James Dean Bradfield was convinced Manic Street Preachers' career would go ''f***ing wrong'' before it had even started.

The Welsh rockers - which also include bassist Nicky Wire and drummer Sean Moore - promised to sell 16 million copies of their debut album, 'Generation Terrorists', then split up when they started out in the music industry, and at the time the singer thought the statement would lead to them flopping.

He told BANG Showbiz: ''It scared the living s**t out of me and I knew we had failed before the record was released, on that basis. I remember all those emotions of fear and just realising it was all going to go f***ing wrong.''

The 'Design For Life' hitmakers are now planning to release their 11th studio album in 2014, and James admits the group find it important to look back at their history and learn from the mistakes they've made with other records.

He added: ''We've been at it so long we actually have got a past, the next will be our 11th studio album. We are in the weird position now that we actually have a history so sometimes it's good to look back on it. You can see some of the mistakes you made and see what made you a good band in the first place.

''We can still see an essence of what we were and part of ourselves that we want to leave behind.''