Manic Street Preachers‘ Nicky Wire has recalled hearing Guns N’ Roses‘ ‘Appetite For Destruction’ for the first time.

The seminal debut album from the Los Angeles classic rock group was reissued last week, just under 31 years after it was originally released.

Wire said he was “probably” at bandmate James Dean Bradfield’s “little terrace house in South Wales” when he first the record “cos he had got it first and was absolutely addicted to it.” Reflecting on the album’s influence, he said: “It put the roll back into rock cos, at the time, hard rock had reached a dead end and it was all American hair bands and all the rest of it, and grunge hadn’t happened yet.”


He continued: “It just had a swing and a danger to it that had been sadly missing. It kinda managed to update the aesthetics of the Rolling Stones but in a more ‘rock’ context. It was such a relief to hear music like that for us.”

Meanwhile, Wire recently told NME about a much newer album that had been influencing him of late. “I’ve been inspired by Arctic Monkeys‘ new album as, lyrically, it’s such a tour de force,” he said. “It’s one of the great lyrical albums of all time – the wizardry of the rhymes, the topics and the substance. I’ve found those words really inspirational. The first time I heard ‘Four Out Of Five’, I knew it was something intrinsically interesting.”

Manic Street Preachers were one of the bands selected by The Cure‘s Robert Smith to perform at Meltdown Festival this year. While performing at London’s Royal Festival Hall last month (June 19), the trio paid tribute to the festival’s curator by covering ‘In Between Days’.