Here, if you want to nail the Manics to a cross here's a good quote about new-age travellers from 1993:
So I then suggest that none of what he's just said justifies the state treating them like cattle: that the Manics must feel some sympathy with any victims of police violence. And, like one of those gnarled old blokes in the pub who professes undying loyalty to the law and the institutions of British democracy, Nicky suddenly says this:
"I think they should be treated more harshly, actually. As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't care if they were rounded up and put on an island. I don't think they do any good. I don't think they perform any worthwhile role in society.”
"You know, this idea that the land is ours – that's a very obscure, pathetic notion. We live in a 20th Century democracy, where people buy land: farmer's land is their own land, and you can't accept New Age travellers reclaiming it. What the f*** have they done to earn it? I think they deserve total hatred and contempt. They are against everything we believe in as a group."
From this interview. It's a good read, but I repeat, they are not, and never were, a band to go looking for a coherent viewpoint from. In fact, i'd argue that a representation of and despair at the incoherence and cruelty of the modern world was more what their whole project was/is about.
So I then suggest that none of what he's just said justifies the state treating them like cattle: that the Manics must feel some sympathy with any victims of police violence. And, like one of those gnarled old blokes in the pub who professes undying loyalty to the law and the institutions of British democracy, Nicky suddenly says this:
"I think they should be treated more harshly, actually. As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't care if they were rounded up and put on an island. I don't think they do any good. I don't think they perform any worthwhile role in society.”
"You know, this idea that the land is ours – that's a very obscure, pathetic notion. We live in a 20th Century democracy, where people buy land: farmer's land is their own land, and you can't accept New Age travellers reclaiming it. What the f*** have they done to earn it? I think they deserve total hatred and contempt. They are against everything we believe in as a group."
From this interview. It's a good read, but I repeat, they are not, and never were, a band to go looking for a coherent viewpoint from. In fact, i'd argue that a representation of and despair at the incoherence and cruelty of the modern world was more what their whole project was/is about.