Motown Junk

"Motown Junk" is the second single by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 21 January 1991.

"Motown Junk"
Single by Manic Street Preachers
B-side
  • "Sorrow 16"
  • "We Her Majesty's Prisoners"
Released21 January 1991 (1991-01-21)
RecordedLate 1990
Genre
Length4:00
LabelHeavenly
Songwriter(s)James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore, Richey Edwards
Producer(s)Robin Wynn Evans
Manic Street Preachers singles chronology
"Suicide Alley"
(1988)		 "Motown Junk"
(1991)		 "You Love Us (Heavenly Version)"
(1991)

Release

"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]

Content

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.

Legacy

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]

Track listing
CD version
No.TitleLength
1."Motown Junk"4:00
2."Sorrow 16"3:45
3."We Her Majesty's Prisoners"5:22
12" vinyl version
Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Motown Junk"4:00
2."Sorrow 16"3:45
Side B
No.TitleLength
3."We Her Majesty's Prisoners"5:22
7" vinyl version
Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Motown Junk"4:00
Side B
No.TitleLength
2."Sorrow 16"3:45

Charts
Chart (1991) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[12] 94

References
  1. Corcoran, Mark (5 April 2018). "ALBUM REVIEW: Manic Street Preachers – Resistance is Futile". Narc Magazine. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  2. Peppercorn, James (29 August 2020). "Manic Street Preachers – 'The Holy Bible': Why It Mattered". Happy Mag. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  3. "Chart Company".
  4. "Motown Junk". Select. IPC Media. January 1991.
  5. Power, Martin (17 October 2010). Manic Street Preachers. Omnibus Press.
  6. "Manic Street Preachers".
  7. Price 1999.
  8. Heatley 1997.
  9. Elan, Priya (7 October 2011). "Manic Street Preachers – Their 10 Best Tracks". NME. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  10. Petridis, Alexis (10 February 2022). "Manic Street Preachers' 30 greatest songs – ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  11. Barker, Emily (31 January 2014). "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time – 300-201". NME.
  12. "Manic Street Preachers: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 April 2017.

Sources
  • Heatley, Michael (1997). Manic Street Preachers in Their Own Words. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0711969063.
  • Price, Simon (1999). Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers). London: Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0139-2.
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