‘We got a drive-by egging in Baltimore’: Super Furry Animals on making The Man Don’t Give a Fuck

‘The man is the establishment, I suppose, the military industrial complex. A few year later, when we played it live, we added a loop of Bill Hicks saying: “All governments are liars and murderers”’ Gruff was the first person I ever met who could just churn out songs – good, catchy ones. I joined his band Ffa Coffi Pawb, but by 1992 they’d split and Gruff and I were living in Cardiff, as were Bunf, Guto and my brother Cian, the other future Furries. We started out doing techno sets, and I had a little home studio where we demoed ideas for songs. Our first singer, the actor Rhys Ifans, slept on a mattress in the corner.

Continue reading... ‘The man is the establishment, I suppose, the military industrial complex. A few year later, when we played it live, we added a loop of Bill Hicks saying: “All governments are liars and murderers”’ Gruff was the first person I ever met who could just churn out songs – good, catchy ones. I joined his band Ffa Coffi Pawb, but by 1992 they’d split and Gruff and I were living in Cardiff, as were Bunf, Guto and my brother Cian, the other future Furries. We started out doing techno sets, and I had a little home studio where we demoed ideas for songs.

Our first singer, the actor Rhys Ifans, slept on a mattress in the corner. One lyric from the song Show Biz Kids – “You know, they don’t give fuck about anybody else” – just tickled me, because I was very immature. It didn’t evolve into a song until Gruff had an idea for the intro and verse later. When label boss Alan McGee heard The Man Don’t Give a Fuck he said: “This is a hit single!” Some staff were saying: “It’s got 50 fucks on it!” But he didn’t care. The song got playlisted on Triple J radio station.

It’s a very flexible song, because it’s vague. The man is the establishment, I suppose, the military industrial complex. It’s got longer and longer over the years. Explore more on these topics Share Reuse this content ‘The man is the establishment, I suppose, the military industrial complex. A few year later, when we played it live, we added a loop of Bill Hicks saying: “All governments are liars and murderers”’ Gruff was the first person I ever met who could just churn out songs – good, catchy ones.

I joined his band Ffa Coffi Pawb, but by 1992 they’d split and Gruff and I were living in Cardiff, as were Bunf, Guto and my brother Cian, the other future Furries. We started out doing techno sets, and I had a little home studio where we demoed ideas for songs. Our first singer, the actor Rhys Ifans, slept on a mattress in the corner. Continue reading... ‘We got a drive-by egging in Baltimore’: Super Furry Animals on making The Man Don’t Give a Fuck