Then Manic Street Preachers have achieved their long-stated ambition of working with the Public Enemy camp and given new meaning to their 'culture slut' slogan by featuring former porn star Traci Lords on their forthcoming 'Generation Terrorists' double album.
Hank Shocklee, a member of Public Enemy's Bomb Squad production team, has remixed the Manics' recent single, 'Repeat', for the LP.
"We just said 'do whatever you want'," Manics guitarist Richey Edwards told NME. "He's done four different mixes and we're choosing one for the album."
It seems the Shocklee connection has put an end to any hope of actually getting down in the studio with Chuck D and Favor Flav.
"Actually, I'm really glad that Public Enemy wouldn't work with us," says Manics bassist Nicky Wire. "I wouldn't want them to be wasting time on a poxy white band like us. They're way above anything we could ever do."
Traci Lords flew from Los Angeles to London to see the Manics' recent Diorama show and added vocals to the Manics' album the next day.
"She sings on a song called 'Little Baby Nothing'," says Richey. "It's about women being far stronger than men but also being exploited by them. So, we needed a strong symbol of that. She'd starred in 42 porn films and then it was found 39 of them had been made when she was 15. That caused a massive furore in America which almost brought down the American pornography industry. She just seemed perfect for what we wanted. She was really intelligent, really articulate."
The Manics have been working on the album with producer Steve Brown for over six months. The band claim the sessions have already cost £500,000 while Richey boasts he "hasn't played a note on it."
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