Bible, which was released later in the month. The song reached number 22 in the UK Singles Chart on 13 August 1994.
"Slash 'n' Burn" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 16 March 1992 by record label Columbia as the fourth single from the band's debut album, Generation Terrorists (1992).
"You Love Us" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was initially released as a single on 7 May 1991 by Heavenly. The song was re-recorded and released on 20 January 1992 by Columbia Records as the third single from the band's debut studio album, Generation Terrorists.
"Love's Sweet Exile" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 28 October 1991 by record label Columbia as the second single from their debut album, Generation Terrorists (1992). The B-side, "Repeat (UK)", appears on the same album.
"From Despair to Where" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 1 June 1993 by record label Columbia as the first single from their second studio album, Gold Against the Soul (1993).
"Faster" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released in 1994 by record label Epic as the first single from the band's third studio album, The Holy Bible.
"Underdogs" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released in 2007 by record label Columbia as the first single taken from their eighth studio album, Send Away the Tigers.
The Holy Bible is the third studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 30 August 1994 by Epic Records. While the album was being written and recorded, lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards was struggling with severe depression, alcohol abuse, self-harm and anorexia nervosa, and its contents are considered by many sources to reflect his mental state. The songs focus on themes relating to politics and human suffering. The Holy Bible was the band's last album released before Edwards' disappearance on 1 February 1995, and their last studio album as a four-piece band.
National Treasures – The Complete Singles is a compilation album by the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 31 October 2011 by Columbia Records/Sony Music. It is the band's third compilation album, after Forever Delayed: Manic Street Preachers, The Greatest Hits (2002), and the B-sides/rarities collection Lipstick Traces (2003). The compilation features one new recording, a cover of The The's "This Is the Day", which was issued as a single on 18 September 2011. The compilation reached number 10 on the UK Album Chart in November 2011.
"International Blue" is a song by Manic Street Preachers, released as a single in December 2017. This song is the first single for the album Resistance Is Futile (2018), written by James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore.
