4Real: Performance and Authenticity

Abstract

One of the iconic moments of 1990s rock occurred in a profoundly unlikely location: the backstage area of Norwich Arts Centre, in the aftermath of a Manic Street Preachers gig. An NME reporter, Steve Lamacq, had been critical of the Preachers: in particular, he had accused them of traducing the spirit of rock, of shamelessly mining rock history for their music and attitude, and of committing the ultimate rock crime of inauthenticity:

‘I know you don’t like us,’ [Ritchie] says steadily, ‘but we are for real. When I was a teenager, I never had a band who said anything about my life, that’s why we’re doing this. Where we came from, we had nothing.’

As he’s talking, from somewhere he finds a razorblade. Turning unnervingly serious, he takes the blade and slowly and deliberately carves ‘4 Real’ into his left arm …

He had 17 stitches, apparently. What a dumb way to end an evening …¹

Edwards’ act of self-mutilation is extreme, but not extreme enough that it cannot be fitted into a recognisable framework of rockstar behaviour. It carries the same charge as Jim Morrison’s self-exposure in front of a Miami audience, or Iggy Pop’s numerous self-inflicted in-concert woundings (lashing himself with the microphone stand, dripping hot wax over his chest).