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We Love Them: The Top 20 Manic Street

Preachers Songs As Voted By Fans
Wednesday, Sep 18, 2013
by Andy Johnson

Manic Street Preachers are in the midst of promoting their 11th LP Rewind the Film. To
celebrate, PopMatters explores the top 20 of a special fan poll of the most popular Manics songs.
The imminent release of their eleventh album Rewind the Film and its accompanying shows and
interviews appears to have brought Manic Street Preachers back into the limelight but really,
they have never left. Unlike the bulk of the British rock bands that came of age in the 1990s, the
Welsh firebrands have never disappeared nor broken up and reformed for lucrative reunion tours.
Their persistence has seen them survive the loss of troubled lyricist Richey Edwards, become
one of the UKs biggest bands in the mid- to late-90s, and celebrate the twentieth anniversary of
their incendiary debut Generation Terrorists last year.
The passage of time has seen the Manics morph gradually from divisive upstarts to elder
statesmen of British rock still maintaining a devoted fanbase. In the run-up to the release of
Rewind the Film, fan Ian Lipthorpe took to Twitter to reach out to his fellow devotees, first
asking them to submit a ranked list of their 50 favourite Manics songs, and later compiling the
60-plus responses into a master list that threw up some surprising entries. For this special List
This, PopMatters explores the top 20 Manic Street Preachers recordings, as voted by fans.

20. Life Becoming a Landslide

(Gold Against the Soul, 1993)
Released in 1993, Gold Against the Soul is the album the Manics themselves and many critics
have traditionally viewed most negatively out of the groups whole discography. The band felt
that they had gone under the corporate wing and taken on too many American influences on
the album, but in one of the big surprises of the fans list, half of the albums songs reached the
top 20. Coming in at #20 is Life Becoming a Landslide, famed for the line My idea of love
comes from / A childhood glimpse of pornography, but also notable for being an early attempt
by the band at adding symphonic elements to their songs. In February 1994, the song opened the
Life Becoming a Landslide EP, which featured Comfort Comes, a song that heralded the dawn
of the dark, raw sound that would dominate the Holy Bible album.

19. 4st 7lb

(The Holy Bible, 1994)
Speaking of The Holy Bible, even that barbed-wire bundle of an album featured little as
harrowing as 4st 7lb, an alternately savage and beautiful take on anorexia nervosa named after
the human weight below which survival is impossible. The songs alarming lyrics are thought to
draw on Richey Edwards own experience with the condition, and are still enormously relevant

today, not least for their perceptive concern for body image. Edwards would disappear in
February 1995, and 4st 7lb was one of the songs most pored over when The Holy Bible became
regarded as an essential, apparently final insight into the young lyricists state of mind.

18. Sleepflower
(Gold Against the Soul, 1993)
Although it is one of the best examples of the slick, commercial rock sound that the Manics
found so regrettable about Gold Against the Soul, the albums opener Sleepflower has been a
cult favourite among fans for many years. It is easy to see whyJames Dean Bradfields guitar
heroics here are matched only by his surprisingly angelic vocals during the clever middle
section, and the song has lost none of its driving power over the 20 years since its release. Sleep
would go on to be something of a recurring theme for the band, not least in the song I Live to
Fall Asleep on 2004s Lifeblood.

17. This Is Yesterday

(The Holy Bible, 1994)

Amid all of the horror on The Holy Bible, This Is Yesterday is something of a moment of
respite. Significantly, it was essentially written single-handedly by Nicky Wire, now the bands
primary lyricist but definitely the junior partner to Edwards in their songwriting efforts of 1994.
The sad, regretful lyrics are undoubtedly one of the songs main appeals (I repent, Im sorry, I
regret everything) but also of note is a brief, delicate but utterly superb guitar solo from
Bradfield which is perhaps the closest thing to a happy moment on the whole album. Sadly, Tom
Lord-Alge made some serious missteps on the US remix eventually released on the tenth
anniversary edition in 2004, but the original is a deserving classic, particularly in its original
context.

16. The Masses Against the Classes

(Non-album a-side, 2000)
The Manics scored their second (and to date, most recent) UK #1 single with The Masses
Against the Classes. It was a staggering achievement, and not only because it was the first new
UK #1 of the new millenniumthe song was a hard-rocking left-wing broadside against the
establishment and was book-ended by quotes from Noam Chomsky (The country was founded
on the principle that the primary role of government is to protect property from the majority -
and so it remains) and Albert Camus (The slave begins by demanding justice and ends by
wanting to wear a crown). The single sleeve was emblazoned with the Cuban flag,
foreshadowing the bands controversial 2001 performance at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana.
When the band met Cuban leader Fidel Castro and warned him the show would be loud, he
famously replied, It cannot be louder than war, can it?, giving them the perfect title for the live
DVD on which a performance of this thunderous concert favourite appears.

15. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

(Send Away the Tigers, 2007)
The Send Away the Tigers record is still often seen as the Manics comeback album, even
though 2004s Lifeblood scored two UK #2 singles and has been increasingly well-received over
time. In any case, the catalyst for the success of SATT was the enduringly popular"Your Love
Alone Is Not Enough. In place of the political invective of their earlier singles, the Manics titled
the song after the last line of a suicide note written by a friend of the band and worked in
references the Who and Pink Floyd. The real masterstroke was to draft in Nina Persson of the
Cardigans for a rousing duet. Apparently, the Swedish chanteuse was so ultra-professional in the
studio that she required only a few takes to nail the vocal; for the promo video, she was granted
her female version of the Manics who were gradually reunited with the real deal by some
obliging roadies. Like its parent album, the single narrowly missed out on the UK #1 spot.

14. No Surface All Feeling

(Everything Must Go, 1996)
It was primarily Richey Edwards unique lyrical efforts and his exhausting, intellectual
interviews that secured his cult icon statushe was never a true musician. While compiling their

first album after his 1995 disappearance, however, the remaining band members included a
portion of his guitar playing in No Surface All Feeling, the records final track. This fact alone
has helped the song remain a fan favourite all these years later, but its hardly the most noticeable
part of the piece. Instead its the Manics toying with a quiet/loud dynamic that entertains the
most, as they slot quiet, regretful verses against an explosive chorus. It was no surface but all
feeling, sings Bradfield, Maybe at the time it felt like dreaming. As with so much of the
Everything Must Go album, it was full of the sense that the band were ending one phase and
beginning a new oneboth personally and creatively.

13. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

(This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, 1998)
For however long Manic Street Preachers last, little they can ever expect to do in the future will
match the glorious achievement that was smuggling a song about the Spanish Civil War with an
ungainly title to the very top of the British charts. In the heady days of 1998, the Manics were at
the very peak of their commercial and cultural influence, and this was the song which had finally
secured them their first UK #1. Fifteen years later Tolerate is still a beguilingly strange and
unique record, a song that drags up messages from the distant past while still sounding in some
way like a thing of the future. Amazingly, Bradfields vocal part was completed in just three
takes, during which he walked around the studio with a handheld microphone. The song, which
had originally been envisioned as b-side material, sold a massive 156,000 copies in its first week
on sale.

12. Roses in the Hospital

(Gold Against the Soul, 1993)
Written by Edwards about the idea of something beautiful in a decaying place, Roses in the
Hospital is arguably one of the key centrepieces of the Gold Against the Soul album. In 2002,
the song was a subject of a somewhat cruel twist when a phrase from its lyrics was used as the
title for the greatest hits collection Forever Delayed yet the song itself was not included on the
tracklist. Sean Moore puts in a tremendous drumming performance, especially on the songs
extended outro which is interspersed with random interjections from Bradfield (including a nod
to Manics icons the Clash).

11. P.C.P.
(The Holy Bible, 1994)
Despite being for the most part an extended plunge into the very blackest depths of the human
experience, The Holy Bible actually ends an amusing noteP.C.P. may be jet black in its
humour, but this barnstorming rocker about political correctness and censorship is also very
funny. One or two of the lines in this Edwards-penned effort are so esoteric that even the most
hardcore of Manics enthusiasts arent necessarily entirely certain of their meaning. What is clear
is the quote from a genocidal autocrat from the 2000AD comics series Nemesis the Warlock,

an efficiently brief but blazing Bradfield solo and the immortal line Systemised atrocity ignored
as long as bi-lingual signs on view. After 1994, the Manics would never again record anything
quite as deliriously furious as this classic.

10. You Love Us

(Generation Terrorists, 1992)
Especially when it was originally released as a single on Heavenly Records in 1991, You Love
Us was a brilliant early missive from the Manics propaganda machine. Far from being loved by
the critical establishment and record-buying public, the band were then one of the most divisive
groups in the UK music scene. Today, the song is such a live favourite and so integral to the
Manics live experience that its actually surprising it didnt place a bit higher in the list. Besides
its many enthralling live outings, the ultimate version of this effort is the 2012 remastered
version of the original 1991 Heavenly single. That track includes terrific sound and hilarious
backing vocals, and is book-ended by samples of Krzysztof Pendereckis Threnody to the
Victims of Hiroshima and Iggy Pops Lust For Lifeperhaps the best possible demonstration
of the Manics mission to aggressively smash together high and low culture.

9. From Despair to Where

(Gold Against the Soul, 1993)

Even the most bitter detractors of the Gold Against the Soul album tend to celebrate From
Despair to Where, one of two well-regarded singles released to promote record voted into this
lists top ten. While the song itself claims that Words are never enough / Like cheap tarnished
glitter, its the lyricsparticularly those about the numbing reality of life under capitalism in
the late twentieth centuryhave done much to secure the tracks reputation. Of course, James
Dean Bradfields vocal and guitar heroics have their part to play, too.

8. Stay Beautiful
(Generation Terrorists, 1992)
Its a testament to how vast Generation Terrorists is that a song as gripping as Stay Beautiful
was placed all the way back as track 11 (of 18). The song has remained so iconic to the Manics
and their faithful that its title has become a common phrase, often used to sign off missives from
Nicky Wire. The most memorable moment of the trackin which the phrase fuck off is
silenced and only a squealing guitar is heardwas a result of studio tinkering by producer Steve
Brown. He excised the offending phrase apparently without consulting the band, and today fans
are often only too happy to re-insert it. By hitting #40, the single opened a record-breaking run of
Top 40 singles for the band.

7. Little Baby Nothing

(Generation Terrorists, 1992)
Recording a dramatic feminist rock ballad and bringing in former porn star Traci Lords to
complete a duet about exploitation of women was exactly the kind of thing the Manics were all
about in 1992, and Little Baby Nothing remains one of the key moments on the mammoth
Generation Terrorists. Although the song is probably one of the most dated Manics recordings,
the lyrics are priceless; the description of money as paper made out of broken, twisted trees
and the Manics manifesto-of-sorts culture, alienation, boredom and despair are particularly
memorable. Lords efforts werent bad eitherone wonders how bemused she would be to learn
about how popular this track is with todays Manics fans.

6. Motown Junk
(Non-album a-side, 1991)
Motown Junk, a song so thrilling and iconic to Manics fans that it is played at every show, and
yet so iconoclastic that the Bradfield never sings the controversial line I laughed when Lennon
got shot any more. The sheer abandon of the playing on this, the Manics first proper single,
reflects their youthful anger, self-belief and supreme confidence. The Manics would go on to
state that they would release a debut album, sell millions of copies, pack out Wembley Stadium,
and then break upin the fury of Motown Junk, you hear the sound of a band that really
believed it. In many of the other songs in this list, you can hear reasons to be glad it didnt
happen.

5. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

(Gold Against the Soul, 1993)
The highest placing Gold Against the Soul track is another single from that album and another
enduring live favourite. Its also a lyrically quintessential Manics work, in that it is titled after
Van Goghs fabled last words and written about the bitter feelings of an elderly war veteran.
Amidst all the thrilling hard rock bluster, there are also (as with other GATS tracks) flashes of the
greatly increased intellectual and instrumental palette that would be demonstrated on subsequent
albums. The song also helped open a long-running interest in art and painting for the Manics,
something they have maintained ever sincethe closer on Rewind the Film is partly concerned
with the paintings of T.S. Lowry.

4. Yes
(The Holy Bible, 1994)
Serving as the unforgettable opener to The Holy Bible, Yes makes clear from its very
beginnings that what will follow is an album unlike any other. The song is Richey Edwards
harrowing, propulsive treatise on prostitution both of the literal kind and of the metaphorical

kindof the way people do something you hate to get something you dont need. With its
wiry, exposed feel Yes is perhaps the Manics at their most post-punk, a musical approach that
helps listeners feel they are being truly immersed in the depths of the human spirit this singular
song depicts. Indeed, the band stated that they often felt the same1994 was a dark time for
them, one during which their personal lives were under the glare of a media gaze they could not
always control. Surprisingly, the profanity-filled, five-minute Yes was once considered as a
single, but as it stands the song is the most popular album track in the fan poll.

3. A Design For Life

(Everything Must Go, 1996)
There was no room for surprises in the top three of the fan poll. The songs that hit those spots are
undoubtedly the one which have attained the most legendary reputation amongst not only fans
but also the musicians themselves - when the Manics ranked their own singles for NME in
2011, A Design For Life came in just a touch higher at #2 (also its UK Singles Chart placing).
The song in which the Manics most eloquently defend the dignity of the working class and best
showcases their sweeping, muscular sound of 1996 was also the first track they recorded after
Edwards disappearance. Having considered ending the band, Bradfield, Wire and Moore instead
decided to return in spectacular style with A Design For Life. Exemplifying the songs
enduring impact, the Manics were present recently when its opening line (Libraries gave us
power) was unveiled on a plaque in Cardiffs new Central Library.

2. Motorcycle Emptiness
(Generation Terrorists, 1992)
Only one song kept Motorcycle Emptiness from the very summit of the fan poll, but the
origins of this song are surprisingly modest. The six-minute elegiac meditation on what Manics
biographer Simon Price called the soul of man under capitalism began as two very early demos
called Behave Yourself Baby and Go, Buzz Baby, Go. The Manics have said that the
knowledge that they still had Motorcycle in their war chest kept them going through some of
the tougher times in their very early days. Now, almost everything about the song has passed into
legend, from its apparently Dancing Queen-derived coruscating riff and lyrics about the
hollow, crushing nature of capitalism, to its iconic video shot in Japan. To a significant portion of
the British population specifically, Motorcycle Emptiness is almost synonymous with the band
they are unlikely to feel bad about that, as they ranked it #4 among their singles.

1. Faster
(The Holy Bible, 1994)
Beating out the #2 track by a fairly comfortable margin, the placement of the incendiary postpunk explosion of Faster further confirms its huge esteem in the Manics fanbase. A significant
part of the towering reputation of The Holy Bible is owed to this song, a piece that simply could
not be accommodated on any other album, nor recorded by any other band. What made the

songs impact even greater was that it was released as part of a double a-side single (with
P.C.P., #11 on our list) in advance of the album, making it the worlds first taste of the new,
lacerating Manics sound. The fact that the release took place on the fiftieth anniversary of the DDay landings tallied with the bands new militaristic aesthetic and further underlined the
significance the song would have on the bands discography. A crushing performance of the song
on the BBCs Top of the Pops programme in June 1994 provoked a record-breaking 25,000
complaints due to Bradfields IRA-style balaclava emblazoned with his name. The Manics
have said that this moment had made them feel completely ostracised from the rest of the
world, but its the four minutes many people have spent with this utterly unique song that made
them Manics fans.