"Motown Junk" is a non-album single and the second single by

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...

. It was released on 21 January 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 The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Despite its relatively poor charting, the single gained the band much attention from the press. In 2008, the band added a "Johnny Boy Anniversary Mix" free embedded version to their official website, which featured spoken dialogue by

Richey Edwards Richard James Edwards (born 22 December 1967 – disappeared 1 February 1995), also known as Richey James or Richey Manic, was a Welsh musician who was the lyricist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. He w ...

. 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. The track has long been a live favourite throughout their career.

Content

The title track shows the band during their pinnacle of iconoclastic attitude, such as in the lyric, "I laughed when

Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

got shot". The "Motown" in the title refers to famed 1960s and 1970s label

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

. The song also displayed their diverse cultural scope with a

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

-sampling intro and an outro sample of

The Skids Skids are a Scottish punk rock and new wave band, formed in Dunfermline in 1977 by Stuart Adamson (guitar, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals), William Simpson (bass guitar and backing vocals), Thomas Kellichan (drums) and Richard Jo ...

. Mark Corcoran of ''NARC'' adjudged the song to pertain to the

punk metal A number of overlapping punk rock subgenres have developed since the emergence of punk rock (often shortened to ''punk'') in the mid-1970s. Even though punk genres at times are difficult to segregate, they usually show differing characteristics i ...

style. 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 ''Generation Terrorists'' is the debut studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 10 February 1992 through record label Columbia. On the back of significant media attention and a "disproportionately ...

'' (1992). The single was the band's first from their then record label

Heavenly Records Heavenly Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Jeff Barrett in 1990. Heavenly released the first albums from Saint Etienne, Beth Orton and Doves, and early singles by Manic Street Preachers. Current Heavenly artists ...

. The single's cover features a watch recovered from the Hiroshima bomb site depicting the exact moment of detonation. 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 ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' ranked the song number three on their list of the 10 greatest Manic Street Preachers songs, and in 2022, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' ranked the song number 12 on their list of the 30 greatest Manic Street Preachers songs. ''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."

Track listing

; CD version ; 12" vinyl version ; 7" vinyl version

Charts

References

External links

BBC interview about the song

''Uncut'' article which mentions the single
{{authority control 1991 singles Manic Street Preachers songs 1990 songs Songs written by James Dean Bradfield Songs written by Nicky Wire Songs written by Sean Moore (musician) Songs written by Richey Edwards