BBC

When Manic Street Preachers first burst onto the scene back in 1990, a lipstick-smeared whirlwind of Welsh punk energy, they demanded attention. Riotous gigs, an incendiary look, and an ear for a great quote quickly made them darlings of the music press. Their early magazine interviews are the stuff of legend, and some of the things they said were so close to the bone they would make Noel Gallagher wince.

Polite convention and tradition went out the window - if they didn't like a band, they would make their feelings very clear. Hugely influenced by The Clash, Public Enemy and Guns N Roses, it was the latter they most wanted to emulate, and like them they seemed truly dangerous. Nowadays, older and wiser, they've settled into their role as sedate elder statesmen of British rock. Nicky Wire even told NME he didn't care if people saw them as a bit coffee-table now. I see that as a compliment, he said. But rewind the clock 20 years and you find a band that ticked every single box when it came to being rock stars.

Laughing at dead icons, TV infamy, festival sacrilege, public self-harm, stars of the...um... adult world, and dictators - these are the times the Manics showed they were the most exciting band on the planet.