Wire "disappointed" with apolitical bands

Nicky Wire has criticised young bands for not saying anything with their music.

The Manic Street Preachers bassist made the comments in conversation with journalist Simon Price and former MP and Stop The War Coalition president Tony Benn for music website The Quietus.

Asked by Price if pop culture has the power to get messages across, Wire said: "I'm a true believer that it does and I spend my life dedicating myself to doing it, because a lot of the time it's really hard to do and you make a mess of it and they're awful songs.

"I think when you get it right it's the most perfect moment you can get. The marriage of politics and pop, when it hits the mark, something like 'God Save The Queen' by the Sex Pistols in Jubilee year, it's just a glorious moment."

He added: "The one thing I am disappointed at in modern music is that young bands just are not saying anything. Surely there must be someone out there that wants to write a song about Nick Clegg and his desperate grab for power?"

Benn noted: "I think you have to be careful you don't use it cynically to say that 'I'm with every progressive movement'."