Stay Beautiful (Manic Street Preachers song)

"Stay Beautiful" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 29 July 1991 by record label Columbia as the first single from the band's debut album, Generation Terrorists.[2]

"Stay Beautiful"
Single by Manic Street Preachers
from the album Generation Terrorists
Released29 July 1991 (1991-07-29)
RecordedMid 1991
Genre
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore, Richey Edwards
Manic Street Preachers singles chronology
"You Love Us"
(1991)		 "Stay Beautiful"
(1991)		 "Love's Sweet Exile" / "Repeat"
(1991)

Content

The track started out under the working title of "Generation Terrorists" and originally featured the lyrics "Why don't you just fuck off" in the chorus, which was later cut to "Why don't you just... [gap]" in the released version with a guitar fill in the aforementioned gap. It has since become customary for fans to shout the original lyric when the band occasionally perform the song live.[3]

Marc Burrows of Drowned in Sound proclaimed "Stay Beautiful" a "straightforward punker",[1] and "the most pure punk record in their arsenal" alongside "Repeat", and that it had "more in common with their earlier indie-label records [...] than it does with its parent album".[1]

Music video

The music video for the song features the band performing inside a garishly coloured house being splashed with paint, before the setting is demolished by a clay-mation space octopus at the conclusion; referencing themes and events in Alan Moore's Watchmen.

Release

"Stay Beautiful" was released as a single on 29 July 1991 by record label Columbia. The single only just crept into the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 40 on 10 August 1991.[4][5] It was re-issued six years later but failed again to make the top 40, reaching number 52 on 13 September 1997.[6]

The B-sides for all formats included "R.P. McMurphy", with the CD and 12" versions adding "Soul Contamination". The title of "R.P. McMurphy" is based on the protagonist of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (which was subsequently made into a film).[7]

Influence

The title of "Stay Beautiful" was used by Renault in a television advertisement for a car in reference to the song. There is also a bar/club in London named Stay Beautiful in reference to the song. During his solo tour, bassist Nicky Wire performed there.[8]

Track listing
CD version
CD version
No.TitleLength
1."Stay Beautiful" 
2."R.P. McMurphy" 
3."Soul Contamination" 
12" version
Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Stay Beautiful" 
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."R.P. McMurphy" 
2."Soul Contamination" 
7" version
Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Stay Beautiful" 
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."R.P. McMurphy" 

Charts
Chart (1991) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 40[6]
UK chart performance
UK Top 40
Week 01
Position
40

References
  1. Burrows, Marc (5 November 2012). "Manics Monday: Rain Down Alienation – Generation Terrorists' Key Tracks. / In Depth // Drowned in Sound". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  2. Taylor, Steve (27 September 2006). The A to X of Alternative Music. A&C Black. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-8264-8217-4. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  3. Power, Martin (1 June 2012). Nailed to History: The Story of the Manic Street Preachers. Music Sales Group. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-85712-776-1. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  4. Buckley, Peter, ed. (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. p. 642. ISBN 978-1-84353-105-0. Retrieved 16 February 2015. After signing to the Sony label, "Stay Beautiful" became the Manics' first Top 40 single in July 1991
  5. Jovanovic, Rob (3 December 2010). A Version of Reason: The Search for Richey Edwards. Orion. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-4091-1129-0. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  6. "Manic Street Preachers | Artist | Official Charts". Official Charts. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  7. Reynolds, Simon (24 May 2011). Bring the Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip Hop. Soft Skull Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-59376-460-9. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  8. Power, Martin (17 October 2010). Manic Street Preachers. Omnibus Press.
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