Boulton, Watt, and Murdoch Statue

This statue has been a fixture of Broad Street for as long as I can remember, but it has recently been ruined somewhat by an incredibly gaudy paint job that makes it look like something Michael Jackson would have picked up in Harrods for his bathroom and would not have blinked at paying £250k for. It really was a baffling decision to make it this shiny.
I’ve always heard it referred to as «3 men discuss the size of a recent gas bill», the joke being not that the price of the gas was extortionate, but that the gas bill itself is very large. That aside, Boulton, Watt and Murdoch are important figures in the history of Brum and it’s one of many nods to our proud industrial heritage that are dotted around the city centre. I’m only giving it two stars at this point, it would get 5 if they cleaned that muck off of it.

So, apparently Midas came to Birmingham and got a little pokey with that magic finger of his if this statue is anything to go by. I’m not an expert in architecture or art in general, so I can only offer my opinion — but it wouldn’t be Unilocal if I couldn’t do that, so here it is: eyesore much?!
Positioned outside the old Register Office, across the way from the ICC and new library, the Boulton, Watt and Murdoch statue is hard to miss and looks totally out of place in front of the plain, pedestrian building it now stands in front of.
The plaque the bronze boys stand on honours the lives of these 18^th century industrial pioneers — but really, why did it have to be this colour?! No matter how many times I walk past it, I feel violated in the eye area. If I ever make enough of a significant contribution to this world (with my awesome Unilocal reviews, for example) please don’t let me be immortalised in gaudy, Rocky-​hotpants gold.

The gilded bronze statue of Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch stands on a plinth of stone outside the old Register Office on Broad Street, this statue is known locally as The Golden Boys due its colour.
It was created in order to honour the impact this trio had on the Industrial Revolution.
Possibly the blingiest statue you’re likely to encounter in Birmingham!