R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe once named his list of dream collaborations
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Credit: Gergely Csatari
When Manic Street Preachers’ Nicky Wire wished death upon R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe
During the 1990s, there were few people more loud-mouthed people in British music than Manic Street Preachers’ Nicky Wire, and nobody was safe from the wrath of his tongue. Sometimes, his remarks went too far, as Michael Stipe discovered when the Welshman wished death upon him.
The shocking statement came during a show at Kilburn National in 1992 when he told fans during the set: “I hope Michael Stipe goes the same way as Freddie Mercury”. Decades later, Wire looked back on his comments with regret and apologised to Stipe for any hurt caused, but, initially, he defended the assertion.
Stipe only came out as gay in 1994 and hadn’t officially clarified his sexuality when Wire made his remarks. The Manics frontman also tried to play down the link between homosexuality and AIDS, which was at loggerheads with the band’s traditionally liberal, open-minded stance.
Wire tried to claim that the comparison to Freddie Mercury had nothing to do with Stipe’s sexuality. He told Simon Price in the Melody Maker: “If Michael Stipe dies, he’ll become some kind of martyr. If someone dies in Somalia, they don’t. But what’s he done to deserve it? Asked whether there’s a Man On The Moon! Every album he makes becomes more and more ‘important’, just because he’s supposedly dying.”
The Manics man continued: “Just because Stipe’s some kind of poet-rock singer, he’s some untouchable, sacred cow. Place your hand on your heart. If we’d wished for the immediate death of Prince Edward, John Major or Margaret Thatcher, would you have been offended? Or would you have laughed? Probably: a Ben Elton laugh for the right-on liberals among us.
“So why is the death of a pop star more disturbing than the death of a Prime Minister? Because he’s a star in your own industry? As for Freddie Mercury, did anyone at Melody Maker or NME give a f*** about the man before he died? And AIDS itself is unmentionable, it’s got to be so hush-hush.”
Even though one in nine gay men in the US had been diagnosed with AIDS by 1995, and one in 15 had been killed by the deadly disease, which was considerably higher than the rest of society, Wire claimed it was “a sexual disease” rather than “a homosexual disease”. He added: “When 30,000 miners lost their jobs, they didn’t have any choice in the matter. With AIDS, you do have a choice: don’t be promiscuous, use a condom, don’t put a needle in your veins.”
In 2021, Wire told MOJO he “deeply regrets” his previous comments and said alcohol used to dramatically change his personality for the worse. “It is strange, because I’m not lying when I talk about my shyness when I was young. I’m always dubious about people who say they have no regrets. I have millions,” he admitted.
Wire admitted: “I deeply regret some mad things, just awful things I said. Spiteful things. And I haven’t got any excuse. Sometimes I was absolutely hammered on Babycham and vodka. You do forget how much drink can alter you.”
Thankfully, the Manic Street Preachers founder has been sober for over a decade and realises he was in the wrong when he made the heinous remarks about Stipe, who did nothing to incite such vitriolic hate. Furthermore, his comments were also hurtful and insensitive towards people in the LGBTQ+ community affected by the AIDS epidemic.
