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Hootie & the Blowfish

Hootie & the Blowfish is an American rock band formed in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1986. The band's lineup for most of its existence has been the quartet of Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, and Jim Sonefeld. The band went on hiatus in 2008 until they announced plans for a full reunion tour in 2019 and released their first new studio album in fourteen years, Imperfect Circle.

, Hootie & the Blowfish have won two Grammy Awards, landed sixteen singles on various Billboard singles charts, and released six studio albums. The band's debut album, Cracked Rear View (1994), is the 19th-best-selling album of all time in the United States and was certified platinum 21 times. The band is known for its three Top 10 singles: "Hold My Hand" (1994), "Let Her Cry" (1994), and "Only Wanna Be with You" (1995). The band is also popular in Canada, having three number-one singles in that country.

Early years
Darius Rucker and Mark Bryan met in Columbia, South Carolina, in the mid-1980s when they were both freshmen at the University of South Carolina. Bryan, a guitar player, heard Rucker singing in the showers of the dorm they shared and was impressed by his vocal ability. The pair began playing cover tunes as the Wolf Brothers.

Eventually, they collaborated with bassist Dean Felber, a former high school bandmate of Bryan's, and Brantley Smith, a drummer. In 1986, they adopted the name Hootie & the Blowfish, a conjunction of the nicknames of two of their college friends. The band is routinely featured in articles and polls about badly-named bands. Rucker is often labeled as being the "Hootie" in the band's name. Smith left the group after finishing college to pursue music ministry, but he has made scattered guest appearances with the band (he played cello on their MTV Unplugged performance in 1996 and played drums at Gruene Hall in Gruene, Texas, on June 27, 2008). Smith was replaced full time in 1989 by Jim "Soni" Sonefeld. The band's lineup has remained the same ever since.

The band independently released two cassette demo EPs in 1991 and 1992. In 1993, they pressed 50,000 copies of a self-released EP, Kootchypop. They were signed to Atlantic Records in August 1993 after being discovered by Atlantic A&R representative Tim Sommer, a former music journalist and member of the art rock band Hugo Largo. Sommer recalled that other record labels were uninterested in signing Hootie & The Blowfish because their sound was radically different from the grunge music that was popular at the time.

1994–1995: Cracked Rear View and mainstream success
Their mainstream debut album was Cracked Rear View (1994). Released in July 1994, the album's popularity grew after its release, becoming the best-selling album of 1995, and was one of the fastest-selling debut albums of all time. The album was certified platinum in the United States in January 1995, and incrementally rose to 12× platinum by January 1996, and 16× platinum by March 1999. In May 2019, the certification was updated from 16× platinum to 21× platinum.

The album featured four hits, "Hold My Hand" (U.S. No. 10), "Let Her Cry" (U.S. No. 9), "Only Wanna Be with You" (U.S. No. 6), and "Time" (U.S. No. 14). The album's last single, "Drowning", was not as successful as its predecessors, peaking only on the Mainstream Rock chart. In 1995, Hootie & the Blowfish and Bob Dylan reached an out-of-court settlement for the group's unauthorized use of Dylan's lyrics in their song "Only Wanna Be with You". Miami Dolphins' Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino appeared along with several other athletes in the band's video for the song "Only Wanna Be with You".

1996–1997: Fairweather Johnson and promotional singles
In 1995, Hootie & the Blowfish contributed the song "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" to the Encomium tribute album to Led Zeppelin. Their cover of Canadian group 54-40's "I Go Blind", released on the soundtrack to the television series Friends in 1995, did not appear on Cracked Rear View or Fairweather Johnson, but became a hit on radio in 1996 after three singles from Fairweather Johnson had been released. Both "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" and "I Go Blind" were later released on the compilation Scattered, Smothered and Covered.

On February 28, 1996, at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, Hootie & the Blowfish won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (for the single "Let Her Cry") and the Grammy for "Best New Artist". The band appeared on MTV Unplugged on the eve of the release of their second album, Fairweather Johnson (1996). The album contained the hit single "Old Man and Me" (U.S. No. 13), and sold four million copies in the United States.

1998–2008: Middle years
In 1998, the band performed on Frank Wildhorn's concept album of the musical The Civil War. Hootie & the Blowfish released their third studio album, Musical Chairs, on September 15, 1998. It spawned the singles "I Will Wait" and "Only Lonely".

The group covered the 1968 Orpheus hit "Can't Find the Time" for the soundtrack of the Jim Carrey movie Me, Myself & Irene (2000). The song's writer, Bruce Arnold, traded verses with Darius on several occasions when the band played live on the West Coast. The band kept to an extensive touring schedule, including an annual New Year's Eve show at Silverton Las Vegas (formerly known as Boomtown Las Vegas) in Enterprise, Nevada.

The band released a B-sides and rarities compilation titled Scattered, Smothered and Covered (2000). This album is named in tribute of Waffle House, a popular Southern chain of all-night diners. Specifically, the title refers to an order of hash browns—shredded potatoes scattered on the grill, smothered with diced onions, and covered with melted cheese.

In 2003, the band released a self-titled album.

In 2005, the band released Looking for Lucky.

2008–2018: Hiatus and solo work
In 2008, Rucker announced in an AOL Sessions interview that the band would go on hiatus for several years so that Rucker could pursue a solo career as a country music performer. Rucker confirmed the band would still perform their scheduled charity concerts but added they would not record or tour. Rucker later clarified the band was not splitting up.

In 2009, Hootie & the Blowfish performed live in a ballet that chronicled their rise and success in the 1990s.

Rucker went on to record the solo albums Learn to Live, Charleston, SC 1966, True Believers, Home for the Holidays, and Southern Style.

The band reunited for a one-time performance on the Late Show with David Letterman in the run-up to Letterman's retirement from the show in May 2015. In August 2015, Darius Rucker said on The Today Show that the band members were working on new songs and would record a new album when they had enough material.

In 2015, the Irish band Music for Dead Birds released a song titled 'Hooty and the Blowfish', a slight misspelling of the group's name.

2019–present: New music and tour
On December 3, 2018, the band announced the 44-city Group Therapy Tour with Barenaked Ladies in 2019 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of Cracked Rear View. The tour began on May 30, 2019, in Virginia Beach and concluded on September 13 in their hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. They also signed a new record deal with UMG Nashville."

The band's sixth studio album, Imperfect Circle, was released on November 1, 2019.

In April 2020, the band released a cover version of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion".

In 2022, Sonefeld released a memoir entitled Swimming with a Blowfish: Hootie, Healing, and the Ride of a Lifetime (ISBN 978-1-63576-767-4). In 2024, Rucker released Life's Too Short: A Memoir (ISBN 978-0-06323-874-9).

Record label
In 1996, Hootie & the Blowfish started their own record label, Breaking Records, as a subsidiary of Atlantic. They had planned to focus on signing local Carolina acts. Edwin McCain and Cravin' Melon were associated with the label at one point but did not release any material on it. The Meat Puppets, Jump, Little Children, Virginwool, Treadmill Trackstar, and Treehouse released one album each on Breaking Records. The label folded in 2000.

Charity work
Tim Sommer, the band's A&R representative at Atlantic Records, said Hootie & The Blowfish donated all the proceeds from a Seattle concert in the 1990s to a rape crisis group that had been set up in memory of Mia Zapata, the lead singer of the punk band The Gits, who had been murdered in 1993. Sommer had originally intended to sign The Gits to Atlantic before Zapata's death and prior to him signing Hootie & The Blowfish.

Hootie & the Blowfish have become known for their charity work. The entire band and crew traveled to New Orleans for five days of building houses in Musicians' Village on October 16–20, 2006. The band's members are avid golfers and have sponsored the annual spring Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament, benefiting local charities, since 1995.

Hootie & the Blowfish toured through the Middle East and Europe, supporting American troops during a USO tour. On December 5, 1998, Darius Rucker broke into a cappella solo of the US National Anthem during the lowering of colors on board USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which was docked in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. The band then played an extended concert for crew members of the aircraft carrier.

From 2005 to 2009, Hootie & the Blowfish performed at the Animal Mission's 'Party Animals' silent auction and concert to benefit the shelter animals in Columbia, South Carolina. Each year, the event raised over $100,000 and allowed the organization to provide a free spay/neuter program for the Southern community's pets. On October 18, 2008, Hootie & the Blowfish reunited to do a show at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.

The band is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism and has worked with them on awareness campaigns like TV PSAs.

Musical style
Contrasting with the sound of their grunge contemporaries, the band's music was described as "a mainstream pop variation of blues rock" with "equal parts of jam band grooves and MOR pop." The band's sound was also described as alternative rock,   soft rock, roots rock, heartland rock, country rock, blues rock, and college rock.

Current members

 * Mark Bryan – lead guitar, backing vocals, piano (1986–2008, 2018–present)
 * Dean Felber – bass guitar, backing vocals, piano (1986–2008, 2018–present)
 * Darius Rucker – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1986–2008, 2018–present)
 * Jim Sonefeld – drums, percussion, backing vocals, rhythm guitar (1989–2008, 2018–present)

Former members

 * Brantley Smith – drums (1986–1989)

Current touring musicians

 * Gary Greene – percussion, drums, piano, banjo, backing vocals (1995–2000, 2001–2008, 2018–present)
 * Garry Murray – banjo, mandolin, fiddle, additional guitars, backing vocals (2019–present)
 * Lee Turner - keyboards, mandolin, accordion, additional guitars, backing vocals (2021–present)

Former touring musicians

 * John Nau – keyboards, mandolin, harmonica (1994–1998, studio and occasional fill-in only; 1998–2003, studio artist and touring musician)
 * Peter Holsapple - keyboards, mandolin, accordion, lap steel guitar, additional guitars, backing vocals (1995–1998, 2003–2008, 2018–2021)
 * Philip "Fish" Fisher – percussion, drums (2000–2001)

Extended plays

 * Kootchypop (1993)

American Music Award
The American Music Award is an annual American music awards show.

 * rowspan="5" | 1996
 * rowspan="4" | Hootie & the Blowfish
 * Artist of the Year
 * Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group
 * Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist
 * Won
 * Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist
 * Cracked Rear View
 * Favorite Pop/Rock Album
 * 1997
 * Hootie & the Blowfish
 * Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group
 * Won
 * }
 * Cracked Rear View
 * Favorite Pop/Rock Album
 * 1997
 * Hootie & the Blowfish
 * Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group
 * Won
 * }
 * Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group
 * Won
 * }

Grammy Award
The Grammy Award is an award presented by The Recording Academy to recognize achievement in the mainly English-language music industry.

 * rowspan="2" | 1996
 * Hootie & the Blowfish
 * Best New Artist
 * Won
 * "Let Her Cry"
 * Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
 * Won
 * }
 * Won
 * }

MTV Video Music Award
The MTV Video Music Award is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium.

 * rowspan="2" | 1995
 * rowspan="2" | "Hold My Hand"
 * Best New Artist
 * Won
 * Viewer's Choice Award
 * 1996
 * "Only Wanna Be with You"
 * Best Group Video
 * }
 * 1996
 * "Only Wanna Be with You"
 * Best Group Video
 * }
 * }

title: Hootie & the Blowfish


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Anilox

In printing, anilox is a method used to provide a measured amount of ink to a flexographic (flexo) printing plate. An anilox roll is a hard cylinder, usually constructed of a steel or aluminum core which is coated by an industrial ceramic, typically chromium(III) oxide powder, whose surface is engraved with millions of very fine dimples, known as anilox cells. In the printing process, the anilox roll is coated in a precise layer of ink that is then transferred to the raised portions of the printing plate. The number, size, and geometry of the anilox cells vary and will determine the amount of ink that the anilox roll delivers to the plate.

Usage
Depending on the detail of the images to be printed, the press operator will select an anilox roll with a higher or lower line screen. "Line screen" is the term used for the number of cells engraved on the anilox. Low line screen rolls (100-300 lpi) are used where a heavy layer of ink is desired, such as in heavy block lettering. Higher line screens (500-1500 lpi) produce finer details and are used in four-color process work such as reproducing photographs. Often a job will require a different line screen for each color to be printed. Experienced press operators are skilled at determining the appropriate rolls for a given print job.

Depending on the design of the printing press, the anilox roll is either semi-submerged in the ink fountain, or comes into contact with a so-called metering roller, which is semi-submerged in the ink fountain. In either instance, a thick layer of typically viscous ink is deposited on the roller. A doctor blade is used to shave excess ink from the surface leaving just the measured amount of ink in the cells. The roll then rotates to make contact with the flexographic printing plate which receives the ink from the cells for transfer to the printed material.

Anilox roll selection should be based on cell volume or capacity of the engraved cells. Print results are accomplished with this volume, which transfers to the printing plate and then to the substrate. In general transfer, efficiency is approximately 25% to the substrate. Cell count remains the same for the life of the roll, while volume changes over time due to wear, plugging and damage. Cell count accommodates volume at various cell shapes available from the laser engraving process. The same cell count can be engraved to or wear to different volumes.

Chambered Doctor Blade
Contemporary ink metering systems employ a self contained system known as a chambered doctor blade system which is basically a manifold which delivers ink to the anilox roll. Ink is pumped through a hose to the chamber which fills to capacity. Ink is retained within the system by end seals and doctor blades. One blade works as a retaining blade, simply holding ink within the chamber. The other reverse angle blade works as previously described, removing excess ink from the engraved surface of the anilox roll.

Chambered doctor blade systems are recognized for high quality, consistency and accuracy removing the influence of press speed and some human subjectivity.

Roll manufacture and specification
Anilox rolls were originally made using a process of mechanical engraving, utilizing hardened steel tools of various cell counts and cell shapes diamond pecking machine, but modern rolls are laser engraved. The characteristics of an anilox roll determine the amount of ink that will be transferred to the plate: angle of the cells, cell volume, and line screen. A 60 degree angle ensures maximum density in a given space. Lower volume makes for less ink. Low line numbers will allow for a heavy layer of ink to be printed, whereas high line numbers will permit finer detail in printing. Both cell volume and line screen are closely correlated.

The rolls are often specified by their line screen, which is the number of cells per linear inch. These often range from around 250 to upwards of 2000, though the precise numbers vary by manufacturer. Most rolls sold are within 800 LPI, although a spike in demand for those with 800–1200 lines has been seen. Anilox rolls are almost always designed to be removed from the press for cleaning and for swapping out with different line screen rolls.

Anilox rolls are properly specified by cell volume for the required print application. Lower volumes = thinner ink films for the highest quality process printing. Higher volumes address combination, screens, line work, solid coverage and coating applications. In virtually all printing applications with various print requirements, one volume will not print all to the highest quality. Limited print stations generally call for a compromise between the highest quality graphics and color.

There are many variables to consider when specifying an anilox roll beyond the print requirements, such as substrate, ink system, plate material, plate mounting tape, press speed, and drying capacity. The best course of action is to consult suppliers of all these components for proper engraving specifications from their experience.

Anilox roll specifications
There are two ways to specify anilox roll settings: on transfer volume or on line count. Each specification has both a European standard and an American standard.

Transfer volume
Transfer volume is the volume of ink that will be transferred per unit surface area of paper. The European standard for transfer volume is cm3/m2 or cubic centimetre per square meter, which means 1 cm3 of ink will be transferred onto 1 m2 of paper.

Sometimes ink suppliers will give a recommended transfer weight per square meter, expressed in g/m2. This can be converted to cm3/m2 by dividing by the density of the ink in g/cm3.

The American standard for transfer volume is a billion cubic microns per square inch, typically written as BCM / in2, BCM/sq in, or BCM. A cubic micron (μm3) is a unit of volume and one billion cubic microns (1 000 000 000 μm3) is equal to 0.001 cm3. Since one square meter is equal to 1550 square inches, it follows that 15 BCM/in2 = 1 cm3/m2.

Line count
Line count measures the finesse of the pattern on the anilox roll. It measures how many cells are engraved per centimetre or inch.

In Europe the standard is LPCM or lines per centimeter.

In America, the standard is LPI or lines per inch.

The conversion from transfer volume to line count is not straightforward. This is because depending on the pattern used for the cell and depth of gravure of the anilox roll, the cell might contain higher or lower volumes of ink. The only way to convert cm3/m2 (transfer volume) to LPCM (cell finesse) or BCM to LPI is to look at the conversion chart provided by the anilox roll supplier.

Also, any given anilox roll will age after some time and its actual transfer volume will be less and less.

Handling and maintenance
Though large wide-web flexo rolls are only maneuverable by overhead crane, on smaller presses anilox rolls are often handled directly by operators. Extreme caution must be taken when handling these pieces of hardware as a single bump against a hard surface or sharp corner can destroy the delicate cell structure on the surface and render a roller completely useless, at a cost of around US$5000 for even small narrow-web rollers. Nicks and scratches add up quickly, so fine brushes (never brass brushes) are used for cleaning the anilox roll.

Anilox rollers that are used with water, solvent and oil based inks, which dry when left sitting out and unagitated, must be cleaned immediately after use or a problem known as plugging occurs, where minuscule amounts of ink dry in the cells. This leaves tiny, but unacceptable, pinholes in anything printed from the roll in the future. Anilox rolls can also become damaged if a steel doctor blade breaks and begins to grind the anilox roll. This creates a defect in the print called a "score line" due to the scoring of the anilox.

Environmental Considerations
Ceramic Anilox are routinely manufactured by plasma spraying chromium(III) oxide powders (Cr2O3) on to the roller or sleeve surface.

Chromium oxide is manufactured by calcining sodium dichromate in the presence of carbon or sulfur.

The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) classes sodium dichromate a Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Anilox


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Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (drums, percussion, soundscapes). They form a key part of the 1990s Welsh Cool Cymru cultural movement.

Following the release of their debut single "Suicide Alley" in 1988, Manic Street Preachers became a quartet with the addition of Richey Edwards as co-lyricist and rhythm guitarist. The band's early albums were in a punk vein, eventually broadening to a greater alternative rock sound, whilst retaining a leftist political outlook. Their early combination of androgynous glam imagery and lyrics about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" gained them a loyal following.

Manic Street Preachers' first charting single was "Motown Junk" in 1991, followed by their debut album, Generation Terrorists, in February 1992. The band's next two albums were Gold Against the Soul in 1993 and The Holy Bible in 1994, the latter being the last album with Edwards, who disappeared in February 1995 and was legally presumed dead in 2008. The band continued as a trio, and achieved commercial success with the albums Everything Must Go (1996) and This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998).

The Manics have headlined festivals including Glastonbury, T in the Park, V Festival and Reading, winning eleven NME Awards, eight Q Awards and four BRIT Awards. They were nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1996 and 1999, and have had one nomination for the MTV Europe Music Awards. The band has sold more than ten million albums worldwide. The Manics have two number-one singles in the UK charts: "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" (1998) and "The Masses Against the Classes" (2000), as well as two number-one albums: This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours and The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021). From 1991 to 2010, the band recorded 33 consecutive top 40 singles in the UK.

Formation and early years (1986–1991)
Manic Street Preachers formed in 1986 at Oakdale Comprehensive School, Blackwood, South Wales, which all the band members attended. Bradfield and the slightly older Moore are cousins and shared bunk beds in the Bradfield family home after Moore's parents divorced.

During the band's early years, Bradfield, alongside the classically trained Moore, primarily wrote the music while Wire focused on the lyrics. The origin of the band's name remains unclear, but the most often-told story relates that Bradfield while busking one day in Cardiff, got into an altercation with someone (sometimes said to be a homeless man) who asked him "What are you, boyo, some kind of manic street preacher?"

Original bassist Flicker (Miles Woodward) left the band in early 1988, reportedly because he believed that the band were moving away from their punk roots. The band continued as a three-piece, with Wire switching from guitar to bass, and in 1988 they released their first single, "Suicide Alley". Despite its recording quality, this single provides an early insight into both Bradfield's guitar work and Moore's live drumming. The Manics intended to restore revolution to rock and roll at a time when Britain was dominated by shoegaze and acid house. The NME gave "Suicide Alley" an enthusiastic review, citing a press release by Richey Edwards: "We are as far away from anything in the '80s as possible."

After the release of "Suicide Alley," Edwards joined the band on rhythm guitar and contributed to lyrics alongside Wire. Edwards also designed record sleeves and artwork and drove the band to and from gigs.

In 1990 the Manic Street Preachers signed a deal with label Damaged Goods Records for one EP. The four-track New Art Riot E.P. attracted as much media interest for its attacks on fellow musicians as for the actual music. With the help of Hall or Nothing management, the Manics signed to indie label Heavenly Records. The band recorded their first single for the label, entitled "Motown Junk". Their next single, "You Love Us", sampled Krzysztof Penderecki's "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" as well as Iggy Pop. The video featured Nicky Wire in drag as Marilyn Monroe and contained visual references to the film Betty Blue and to Aleister Crowley.

On 15 May 1991, during an interview with then-NME journalist Steve Lamacq following a gig at Norwich Arts Centre, Edwards carved the phrase "4REAL" into his arm with a razor blade in a bid to prove the sincerity of the band. He was taken to hospital and received seventeen stitches. NME subsequently ran a full-page story on the incident, including a phone interview with Richey on his motivations for doing it. A recording of the editorial meeting discussing whether or not they could publish the image was included as a b-side on the band's 1992 charity single Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless), featuring Lamacq, the then-editor of NME Danny Kelly and James Brown (who went on to edit Loaded and the British version of GQ).

As a result of their controversial behaviour, the Manics quickly became favourites of the British music press, which helped them build a dedicated following. Columbia Records of Sony Music UK signed the band shortly afterwards and they began work on their debut album.

Richey Edwards era: Generation Terrorists to The Holy Bible (1992–1995)

The band's debut album, Generation Terrorists, was released in 1992 on the Columbia Records imprint. The record contained six singles and sold 250,000 copies. The liner notes contained a literary quote for each of the album's eighteen songs and the album lasted just over seventy minutes. The album's lyrics are politicised like those of the Clash and Public Enemy, with the album's songs regularly switching from a critical focus on global capitalism to more personal tales of despair and the struggles of youth. Other tracks combine personal and political themes; "Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds" was written as a critique of overseas banking credit policies, but also concerned Richey Edwards' issues involving overdrafts and refused loans. The single "Motorcycle Emptiness", meanwhile, criticises consumerism as a "shallow dream" that makes human life overtly commercialised. "Little Baby Nothing", a duet between Traci Lords and Bradfield, was described by Priya Elan of the NME as a "perfect snapshot of [female] innocence bodysnatched and twisted".

The band also made a cover version of the song "Suicide Is Painless" which peaked at number 7 in the UK charts, spending 3 weeks in the Top 10, and giving the band their first ever Top 10 hit single.

The group's second album, Gold Against the Soul, had a more commercial, grungy sound. It was released to mixed reviews but performed well, reaching number eight in the UK album chart. The band stated that the choice to work with Dave Eringa again was important for this album. The band have described Gold Against the Soul as their least favourite album and the period surrounding the album as being the most unfocused of their career. The band's vocalist and guitarist James Dean Bradfield has said "All we wanted to do was go under the corporate wing. We thought we could ignore it but you do get affected."

By early 1994, Edwards' difficulties became worse and began to affect the other band members as well as himself. He was admitted into The Priory in 1994 to overcome his problems and the band played a few festivals as a three-piece to pay for his treatment. During one such three-piece performance at Reading '94, James played Richey's black Gibson as a mark of respect (although James later commented that he regretted playing Richey's guitar).

The group's next album, The Holy Bible, was released in August to critical acclaim, but sold poorly. The album displayed yet another musical and aesthetic change for the band, largely featuring army/navy uniforms. Musically, The Holy Bible marks a shift from the modern rock sound of their first two albums, Generation Terrorists and Gold Against the Soul. In addition to the album's alternative rock sound the album incorporates various elements from other musical genres, such as hard rock, British punk, post-punk, new wave, industrial, art rock and gothic rock.

Lyrically the album deals with subjects including prostitution, American consumerism, British imperialism, freedom of speech, the Holocaust, serial killers, the death penalty, political revolution, childhood, fascism and suicide. According to Q: "the tone of the album is by turns bleak, angry and resigned". There was also an element of autobiographic subjects, like in the song "4st 7lb" where the lyrics clearly tackle Richey's own experience with anorexia. The song was named after 4 stones 7 pounds, or 63 lbs, because it is the weight below which death is said to be medically unavoidable for an anorexic sufferer.

The title "The Holy Bible" was chosen by Edwards to reflect an idea, according to Bradfield, that "everything on there has to be perfection". Interviewed at the end of 1994, Edwards said: "The way religions choose to speak their truth to the public has always been to beat them down [...] I think that if a Holy Bible is true, it should be about the way the world is and that's what I think my lyrics are about. [The album] doesn't pretend things don't exist".

In support of the album the band appeared on Top of the Pops, performing its first single, "Faster", which reached No. 16. The performance was extremely controversial at the time, as the band were all dressed in army regalia. Bradfield wore a "terrorist-style" balaclava. At the time, the band was told by the BBC that they had received the most complaints ever. The album eventually has sold over 600,000 copies worldwide.

In April and May 1994 the band first performed songs from The Holy Bible at concerts in Thailand and Portugal and at a benefit concert for the Anti-Nazi League at Brockwell Park, London. In June, they played the Glastonbury Festival. In July and August, without Richey Edwards, they played T in the Park in Scotland, the Alte Wartesaal in Cologne, the Parkpop Festival in The Hague and the Reading Festival. During September, October and December there was a headline tour of the UK and Ireland and two tours in mainland Europe with Suede and Therapy?. In December, three nights at the London Astoria ended with the band smashing up their equipment and the venue's lighting rig, causing £26,000 worth of damage.

The disappearance of Richey Edwards
Edwards disappeared on 1 February 1995, on the day when he and James Dean Bradfield were due to fly to the US on a promotional tour. In the two weeks before his disappearance, Edwards withdrew £200 a day from his bank account, which totalled £2,800 by the day of the scheduled flight. He checked out of the Embassy Hotel in Bayswater Road, London, at seven in the morning, and then drove to his apartment in Cardiff, Wales. In the two weeks that followed he was apparently spotted in the Newport passport office, and the Newport bus station. On 7 February, a taxi driver from Newport supposedly picked up Edwards from the King's Hotel in Newport, and drove him around the valleys, including Blackwood (Edwards' home as a child). The passenger got off at the Severn View service station near Aust and paid the £68 fare in cash.

On 14 February, Edwards' Vauxhall Cavalier received a parking ticket at the Severn View service station and on 17 February, the vehicle was reported as abandoned. Police discovered the battery to be flat, with evidence that the car had been lived in. Due to the service station's proximity to the Severn Bridge (which has been a renowned suicide location in the past) it was widely believed that he took his own life by jumping from the bridge.

Manic Street Preachers was put on hold for six months and disbanding the group was seriously considered, but with the blessing of Edwards' family, the other members continued. Edwards was legally "presumed dead" in 2008, to enable his parents to administer his estate. The band continue to set up a microphone for Edwards at every live performance.

Everything Must Go to Lifeblood (1996–2006)
The first album without Edwards, Everything Must Go, was released on 20 May 1996. The band had chosen to work with new producer Mike Hedges, mainly for his work on Siouxsie and the Banshees' single "Swimming Horses" that Bradfield rated highly. Everything Must Go debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number 2, so far the album has gone Triple Platinum in the UK and is their most successful album to date, spending 103 weeks in the Top 100 with the album still in the Top 5 a year after its release. Containing five songs either written or co-written by Edwards the album was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews. The No. 2 hit single "A Design for Life" was the first to be written and released by the band following the disappearance of Richey Edwards the previous year. James Dean Bradfield later recalled that the lyric had been a fusion of two sets of lyrics-"Design for Life" and "Pure Motive"-sent to him from Wales by bassist Nicky Wire, while he was living in Shepherd's Bush. The music was written "in about ten minutes" and Bradfield felt a sense of euphoria with the result. The song was credited with having "rescued the band" from the despair felt after the disappearance of Edwards, with Wire describing the song as "a bolt of light from a severely dark place".

The album was shortlisted for the 1996 Mercury Prize award for best album and won the band two Brit Awards for Best British Band and Best British Album, as well as yielding the hit singles "Australia", "Everything Must Go" and "Kevin Carter". The album has sold over two million copies around the world, and it is still considered one of the finest releases of the decade, a classic album from the 1990s and frequently voted in polls in the category of best albums of all time by many publications. The success of Everything Must Go at the 1997 Brit Awards ensured that sales of their earlier albums Generation Terrorists, Gold Against the Soul and The Holy Bible enjoyed a late surge; the band's debut sold an extra 110,000 copies.

In 1997 the band performed a special gig at the Manchester Arena for more than 20,000 people. Bassist Nicky Wire said that was the moment he knew that the band had "made it". The recording was released as a VHS video on 29 September 1997 and has only been reissued on DVD in Japan.

The band's next album, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998), was the first number 1 of the band in the UK, remaining at the top of the albums chart for 3 weeks, selling 136,000 copies in the first week and spending a total of 74 weeks in the Album Chart. The title is a quotation taken from a speech given by Aneurin Bevan, a Labour Party politician from Wales. The cover photograph was taken on Black Rock Sands near Porthmadog, Wales. Around the world the album also peaked at number 1 in countries like Sweden and Ireland, and it sold over five million copies worldwide.

With their fifth album, the group also had a No. 1 single, "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next". The song's theme is taken from the Spanish Civil War, and the idealism of Welsh volunteers who joined the left-wing International Brigades fighting for the Spanish Republic against Francisco Franco's military rebels. The song takes its name from a Republican poster of the time, displaying a photograph of a young child killed by the Nationalists under a sky of bombers with the stark warning "If you tolerate this, your children will be next" written at the bottom. The song is in the Guinness World Records as the number one single with the longest title without brackets. The album also included the hit singles "You Stole the Sun from My Heart", "Tsunami" and "The Everlasting". The Manics won Best British Band and Album awards at the BRIT Awards in 1999. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours was also shortlisted for the 1999 Mercury Prize and the band received a further nomination in the category of Best UK & Ireland Act in the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards, where the band performed live the single If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next. In the NME Awards in 1999, the band won every single big prize, Best Band, Best Album, Best Live Act, Best Single and Best Video, as well as the Best Band in the World Today award in the Q Awards 1998.

After headlining Glastonbury Festival, T in the Park and V Festival, the band played the Leaving the 20th Century concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 31 December 1999, the first concert to be held there, with 57,000 people attending and the final song being broadcast around the world by satellite as part of 2000 Today. The concert is available on VHS and DVD. Subtitled English lyrics, available as an extra, contain errors when compared to the official lyrics in the band's album booklets and in between some of the tracks there are interview clips where the band discusses their history and the songs.

In 2000, they released the limited edition single "The Masses Against the Classes". Despite receiving little promotion, the single sold 76,000 copies in its first week and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 16 January 2000, beating "U Know What's Up" by Donell Jones to the top. The catalogue entry for the single was deleted (removed from wholesale supply) on the day of release, but the song nevertheless spent 9 weeks in the UK chart.

In 2001, they became the first popular Western rock band to play in Cuba (at the Karl Marx Theatre) and met with President Fidel Castro. Their concert and trip to Cuba was documented and then released as a DVD entitled Louder Than War. At this concert, they revealed many tracks from their upcoming sixth album, Know Your Enemy, which was released on 19 March. The left-wing political convictions of the Manic Street Preachers are apparent in many of the album's songs, such as "Baby Elián" as they comment on the strained relations between the United States and Cuba as seen in the Elián González affair, a hot topic around the album's release.

The band also pays tribute to singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson in the song "Let Robeson Sing", but the song "Ocean Spray", which was a single, was written entirely by James about his mother's battle with cancer. The first singles from the album, "So Why So Sad" and "Found That Soul", were both released on the same day. The final single "Let Robeson Sing" was released later. The Manics also headlined Reading and Leeds Festival.

The greatest hits (plus remixes) album Forever Delayed was released in 2002, containing two new songs, "Door to the River" and the single "There by the Grace of God". Several songs were edited for length ("Motorcycle Emptiness," "You Love Us", "Australia," "Everything Must Go," "Little Baby Nothing," and "The Everlasting") so that more tracks could fit onto the CD (though not listed as edits in the liner notes).

The Forever Delayed DVD was released in 2002 together with the greatest hits CD and photo book that bear the same name, and features all the promo music videos from the start of the band's career released before the DVD. Along with the promo videos, there is a selection of 14 remix videos, where the visual material is taken from clips of the other promo videos as well as backdrop visuals from the band's live concerts. The album peaked and debuted on the UK Albums Chart at #4.

An album of B-sides, rarities, and cover versions was released in 2003 entitled Lipstick Traces (A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers), which contains the last song the band worked on with Edwards. The album received a far more positive reception from fans than the Forever Delayed greatest hits album, which was heavily criticised for favouring the band's more commercially successful singles. The only recurring criticism of Lipstick Traces was the exclusion of the fan favourite "Patrick Bateman", from the "La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)" single. The band explained that it was excluded mainly because it was almost seven minutes long and simply would not fit on the album.

The band's seventh studio album, Lifeblood, was released on 1 November 2004 and reached No. 13 on the UK album chart. Critical response to the album was mixed. The album was more introspective and more focused on the past, Wire talked about the ghosts that haunted this record and stated that the record was a retrospective: "The main themes are death and solitude and ghosts. Being haunted by history and being haunted by your own past. Sleep is beautiful for me. I hate dreaming because it ruins ten hours of bliss. I had a lot of bad dreams when Richey first disappeared. Not ugly dreams, but nagging things. Until we wrote 'Design for Life', it was six months of misery. Lifeblood doesn't seek to exorcise Edwards' ghost, though, just admits that there are no answers". Tony Visconti helped the band produce three songs on the album, which was followed by a UK arena tour in December 2004. "Empty Souls" and "The Love of Richard Nixon" were the two singles released from the album, both reaching No. 2 in the UK.

A tenth-anniversary edition of The Holy Bible was released on 6 December 2004, which included a digitally remastered version of the original album, a rare U.S. mix (which the band themselves have admitted to preferring to the original UK mix) and a DVD of live performances and extras including a band interview.

In April 2005, the band played several shows as the Past-Present-Future tour—announced as their last for at least two years. The band released an EP entitled God Save the Manics with only a limited number of copies available and given out to fans as they arrived at the venue. After all the copies were gone, the band made the EP available as a free download on their website. In September, the band contributed the new track "Leviathan" to the War Child charity album Help!: A Day in the Life.

In 2006 the band received the prize for the Q Merit Award in the Q Awards 2006 and also the 10th-anniversary edition of Everything Must Go was released on 6 November. It included the original album, demos, B-sides, remixes, rehearsals and alternate takes of the album's songs, spread out over two CDs. An additional DVD, featuring music videos, live performances, TV appearances, a 45-minute documentary on the making of the album, and two films by Patrick Jones, completed the three-disc set.

In the 10th-anniversary edition, the band itself claims that they're still fond of the record, and Wire goes further saying: "I think it's our best record, I am not afraid to say that."

Send Away the Tigers to National Treasures (2007–2012)
The band's eighth studio album, Send Away the Tigers, was released on 7 May 2007 on Columbia Records. It entered the official UK album charts at No. 2. Critical response to the album was largely positive, with some critics hailing the album as the band's best in a decade. A free download of a song entitled "Underdogs" from the album was made available through the group's website on 19 March 2007. The first official single released from the album was "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough", featuring Cardigans vocalist Nina Persson. According to singer Bradfield, the title was the last line of a suicide note left by the friend of someone close to the group. The second single, "Autumnsong", and a third, "Indian Summer", were released in August. "Indian Summer" peaked at number 22, making it the first Manics single not to chart in the Top 20 since 1994's "She Is Suffering". The album sleeve features a quotation from Wyndham Lewis: "When a man is young, he is usually a revolutionary of some kind. So here I am, speaking of my revolution".

A Christmas single, "The Ghosts of Christmas", was released as a free download on the band's official website throughout December 2007 and January 2008. In February 2008, the band were presented with the God-Like Geniuses Award at the NME Awards ceremony.

The ninth Manics album, Journal for Plague Lovers, was released on 18 May 2009 and features lyrics left behind by Edwards. Wire commented in an interview that "there was a sense of responsibility to do his words justice." The album was released to positive critical reviews and reached No. 3 on the UK Album Chart. However, the cover of the album generated some controversy, with the top four UK supermarkets stocking the CD in a plain slipcase, as the cover was deemed "inappropriate".

Several tracks refer to Edwards' time in a couple of hospitals in 1994. Bradfield commented that Journal for Plague Lovers was an attempt to finally secure the legacy of their former member Richey Edwards and the result was that, during the recording process, it was as close to feeling his presence since his disappearance: "There was a sense of responsibility to do his words justice. That was part of the whole thing of letting enough time lapse. Once we actually got into the studio, it almost felt as if we were a full band; it [was] as close to him being in the room again as possible."

The band's tenth album Postcards from a Young Man was recorded with producer Dave Eringa and was mixed in America by Chris Lord-Alge. The album cover art uses a black and white photograph of British actor Tim Roth. The first single from the album, "(It's Not War) Just the End of Love", was released on 13 September. The album was supported by the Manics' most extensive tour of the UK to date, starting in Glasgow on 29 September 2010. British Sea Power were the support act for the band on the tour. Two further singles were released from the album—the McCulloch-featuring "Some Kind of Nothingness" and the title track "Postcards from a Young Man". "Some Kind of Nothingness" peaked at No. 44 in the UK making it the first-ever Manics single to not make the Top 40 since they signed to Sony in 1991.

National Treasures – The Complete Singles was released on 31 October 2011, preceded by the release of the single "This Is the Day", a cover of the song by The The. On 17 December 2011, the group performed 'A Night of National Treasures' at O2 Arena in London to celebrate the band's 25 years to date, and enter into a period of hiatus where the eleventh album was written. The band performed all 38 singles, with around 20,000 people in attendance, as well as guest performers including Nina Persson from the Cardigans who sings with the band on the single "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" and Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals who sang with the band that night on the track Let Robeson Sing. In April and May 2012, the band embarked on a European greatest hits tour. The compilation was voted by NME magazine as the best re issue of 2011, beating Nirvana's deluxe and super deluxe edition of Nevermind to the top spot.

Despite the "complete singles" title, National Treasures does not contain every Manic Street Preachers single. Notable omissions are the band's very first single, "Suicide Alley" (1989), "Strip It Down" from the New Art Riot EP (1990), for which the band's first promotional video was made, and "You Love Us (Heavenly Version)" (1991). For singles originally released as double-A sides, only one song is included: therefore from "Love's Sweet Exile/Repeat" (1992) and "Faster/P.C.P." (1994), only the first of each pair are included.

A film-interview-documentary about their album Generation Terrorists was screened on Saturday 20 October 2012 at Chapter Arts Centre as part of the Sŵn Festival, with all profits donated to Young Promoters Network. The film was made available in the 20th-anniversary re-issue of Generation Terrorists.

Rewind the Film to The Ultra Vivid Lament (2013–present)
In May 2013, the band announced an Australasian tour for June and July, that would see them play their first-ever show in New Zealand. This tour coincided with the British and Irish Lions rugby tour to Australia and the Melbourne concert on the eve of the 2nd Test featured Lions' centre Jamie Roberts as a guest guitarist on "You Love Us".

In May 2013 the Manics released information about their most recent recording sessions, saying that they had enough material for two albums; the first would be almost exclusively without electric guitars. The name of the first album and title track was revealed to be Rewind the Film on 8 July. In a statement, the band announced, "(If) this record has a relation in the Manics back catalogue, it's probably the sedate coming of age that was This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours." The band also stated via Twitter, "MSP were in the great Hansa Studios in January with Alex Silva (who recorded The Holy Bible with us). Berlin was inspirational... Sean been playing a french horn in the studio today—sounding wonderful." The lead single of the album, "Show Me the Wonder", was released on 9 September 2013 to a positive critical reception. The album itself was released on 16 September 2013 and reached No. 4 on the UK Album Chart. The second single of the album "Anthem for a Lost Cause" was released on 25 November 2013.

The other album, Futurology, the band's twelfth studio album, was released on 7 July 2014 and it received immediate critical acclaim. The lead single from the album, "Walk Me to the Bridge", was released as a digital download on the day of the announcement, on 28 April. The album sold about 20,000 copies in its first week and reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. The title track, "Futurology", was the second and final single released from the album on 22 September, the video debuted on YouTube on 10 August. The video was directed by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts winner Kieran Evans, who worked with the band on videos from their previous effort Rewind the Film. The band promoted the album with a tour around the UK and Europe from March to May 2014, they also made appearances in festivals like T in the Park in Scotland and Glastonbury Festival in the summer.

In December 2014, the band toured The Holy Bible, playing it in full for the very first time, to coincide with its 20th anniversary reissue. After the tour in the UK, the Manics took The Holy Bible tour to North America, in April 2015, they played in Washington DC, Toronto, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. They also played in the Cardiff Castle on 5 June 2015 with 10,000 fans attending the gig, it was broadcast nationwide by BBC Two Wales. In the NME Awards 2015, the album won "Reissue of the Year".

In November 2015, the Manic Street Preachers announced that they were going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 1996 album Everything Must Go, with their biggest headline show since 1999, in the Liberty Stadium, in Swansea on 28 May 2016, featuring special guests like Super Furry Animals. The album was performed in full, with Nicky Wire teasing "B-sides, rarities and curios, greatest hits and a few brand-new songs". Before the final show in Swansea the band played: Liverpool, Echo Arena (13 May), Birmingham, Genting Arena (14 May), London, Royal Albert Hall (16–17 May), Leeds, First Direct Arena (20 May) and Glasgow, the SSE Hydro (21 May). In early 2016 the band announced the European tour of Everything Must Go, they played across Europe, in Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.

The band announced in March 2016 that they would be releasing a theme song for the Wales national team ahead of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament in the summer, entitled "Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)", it was released on 20 May, featuring also a video with the band and the Welsh team, the Manics tweeted: "It's with great pride we can announce the Manics are providing the official Wales Euro 2016 song – 'Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)'". All profits from the song went to the Princes Gate Trust and Tenovus Cancer Care. On 8 July the band was at the Cardiff City Stadium to give a home welcome to the Wales football national team after they were knocked out of the UEFA Euro 2016 by Portugal in the semi-finals, the band played a few songs in the stadium including the official theme song "Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)". On the next night, 9 July, the Manics headlined a night at the Cornwall's Eden Project, and later the band managed to secure a new recording studio near Newport, Wales. The city's council ensured that only the band can use the studio, there would be an increase on-site parking and a series of soundproofing measures to ensure nearby properties aren't disturbed by noise. To end the summer, the Manics went on to headline another two festivals, Wasa Open Air in Finland in mid-August and in late August the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth. The band also received a nomination in the 25th British Academy Cymru Awards for the best live outside broadcast after their 2015 gig in the Cardiff Castle, celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Holy Bible.

In February 2017 the band revealed a teaser trailer for a documentary entitled Escape from History, charting the band's journey from The Holy Bible, through to the disappearance of lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards, to the huge success of Everything Must Go. The documentary aired on Sky Arts on 15 April. The band also stated that they would release an album later in that year.

The band released a special edition of their album Send Away the Tigers on 12 May. 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the record and the Manics said that "this is a very important album" in their career. The special edition featured a remastered album as well as B-sides and rarities spread over two discs, plus a DVD which features the band's 2007 Glastonbury performance, rehearsal footage, an album track-by-track, and promo videos.

On 17 November 2017, the band announced that their thirteenth album, Resistance Is Futile, would be released on 13 April 2018. After much delay, the band wrote "The main themes of 'Resistance Is Futile' are memory and loss; forgotten history; confused reality and art as a hiding place and inspiration", the band say in a statement. "It's obsessively melodic—in many ways referencing both the naive energy of 'Generation Terrorists' and the orchestral sweep of 'Everything Must Go'. After delay and difficulties getting started, the record has come together really quickly over the last few months through a surge of creativity and some old school hard work." It is the first album to be recorded at the "Door to the River" studio.

In January 2018, Manic Street Preachers signed a publishing contract with Warner/Chappell Music, leaving their longtime home Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

On the album, the Manics launched their first single "International Blue" as a download on 8 December 2017. The second single "Distant Colours" was released, also as a download, on 16 February 2018. About the first single the band said that there was certain naive energy and widescreen melancholia on the song that is reflected through the whole album, comparing it to "Motorcycle Emptiness". Furthermore, the album focused on "(...)things that make your life feel a little bit better. Rather than my internalised misery, I tried to put a sense of optimism into the lyrics by writing about things that we find really inspiring." Said Wire, taking inspiration from David Bowie and seen as almost an escape and a wave of optimism, just like the previous album was described.

On the other hand, "Distant Colours" was written by James Dean Bradfield, rather than Nicky Wire, and inspired by disenchantment and Nye Bevan's old Labour. He said: "Musically, the verse is downcast and melancholic and the chorus is an explosion of disillusionment and tears." The third single "Dylan & Caitlin" was released as a download on 9 March 2018. The fourth single "Liverpool Revisited" is about a magical day in the city, Nicky added that: "It was on the Everything Must Go (anniversary) tour and I got up really early at sunrise to walk around Liverpool, polaroid camera in hand on a balmy day. It sounds clichéd I know, but Liverpool in the sun does take on a hypnotic quality, with the Mersey and the stone." The band also revealed that they were to support Guns N' Roses during their summer tour. The fifth and final single, "Hold Me Like a Heaven", was released as a download on 4 May 2018. Wire said that the song was inspired musically by David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes", something that the band wanted to write about, and Nicky thinks that this the closest that the band is going to get, sharing also that lyrics were informed by the work of Philip Larkin.

The album sold around 24,000 copies in the first week, entering the UK Albums Chart at number 2, despite being number 1 during the week. It was the highest new entry on the chart, and on physical sales the album peaked at number 1, both on CD and vinyl.

In October 2018, the band announced a twentieth-anniversary collector's edition re-release of This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. It was made available on digital, CD, and vinyl, with the CD edition featuring bonus demos, live rehearsal recordings, remixes, and B-sides. The album was launched on 7 December 2018 and to promote it, the band went on tour in Spring and Summer 2019, performing the album in full alongside other content.

In March 2020, the Manics announced a deluxe reissue of their Gold Against the Soul album for release on 12 June 2020. Bonus content included previously unreleased demos, B-sides from the era, remixes, and a live recording, while the CD was released alongside a book of unseen photographs from the era with handwritten annotations and lyrics from the band. The next day, the unnamed follow-up album to Resistance Is Futile, their fourteenth overall, was confirmed to NME alongside Bradfield's second solo album. The group's album, including a track called "Orwellian", was described as "expansive" and is due for release in Summer 2021.

On 14 May 2021, the Manics announced the title of their fourteenth studio album: The Ultra Vivid Lament. The first single from the album, "Orwellian", was released on the same day. "The Secret He Had Missed", the second single from the album, was released on 16 July 2021. The Ultra Vivid Lament was released on 10 September 2021 and received generally positive reviews from critics: on Metacritic, the album has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The album sold 27,000 copies in the first week, granting the band their second UK Number 1 album as they narrowly beat Steps to the number 1 spot.

In May and June 2022, Manic Street Preachers opened for The Killers in some of their UK tour dates.

In September 2022, the Manics announced a co-headlining tour of United States and Canada with Suede for November 2022, which would be the first time the two bands would share the stage since they toured Europe together in 1994.

On 24 June 2023, the band played the Glastonbury Festival. Speaking to the Other Stage crowd, Nicky Wire said: "The first time we played was 1994 and it was the four of us, we had the one and only Richard Edwards with us, oh yes, we had a f**king blast. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, it was f**king fun you know."

All four band members were honoured with a mural in their hometown of Blackwood in April 2024, designed by street artist Paul Shepherd.

Collaborations and covers

The band released a split single in 1992 with the Fatima Mansions, a rock cover of "Suicide Is Painless", which became their first UK Top 10 hit. They have recorded many cover versions of songs by other artists, primarily as B-sides for their own singles. Bands and artists to whom the group have paid tribute in this way include the Clash, Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper, Happy Mondays, McCarthy, Chuck Berry, Faces and Nirvana.

The band's first musical appearance since Edwards' departure was recording a cover of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" for The Help Album, a charity effort in 1995 in support of aid efforts in war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Lightning Seeds' song "Waiting for Today to Happen", from their fifth album, Dizzy Heights (1996), was written by Nicky Wire and Ian Broudie. That same year, James Dean Bradfield and Dave Eringa produced Northern Uproar's first single, "Rollercoaster/Rough Boys". The 808 State song "Lopez" (1997) features lyrics by Wire and vocals by Bradfield. It is featured on their greatest hits album, 808:88:98. Kylie Minogue's sixth album, Impossible Princess (1997), features two songs co-written and produced by the Manics: "Some Kind of Bliss" (Bradfield, Minogue and Sean Moore) and "I Don't Need Anyone" (Bradfield, Jones and Minogue) were produced by Bradfield and Dave Eringa. Bradfield provided backing vocals, bass guitar and production for the Massive Attack song "Inertia Creeps" (1998), which features on their successful third album, Mezzanine. Patrick Jones's album of poetry set to music, Commemoration and Amnesia (1999), features two songs with music written by Bradfield: the title track and "The Guerilla Tapestry". Bradfield plays the guitar on both songs. Furthermore, the track "Hiraeth" features a section called "Spoken Word", in which Nicky Wire talks about Welsh identity.

In February 2006, the band contributed a cover version of "The Instrumental" to the album Still Unravished: A Tribute to the June Brides.

In February 2008, the Manics covered Rihanna's hit pop song "Umbrella". Their version appeared on a CD titled NME Awards 2008 given away free with a special souvenir box-set issue of NME magazine, which went on sale 27 February. Additionally, the Manics' version of the song was made available on iTunes from 5 March 2008. Despite being chart-eligible (it reached number 47 in the UK), the release was not intended as an official single. Two further versions (the Acoustic and Grand Slam mixes) were later made available on iTunes and now comprise a three-track Umbrella EP.

James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire contributed an original song, "The Girl from Tiger Bay", to Shirley Bassey's 2009 studio album, The Performance.

Musical style and influences
Manic Street Preachers' music has been variously described as alternative rock, Britpop, hard rock glam rock, pop rock, punk metal, and punk rock.

The band have stated that the Clash were "probably our biggest influence of all". When they saw them on television, "we thought it was fantastic and got really excited. They were the catalyst for us". In addition, they have cited artists including Guns N' Roses, Alice in Chains, Red Hot Chili Peppers, PiL, Skids, Gang of Four, Magazine, Bruce Springsteen, the New York Dolls, Girls Against Boys, Anna Meredith, Wire, Julia Holter, Rush, Felt, Simple Minds, ABBA, the Associates, and Talk Talk as influences on their music. Bradfield's guitar hero is guitarist John McGeoch: "He taught me, you can have that rock'n'roll swagger, but still build something into it that's really unsettling, and can cut like a razor blade".

Though the band's first album Generation Terrorists was mostly politically charged glam-rock mixed with punk influences, their style shifted towards a darker sound on Gold Against the Soul. When The Holy Bible was released, the Manic Street Preachers had incorporated post-punk into their musical style, starting many songs on the album with either recordings of interviews or quotes, or clean, reverberated guitar sounds before abruptly changing tempo and engaging distortion. After Edwards' disappearance in 1995, the bands sound has become less dissonant and more appealing to a broader mainstream audience. Following albums have been described as string driven and slower-paced than their early work.

Alluding to the band's early relationship with Britpop, Cam Lindsay of Canadian music publication Exclaim! opined that "Britpop was rising, the Manics were offering the polar opposite: a bleak, uncompromising work that wanted nothing to do with the party".

Members
Current members
 * James Dean Bradfield – lead and backing vocals, lead guitar, piano, keyboards (1986–present), rhythm guitar (1988–1989, 1995–present)
 * Sean Moore – drums, percussion, trumpet, backing vocals (1986–present)
 * Nicky Wire – bass, keyboards, backing and lead vocals (1988–present), rhythm guitar (1986–1988)

Former members
 * Miles "Flicker" Woodward – bass (1986–1988)
 * Richey Edwards – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1989–1995; disappeared in 1995; declared dead in absentia in 2008)

Current touring musicians
 * Wayne Murray (Thirteen:13) – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2006–present)
 * Nick Nasmyth – keyboards (1995–2005, 2013–present)
 * Gavin Fitzjohn – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2018–present)

Former touring musicians
 * Dave Eringa – keyboards (1993–1995)
 * Greg Haver – rhythm guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2002–2003)
 * Anna Celmore – piano (2002–2003)
 * Guy Massey – rhythm guitar (2004–2005)
 * Sean Read – piano, keyboards, percussion, saxophone (2006–2012)
 * Richard Beak – bass (2018)

Discography

 * Generation Terrorists (1992)
 * Gold Against the Soul (1993)
 * The Holy Bible (1994)
 * Everything Must Go (1996)
 * This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998)
 * Know Your Enemy (2001)
 * Lifeblood (2004)
 * Send Away the Tigers (2007)
 * Journal for Plague Lovers (2009)
 * Postcards from a Young Man (2010)
 * Rewind the Film (2013)
 * Futurology (2014)
 * Resistance Is Futile (2018)
 * The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021)

Awards and nominations
Best Art Vinyl Awards

The Best Art Vinyl Awards are yearly awards established in 2005 by Art Vinyl Ltd to celebrate the best album artwork of the past year.

 * 2007
 * Send Away the Tigers
 * Best Vinyl Art
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

NME Awards

The NME Awards is an annual music award show in the United Kingdom.

 * 1996
 * rowspan=2|Manic Street Preachers
 * Best Band
 * Nominated
 * rowspan="3"|1997
 * Best Live Act
 * Won
 * Everything Must Go
 * Best LP
 * Won
 * "A Design for Life"
 * Best Track
 * Won
 * 1998
 * rowspan=2|Manic Street Preachers
 * rowspan=2|Best Band
 * Nominated
 * rowspan="4"|1999
 * Won
 * This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
 * Best Album
 * Won
 * rowspan="2"|"If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next"
 * Best Track
 * Won
 * Best Music Video
 * Won
 * rowspan=4|2000
 * "A Design for Life"
 * Best Ever Single
 * Nominated
 * The Holy Bible
 * Best Album Ever
 * Nominated
 * rowspan="4"|Manic Street Preachers
 * Best Band Ever
 * Nominated
 * Best Band
 * Nominated
 * 2001
 * Best Rock Act
 * 2008
 * Godlike Genius Award
 * Won
 * 2010
 * Journal for Plague Lovers
 * Best Album Artwork
 * 2012
 * National Treasures - The Complete Singles
 * rowspan="2"|Reissue of the Year
 * rowspan="2"|2013
 * Generation Terrorists
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Best Fan Community
 * 2015
 * The Holy Bible
 * Reissue of the Year
 * Won
 * }
 * Won
 * 2010
 * Journal for Plague Lovers
 * Best Album Artwork
 * 2012
 * National Treasures - The Complete Singles
 * rowspan="2"|Reissue of the Year
 * rowspan="2"|2013
 * Generation Terrorists
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Best Fan Community
 * 2015
 * The Holy Bible
 * Reissue of the Year
 * Won
 * }
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Best Fan Community
 * 2015
 * The Holy Bible
 * Reissue of the Year
 * Won
 * }
 * Won
 * }

Q Awards

The Q Awards are the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine Q.

 * 1996
 * Everything Must Go
 * Best Album
 * Won
 * 1998
 * rowspan="6"|Manic Street Preachers
 * rowspan="4"|Best Act in the World Today
 * Won
 * 1999
 * 2000
 * rowspan="2"|2001
 * Best Live Act
 * Won
 * 2006
 * Merit Award
 * Won
 * rowspan="2"|2007
 * "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough"
 * Best Track
 * Won
 * Send Away the Tigers
 * Best Album
 * 2011
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Greatest Act of the Last 25 Years
 * 2012
 * Generation Terrorists
 * Classic Album
 * Won
 * 2013
 * "Show Me the Wonder"
 * Best Video
 * Won
 * 2014
 * Futurology
 * Best Album
 * 2017
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Inspiration Award
 * Won
 * }
 * 2012
 * Generation Terrorists
 * Classic Album
 * Won
 * 2013
 * "Show Me the Wonder"
 * Best Video
 * Won
 * 2014
 * Futurology
 * Best Album
 * 2017
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Inspiration Award
 * Won
 * }
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Inspiration Award
 * Won
 * }

Žebřík Music Awards

!Ref.
 * rowspan=3|1998
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Best International Group
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|
 * This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
 * Best International Album
 * Nominated
 * "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next"
 * Best International Song
 * Nominated
 * "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next"
 * Best International Song
 * Nominated

 * 7th Best Band of All Time – 1999 NME Best Ever Category
 * 7th Best Album of All Time (The Holy Bible) – 1999 NME Best Ever Category
 * 8th Best Single of All Time (A Design For Life) – 1999 NME Best Ever Category
 * The MOJO Maverick Award 2009

title: Manic Street Preachers


text:
User talk:Lesslame

Hallo Thomas, willkommen bei Wikipedia! Ich hoffe, Du bleibst eine Weile und steuerst Artikel zu Themen bei, die Dich interessieren. Es gibt übrigens auch eine deutsche Wikipedia, die allerdings noch lange nicht so groß ist wie die englische. Den Artikel in c't habe ich auch gelesen, schön, dass wir endlich ein bisschen Publicity bekommen! --Eloquence 23:11 Jan 15, 2003 (UTC)

Hello. Please note my comments when I edited your article titled Reinhard Selten. Complete sentences should be used, and the title phrase should be highlighted, preferably in the first line of the article. Michael Hardy 19:12 Apr 17, 2003 (UTC)

Thanks, Michael, for the help and correction. Lesslame 17:22 Apr 27, 2003 (UTC)

title: User talk:Lesslame


text:
Speed dating

Speed dating is a formalized matchmaking process with the purpose of encouraging eligible singles to meet new potential partners in a very short period of time, so that interested pairs can continue meeting each other after the event.

Organization
Usually, advance registration is required for speed dating events. Participants are rotated to meet each other over a series of short "dates" typically lasting from three to eight minutes depending on the organization running the event. At the end of each interval a signal (e.g., a ringing bell, glass clinks or a whistle blow) is given to alert participants to move on to the next date. When the event concludes, participants can submit a list to the organizers of candidates they would like to share their contact information with. The organizers will forward the contact information if both participants included each other on the list. Contact information cannot be exchanged during the initial meeting to reduce pressure when accepting or rejecting a suitor face-to-face.

There are many speed dating events now in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Requirement for each event vary with the organizer. Specific age range based on gender is a common restriction for events. Many speed dating events are targeted at particular communities. The documentary film, "Age of Love" describes a speed dating event organized for older adults. Other groups have included: LGBT people, polyamorists, skiers, and Christians.

Practice
Participants are given a time limit in which they can talk to a potential partner, then are asked if they liked the partner before moving on to the next one. They can come alone without feeling out of place; alternatively it is something that women who like to go out in groups can do together.

According to the New York Times, participants in speed dating receive an average of 2-3 out of 10 matches. Online dating participants are said to find a compatible match with 1 in 100 or fewer of the profiles they study. The BBC reports, in the "Science of Love", that it takes between 90 seconds to 4 minutes of face-to-face interaction to determine attraction, which may give speed dating an advantage over online dating.

History
In the 19th century, there was a custom in some areas of the United States called New Year's Calling. On New Year's Day, January 1, many young, single women would hold an "open house" (a party or reception during which a person's home is open to visitors) where they would invite eligible bachelors, both friends and strangers, to stop by for a brief (no more than 10–15-minute) visit.

The earliest documented example of speed dating was by Aryeh (Alan) and Rena Hirsch of Los Angeles in early 1996, who developed speed dating as a solution to the problem of typical single events where "only attractive women and outgoing men have success at the end of the evening".

"SpeedDating", as a single word, is a registered trademark of Aish HaTorah, who began hosting such events in 1998.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, speed dating and all other dating events were paused out of caution of contracting the disease. However in 2023, speed dating and other in-person meetup mixers have increased from before the pandemic.

Scientific research
There have been several studies of the round-robin dating systems themselves, as well as studies of interpersonal attraction that are relevant to these events. Other studies found speed-dating data useful as a way to observe individual choices among random participants.

First impressions
A 2005 study at the University of Pennsylvania of multiple HurryDate speed dating events found that most people made their choices within the first three seconds of meeting. Furthermore, issues such as religion, previous marriages, and smoking habits were found to play much less of a role than expected.

A 2006 study in Edinburgh, Scotland showed that 45% of the women participants in a speed-dating event and 22% of the men had come to a decision within the first 30 seconds. It also found that dialogue concerning travel resulted in more matches than dialogue about films.

In a 2012 study, researchers found that activation of specific brain regions while viewing images of opposite-sex speed dating participants was predictive of whether or not a participant would later pursue or reject the viewed participants at an actual speed dating event. Men and women made decisions in a similar manner which incorporated the physical attractiveness and likability of the viewed participants in their evaluation.

Subconscious preferences
Malcolm Gladwell's book on split-second decision making, Blink, introduces two professors at Columbia University who run speed-dating events. Drs. Sheena Iyengar and Raymond Fisman found, from having the participants fill out questionnaires, that what people said they wanted in an ideal mate did not match their subconscious preferences.

Olfaction and the MHC
A 1995 study at the University of Bern showed that women appear to be attracted to the smell of men who have different MHC profiles from their own, and that oral contraceptives reversed this effect.

The MHC is a region of the human genome involved with immune function. Because parents with more diverse MHC profiles would be expected to produce offspring with stronger immune systems, dissimilar MHC may play a role in sexual selection.

A speed date lasting several minutes may be long enough for the MHC hypothesis to come into play, provided the participants are seated close enough together.

Olfaction and pheromones
The TV news magazine 20/20 once sent both a male and a female set of twins to a speed dating event. One of each set was wearing pheromones, and the ones wearing pheromones received more matches.

Age and height preference
A 2006 study by Michèle Belot and Marco Francesconi into the relative effects of preference versus opportunity in mate selection showed that a woman's age is the single most important factor determining demand by men. Although less important than it is to men, age is still a highly significant factor determining demand by women.

The same study found that a man's height had a significant impact upon his desirability, with a reduction in height causing a decrease in desirability at the rate of 5% per inch.

Selectivity
Studies of speed dating events generally show more selectivity among women than among men. For instance, the Penn study reported that the average man was chosen by 34% of the women and the average woman was chosen by 49% of the men. New studies suggest that the selectivity is based on which gender is seated and which is rotating. It was shown that when men were seated and the women rotated, the men were more selective.

Spin-offs
The popularity or charm of speed dating has led to at least one spin-off: speed networking. A structured way of running business networking events with the goal of making meeting potential business contacts easier and more productive.

Speed networking has also been used in China as a way for business people to meet each other and to decide if they have similar business objectives and synergies. It offers participating investors and companies an opportunity to have focused private meetings with targeted groups in a compact time frame.

In popular culture

 * Frasier. "Sliding Frasiers" (2000): Frasier attends a speed date, describing it as "all the stress and humiliation of a blind date, times twelve."
 * Peep Show. "Jeremy's Broke" (2008): Mark goes speed dating but has little luck: "Ohhh, Saz, she implied she might be ticking. Maybe she did tick! Maybe the data wasn't collated correctly! Maybe she's my hanging chad!"
 * Sex and the City. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (2000): Miranda, the lawyer, pretends to be a stewardess at the event after telling her first few "dates" that she is a successful lawyer scares them off
 * Providence. "The Mating Dance" (2001): Syd goes to a "speed dating" event.
 * Kath & Kim. "Gay" (2002): Kim, estranged from her husband of 2 months, goes with her friend Sharon to a speed dating event.
 * Reba. "Switch" (2002) : Reba's daughter, Cheyenne, convinces her mother to try speed-dating.
 * Monk. "Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater" (2003): Adrian Monk tries to talk to a suspect at a speed dating event.
 * Dead Like Me. "Hurry" (2004): Daisy goes speed dating to take the soul of one of the men participating.
 * Gilmore Girls. "But Not as Cute as Pushkin" (2004): Featured Rory's friend Paris attempting speed dating after the death of her professor boyfriend.
 * Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. "Queer Eye For The Shy Guy" (2004): a straight man is made over to attend a speed dating party.
 * 60 Minutes II. "60 Minutes II" (2004): Featured speed dating in the segment called "Love in the 21st Century"
 * The Vicar of Dibley. "Happy New Year" (2005): Geraldine Granger receives a ticket to a speed dating event for her 40th birthday.
 * Beauty and the Geek. "Episode 204" (2006): Featured speed dating as one of the challenges faced by the "geeks".
 * The Bill. "Episode 405" (2006): Yvonne Hemmingway persuades Honey Harman to go with her to a speed-dating event.
 * The L Word. "Lifeline" (2006): Alice and Kit go to a speed dating event.
 * Various dating game shows such as The 5th Wheel
 * Psych. "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me, Oops He's Dead" (2007): Shawn and Gus connect supposed "alien abductions" to a speed-dating event at a local bar, and attend undercover to solve the kidnappings.
 * The Friday Night Project. "Series 5, Episode 8 – Guest Host: Rupert Everett" (2007): Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr take Rupert Everett to a When The Music Stops speed dating event in a London bar.
 * Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. "Starved" (2005): When a speed dating service is linked to three rapes, Detective Benson goes undercover to catch the culprit.
 * iCarly. "iSpeed Date" (2009): After spitting in her crush's eye, Carly becomes humiliated and tries to find a new date for a popular school dance. Sam feels for Carly's frustration, and hatches a plan to get her a date. During the webshow, Sam handcuffs Carly to a chair and duct-tapes her mouth shut while asking boys from the Seattle area to apply for Carly's date. When the gang is overwhelmed by the number of boys who show up at the meeting place (Groovy Smoothies), they set up a speed-dating session. Carly then tells Sam that she must ask Gibby to go to the dance if Carly had to go with a random iCarly fanboy. When Sam goes to invite Gibby to the dance, he surprisingly turns her down. She discovers Gibby has a girlfriend, Tasha. When Carly's pick, Austin, keeps interrupting her conversations, she reaches her breaking point, she screams "shut up" at him and then tells him to "get out of here". The episode ends when Sam returns to the Groovy Smoothie and sees Carly and Freddie dancing a slow dance. Upon seeing this, she silently leaves.

 * Valentine (2000)
 * Let's Be Friends (2005)
 * Hitch (2005)
 * The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
 * Speed-Dating (2010)
 * In the UK, the Local Government Association with the Solent Peoples Theatre developed "political speed dating" in 2004. Not a niche dating event; these are run by local councils to introduce young constituents to their representatives.
 * BBC, The Science of Attraction within Speed Dating
 * House. "Private Lives" (2010): House, Wilson and Chase participate in a speed dating event.
 * The Only Way Is Essex. "Episode 2" (2010): Kirk becomes jealous when Amy flirts with the other male speed dating attendees.
 * Geek Love (2011-2013)

title: Speed dating


text:
Irish Independent

The Irish Independent is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis.

The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines.

Traditionally a broadsheet newspaper, it introduced an additional compact size in 2004. Further, in December 2012 (following billionaire Denis O'Brien's takeover) it was announced that the newspaper would become compact only.

Murphy and family (1905–1973)

The Irish Independent was formed in 1905 as the direct successor to The Irish Daily Independent and Daily Nation, an 1890s' pro-Parnellite newspaper. It was launched by William Martin Murphy, a controversial Irish nationalist businessman, staunch anti-Parnellite and fellow townsman of Parnell's most venomous opponent, Timothy Michael Healy from Bantry. The first issue of the Irish Independent, published 2 January 1905, was marked as "Vol. 14. No. 1".

During the 1913 Lockout of workers, in which Murphy was the leading figure among the employers, the Irish Independent vigorously sided with its owner's interests, publishing news reports and opinion pieces hostile to the strikers, expressing confidence in the unions' defeat and launching personal attacks on the leader of the strikers, James Larkin. The Irish Independent described the 1916 Easter Rising as "insane and criminal" and famously called for the shooting of its leaders. In December 1919, during the Irish War of Independence, a group of twenty IRA men destroyed the printing works of the paper, angered at its criticism of the Irish Republican Army's attacks on members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and British government officials. In 1924, the traditional nationalist newspaper, the Freeman's Journal, merged with the Irish Independent. Until October 1986 the paper's masthead over the editorial contained the words "incorporating the Freeman's Journal".

For most of its history, the Irish Independent (also called simply the Independent or more colloquially, the Indo) was seen as a nationalist, Catholic, anti-Communist, newspaper, which gave its political allegiance to the Pro-Treaty party Cumann na nGaedheal and later its successor party, Fine Gael. During the Spanish Civil War, the Irish Independent's coverage was strongly pro-Franco: the paper criticised the De Valera government for not intervening on behalf of the Spanish Nationalists.

In 1961, the harp became a symbol of the Irish Independent. It originally appeared in black but was changed to green in 1972.

O'Reilly (1973–2012)
In the 1970s, former Heinz chairman Tony O'Reilly took over the Irish Independent. Under his leadership, it became a more market liberal newspaper and economic right-wing. By the mid-nineties its allegiance to Fine Gael had ended. In the 1997 general election, it endorsed Fianna Fáil under a front-page editorial, entitled "It's Payback Time". While it suggested its headline referred to the fact that the election offered a chance to "pay back" politicians for their failings, its opponents suggested that the "payback" actually referred to its chance to get revenge for the refusal of the Rainbow Coalition to award the company a mobile phone licence.

In late 2004, Independent Newspapers moved from their traditional home in Middle Abbey Street to a new office, Independent House in Talbot Street, with the printing facilities already relocated to the Citywest business park near Tallaght.

On 27 September 2005, a fortnight after the paper published its centenary edition, it was announced that editor Vinnie Doyle would step down after 24 years in the position. He was replaced by Gerry O'Regan, who had until then been editor of the Irish Independent's sister paper, the Evening Herald. The newspaper's previous editor Stephen Rae was also formerly editor of the Evening Herald and was appointed editor in September 2012. Fionnan Sheahan was appointed editor in January 2015.

O'Brien (2012–2019)
Billionaire Denis O'Brien acquired a majority shareholding of the Irish Independent's parent company INM in May 2012.

Mediahuis (2019–present)
In July 2019 the takeover of INM by Belgian media group Mediahuis was approved by the Irish High Court.

From 11 February 2020, it was announced that Independent.ie content would go behind a paywall.

Digital archives
The Irish Independent is available on the Irish Newspaper Archives, in black-and-white microfilm up to 2004, in colour since 2005. It is also archived up to 2009 online on the British Newspaper Archive website.

New Irish Writing and Hennessy Award
Since 2011, the Irish Independent has been the home of New Irish Writing (and its associated Hennessy Award), which was originally established by David Marcus in 1969 in the Irish Press and appeared in the Sunday Tribune from 1988 to 2011. The New Irish Writing Page is "the longest-running creative writing feature of its kind in any Irish or British newspaper".

Exam Brief
The Irish Independent, in co-operation with the Institute of Education, produces Exam Brief, a yearly six-part supplement dedicated to preparation for Leaving and Junior Certificate exams. This supplement is published in February, March and April each year.

Related papers and concerns
See Independent News & Media article for newspapers and media assets in the wider group.

Print circulation
Average print circulation was approximately 165,000 copies per issue in 1999, and had dropped to approximately 100,000 by 2016.

In 2019, Independent News & Media exited the ABC auditing process.

title: Irish Independent


text:
Suede

Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items.

Suede is made from the underside of the animal skin, which is softer and more pliable than the outer skin layer, though not as durable.

Etymology
The term comes from the French gants de Suède, which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was first used by The Oxford English Dictionary in 1884.

Production
Suede leather is made from the underside of the skin, primarily from lamb, although goat, calf, and deer are commonly used. Splits from thick hides of cow and deer are also sueded, but, due to the fiber content, have a shaggy nap.

Characteristics
Because suede does not include the tough exterior skin layer, it is less durable, but softer, than the standard "full-grain" leather. Its softness, thinness, and pliability make it suitable for clothing and delicate uses; suede was originally used for women's gloves, hence its etymology (see above). Suede leather is also popular in upholstery, shoes, bags, and other accessories, and as a lining for other leather products. Due to its textured nature and open pores, suede may become dirty and quickly absorb liquids.

Preservation and conditioning
A variety of environmental factors including salt, dirt, water, oils and moisture can stain or wear out suede. With excess moisture being a way to damage suede, it cannot be cleaned with intensive water and soap like a washing machine for example. Suede brush or suede rubber alongside a nail file, white vinegar, baking soda are tools that be used to clean suede. Suede protector spray is recommended to be applied after cleaning to preserve the integrity of the fabric longer.

In popular culture

 * Suede's absorbent nature was highlighted in the Seinfeld episode "The Jacket", in which Jerry ventures outside into the snow and ruins his exorbitantly priced suede jacket.
 * "Blue Suede Shoes" is a well-known early rock-n-roll song written by Carl Perkins and also covered by Elvis Presley.
 * "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and performed the song "King of Suede".
 * "Suedehead" A skinhead subculture and song by English singer/songwriter Morrissey.
 * " Johnny Suede" A film starring Brad Pitt where he plays a down and out musician with a huge pompadour haircut.

title: Suede