Discussions with friends from high school always turn into a laundry list of regrets. Girls and life decisions. But mostly music and trying to figure out why we listened to what we listened to and didn't listen to all of this amazing junk that was happening all right under our noses.
Manic Street Preachers fit that mold. I love it now and there's little reason to believe I wouldn't have loved it as a teenager in the 1990s.
Edwards was the guitar player and general heart of the band. Sorta guitar player. He apparently had little musical talent and often faked the guitar in the early days. He started as a roadie and driver. He eventually became the main creative valve for the band writing most of their highly-acclaimed album, The Holy Bible.
Edwards struggled with the usual (drugs and booze) and the not-so-usual (self-cutting, depression, stabbing cigarettes out on his arm). Nothing was ever right. After his and the band's integrity were questioned by a journalist, he took a razor and cut "4Real" into his arm, requiring 18 stitches.
Six months after the release of The Holy Bible, Edwards left his hotel, took out some cash from the bank and disappeared.
His car was found abandoned near a bridge known for suicides. No body or trace of the guy was found. The band kept a portion of the royalties back in case he turned up. The family didn't officially pronounce him dead until 2002. Are they vulnerable because they're rock stars or rock stars because they're vulnerable?
In the great mystery that is rock music, fans have made the tragedy that is Richey Edwards into a chapter of enigma. Countless reports of Edwards in India and other island nations have been reported. He's like a ghost.
After he disappeared, the band took a break, nearly disbanded and then released Everything Must Go, of which five songs were written by Edwards.
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