Celebrated for his poetic, politically-charged lyrics and rhythm guitar work for Welsh alt-rock band Manic Street Preachers, Richey Edwards continues to be a powerful icon for the alienated. Through highly publicized battles with alcoholism, anorexia, depression and self-mutilation, the enigmatic idealogue subverted rock’s traditional machismo, speaking with humor and humility on subjects previously considered taboo. His 1995 disappearance – vanishing at the age of 27 from a London hotel on the eve of a U.S. tour – only cemented his status in modern music mythology.
Though he started off as a roadie and driver for the band’s early gigs, Edwards’ intellectual songwriting would become integral to the band’s legacy. His exploration of darker themes – such as capital punishment, child prostitution, self-starving and the Holocaust – featured heavily on the Manics’ masterpiece third album The Holy Bible, while his devotion to art and poetry appeared in the many esoteric quotes stamped on their record sleeves.
From Tennessee Williams to T.S. Eliot, find a list of Richey Edward’s favorite books below, archived by now-defunct fansite richeyedwards.net. Dive into the reading lists of other musical legends here.
Small Craft Warnings by Tennessee Williams
Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams
Baby Doll by Tennessee Williams
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud (also rec’d by Bob Dylan, Johnny Depp & Patti Smith)
Junky by William S. Burroughs (also rec’d by Kurt Cobain)
The Myth Of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
The Stranger by Albert Camus (also rec’d by David Bowie, Jim Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Paulo Coelho, Philip Seymour Hoffman & Robert Smith)
The Fall by Albert Camus (also rec’d by Henry Rollins, Jim Morrison & Philip Roth)
The Plague by Albert Camus (also rec’d by Jim Morrison)
Poetry by Philip Larkin, Primo Levi, William Blake & Siegfried Sassoon
The Boy Looked At Johnny by Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons
Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ‘n’ Roll Music by Greil Marcus (also rec’d by Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie & Kim Gordon)
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock by Nik Cohn (also rec’d by David Bowie & Jarvis Cocker)
Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and Post-war Pop by Charles Shaar Murray
Elvis: The Last 24 Hours by Albert Goldman (also rec’d by Bill Maher)
The Lives Of John Lennon by Albert Goldman
1984 by George Orwell (also rec’d by David Bowie, John Lennon, Richard Branson & Steve Jobs)
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (also rec’d by David Bowie, Kim Gordon, Michael Stipe, Nick Cave & Patti Smith)
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (also rec’d by Colin Kaepernick, David Bowie & Ta-Nehisi Coates)
Another Country by James Baldwin (also rec’d by RATM)
Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (also rec’d by Elon Musk & Stephen King)
The Inheritors by William Golding
Prick Up Your Ears by John Lahr
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (also rec’d by Janelle Monáe, John Lennon, Marianne Faithfull & Susan Sontag)
Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac (also rec’d by Ralph Steadman)
The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart (also rec’d by Leonard Cohen & Richard Branson)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (also rec’d by Alice Walker, Colin Kaepernick, Maya Angelou, Nipsey Hussle & RATM)
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (also rec’d by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kurt Cobain, Lenny Kravitz, Liz Phair & Philip Roth)
Birdy by William Wharton
Pride by William Wharton
Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
The Trial by Franz Kafka (also rec’d by Philip Roth & Robert Smith)
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (also rec’d by David Lynch, Gabriel García Márquez & Robert Smith)
Frisk by Dennis Cooper
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse
Thirst for Love by Yukio Mishima
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Miracle of the Rose by Jean Genet
Crash by J.G. Ballard (also rec’d by Anthony Bourdain)
The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard
Blown Away by A.E. Hotchner
Knots by R.D. Laing
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry (also rec’d by Patti Smith)
The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot (also rec’d by David Bowie)
The Torture Garden by Octave Mirbeau
The Runaway Soul by Harold Brodkey
(via richeyedwards.net)