James Dean Bradfield Vinyl Records
Although rhythm guitarist and lyricist Richey James Edwards' assaultive public persona garnered most of the band's headlines in their early days, the heart of Manic Street Preachers was always singer and lead guitarist James Dean Bradfield. With his short, stocky physique and hard-man bravado, Bradfield had an Everyman anti-mystique that anchored Edwards' considerably flightier proto-Pete Doherty antics among band's often inchoate political posturing. Together, Bradfield and Edwards made Manic Street Preachers the buzz band of the early days of Brit-pop, before the reconfigured band became worldwide stars after Edwards' apparent suicide in 1995.