"YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE OUR FRIENDS"
Nicky: "We've played the game. Just being nice to people... it takes its toll on you. It's not like when we started when you could attack everything. When you meet other bands and pretend to like them and shake their hands and all the rest of it. you can't go slagging them off." Hence the roaring T In The Park appearance. "I just decided that the past six years had been pretty false..."

"THE MASSES AGAINST THE CLASSES"
Stratification is the sociological system of categorising social hierarchy. There are many alternatives. The widely used Registrar General's scale identifies the groups A, B, C1 and C2 - populated generally by white-collar professionals - then D and E. The latter two cover blue-collar manual workers - including pop stars! "It's not like a political class war thing, though," Nicky comments.

"WE LOVE THE WINTER/IT BRINGS US CLOSER TOGETHER"
Nicky Wire announced last year that his experiences during the summer months have led him to believe that he might suffer from some sort of inverse-SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) condition. Lack of exposure to sunlight during the winter months is the well-documented cause of SAD, with incidence rising as you move away from the equator.

"SUCCESS IS AN UGLY WORD"
The Manics have been criticised of late for selling records, concert tickets and the like. Prince Edward recently annoyed people by claiming that the British resent success, though in his case this is obviously a hypothetical supposition. Note that the Manics have not entirely built their career on sharing views with members of the Royal Family.

"I'M TIRED OF GIVING A REASON"
Lyrics are often supposed to speak for themselves, but in many cases the Manics are willfully ambiguous. As Nicky Wire "explains": "The lyrics are particularly spiteful. 'You Love Us', for us, was ironically arrogant.

"A SLAVE BEGINS BY DEMANDING JUSTICE AND ENDS BY WANTING TO WEAR A CROWN"
Here, James quotes Albert Camus (1913-1960), the Algerian-born French writer. He was active in the Resistance during the Second World War, and his novels - which include "L'Etranger" (1942) - owe much to existentialism. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.

Back to TME: Masses Against The Classes.