Actor Tim Roth's route to the Manics' LP sleeve.
Nicky Wire, bassist: "I found the picture in the huge collection of photos I've pulled from magazines over the years and pinned it up on the wall of our studio because it seemed to sum up lots of things about the album.
"Tim Roth is a touchstone of our youth. James [Dean Bradfield, singer] got a skinhead after seeing Made In Britain, and signed up for
A-level drama soon after. I still have a Tim Roth postcard that James sent me, and that ties in with the album title. And he's a holding his Polaroid camera, which represents one of my deep passions from the pre-digital world. The fact that Polaroid have gone bust is in line with the themes of industrial decline on the album.
"We had to run it past Tim Roth's lawyers. We sent a copy of the album to him and he sent word back that he was happy for his image to
be used. He wasn't over the top about it, but I wouldn't expect that from him. Being our 10th LP and our celebration of the format itself
it felt important to deliver something iconic. I heard that Morrissey likes the cover, and I'm pleased with that. I'm not interested in what he thinks of the music, but it does remind me of one of those great Smiths covers in some ways, in that it's monochrome and a bit homoerotic."
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