For the classicist of this name, see Simon Price (classicist)

Simon Price (classicist)

Simon Rowland Francis Price was an English classical scholar, specialising in the imperial cult of ancient Rome...

.

Simon Price is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 music journalist and club promoter, born on 25 September 1967 in the Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 town of Barry

Barry, Wales

Barry is a town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. Located along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel less than south-southwest of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the Barry Island Pleasure Park...

. He is now best known for his weekly review section in The Independent on Sunday and his book on Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...

.

Career

He made his name at Melody Maker

Melody Maker

Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

, where he worked from December 1988 to December 1997. His first article was a review of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne in 1983. The band is fronted by Nick Cave and has featured international personnel throughout their career.-Formation and early releases :...

 live in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and his last an interview with veteran rap act Salt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....

. He was heavily involved with the short-lived Romo

Romo

Romantic Modernism, more commonly known as Romo, was a musical and clubbing movement, of Glam/style pop lineage, in the UK circa 1995–1997, centred around the twin homes of Camden-based clubnight Club Skinny and its West End clone Arcadia, as well as concerts by the chief associated bands.The Romo...

 scene in the mid-1990s, about which he wrote extensively, co-promoted the Arcadia clubnight and acted as DJ and tour manager for the Fiddling While Romo Burns Romo package tour. His journalism at Melody Maker was sometimes criticised by the more "laddish" readers for what they saw as an overtly intellectual style and for his criticism of bands such as Oasis

Oasis (band)

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

. He also courted controversy with his view that the hippie

Hippie

The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...

/crusty scene of the time was covertly racist

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 due to what he saw as an overtly romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 nostalgia for a bygone rural England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Simon's voice appears on Saint Etienne

Saint Etienne (band)

Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...

's record So Tough

So Tough

- CD: Warner Bros. / 9 45166-2 :- CD: Warner Bros. / WPCP-5209 :- CD: Heavenly / HVNLP6CDDE :- Personnel :The liner notes list the album's personnel as follows:...

, on the track "Memo to Pricey".

Simon has been interviewed on the subject of Manic Street Preachers and is known to hold strong views on the band and their fans.

"Famously, there are two types of Manics fans. I think everyone's got the old fan/new fan thing wrong. Everyone thinks the older fans are the ones who really understand the band and the younger ones are just bandwagon jumpers. I think it's the other way round. Anyone over the age of 25 at a Manics gig, probably only got into them with 'A Design For Life

A Design for Life

"A Design for Life" was released by Manic Street Preachers in 1996 and was the first single release from the Everything Must Go album of May that same year.The title was inspired by the Joy Division EP record "An Ideal for Living"...

', whereas anyone under twenty is probably obsessed and knows everything Richey Edwards ever said. They've read all the books he ever quoted. They dress like him, they're totally hardcore."

Simon is also a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association

British Humanist Association

The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...

http://www.humanism.org.uk/about/people/distinguished-supporters.

On 15 September 2010, Price, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

's state visit to the UK.

Simon Price currently runs several nightclub events in his adopted City of Brighton, namely Spellbound, Your Disco Needs You and Stay Beautiful.