The Love of Richard Nixon [DVD]

The video is cinematic, beautifully shot, and it fits the feel of the song perfectly. Musically, the song is subtle, slow and strange. James Dean Bradfield's voice is low and subdued, if that can be believed, and his guitar solo towards the end of the song is excellent. However, musically I think the song doesn't really work as a single and it only really comes into its own in the context of the album. Regarding the concept, I could write a wordy thesis looking at the geopolitical implications of the song, but the I would be taking my pop music *way* too seriously. Instead, I could choose to enjoy the sentiment behind this song, enjoy its defiant message, and feel thankful that this band haven't decided to follow the Chris Martin/Thom Yorke School of Obvious Liberal Platitudes in Rock.

The message of this song is simple and valid. It's a challenge to the lazy assumptions people make, a simple appeal for a more nuanced view of the world, mixed in with a good bit of wilful perversity to keep the chatterers chattering. Anyone who sees this as a genuine attempt to rehabilitate Nixon is taking this way too literally. Nicky Wire recently, somewhat pompously, illustrated the difference between the Manics and Radiohead by comparing them with Nixon and Kennedy, but I don't like that comparison. If bands were comedians, the Manic Street Preachers would be Bill Hicks (couragious, never afraid to upset people, sometimes wilfully perverse but full of passion and, in the end, often spot-on) and Radiohead would be Ben Elton (um...)

But getting back to the song: I thought it had a hypnotic, smooth groove that stands up well to repeated listenings, and the lyrics only added to this listener's enjoyment.

But the confusing things about 'The Love of Richard Nixon' are two-fold: (i) the music, & (ii) the lyrics. The first is odd as on their last album the Manic-ones were still moaning about idiotic dance-music (yes really moved on from the same gripe circa Gold Against the Soul!). Strangely they've now adopted a dance-sound, though come off sounding like The Farm trying to be U2 circa-Pop. It's inoffensive, but musically it's nowhere near as adventerous as bands like Radiohead and U2 the Manics like to slate.

Worse are the lyrics- Nicky Wire attempts to fashion some notion that Richard Nixon is unfairly treated by history, while Bill Clinton is revered. Except this notion is flawed and probably just emanates from a cursory viewing of Oliver Stone's biopic Nixon (1995) which dares to humanise Nixon. Then again, Neil Young wrote Campaigner in 1975 which stated, "Even Richard Nixon has got soul." So is it that new a notion? People forget the few things that Nixon did that were good (e.g. the environmental work, detente, resigning), but this is probably due to the terrible things associated with his life, e.g. Alger Hiss, Watergate, Kent State, the secret bombing of Cambodia, Vietnam continuing & his regime aiding mass-murderer Pinochet becoming leader of Chile on 9-11-1973. So people forget "China and the war on cancer," due to things like these. Wire also seems to think that everyone loves Clinton- that a simple dichotomy exists- but Clinton is not beyond reproach,e.g. Rwanda, Somalia, the bombing of the former Yugoslavia outside of the UN (WMDS hardly precision), the CIA-spies put in arms inspectors teams in Iraq & masses of other things you'll find in Stupid White Men. Clinton didn't support a CIA-regime change that lead to genocide in Chile, and he didn't bomb Laos-Vietnam& Cambodia to smithereens (the latter leading to the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the creation of the Killing Fields) or many other of Nixon's "achievements."

To conclude, the music isn't much cop and the lyrics aren't as clever as they think they are- even if Wire thinks he's the only person to have heard of Gramsci. Nice video though- a Nixon-flick up there with Secret Honor, Nixon, & Dick...