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at a glance...
Hometown: Blackwood, Wales
Year Formed: 1986
Personnel:
James Dean Bradford: -vocals, guitars, sitar
Sean Moore -drums, programming
Nicky Wire -bass
Nick Nasmyth -keyboards, piano, organs
Notes:
Boyhood friends in a dead-end Welsh mining town, the four original
members of MSP came together as a gang inspired by their punk ideals and an interest in
literature and social discourse. Critics loved the band's live
show, due in part to Bradfield's emotional interpretation of the confrontational
lyrics written by Wire and Richey Edwards. Their seminal debut album, 1992's
Generation Terrorists, did well in the UK but was passed over by an uninterested
American music industry. The band gained notoriety as much for Edwards' self-destructive behavior as for their music, with the guitarist lyricist infamously razor-blading a "4 REAL" tattoo on his
arm in response to a skeptical interviewer. After the bleak lyrics of third LP The Holy Bible lay bare
Edwards' troubled psyche, the guitarist's public drama came to a head. Leaving
his parked car near a popular suicide spot without leaving a clue as to his
whereabouts, Edwards disappeared, and no body was ever found. Despite numerous false leads, Edwards' missing person case is still unsolved. Deciding not to break up the band, remaining members Bradfield, Wire, and Moore took a break before recording the landmark record Everything Must Go in 1996. Appreciated equally by fans and critics, it garnered four top ten singles and three Brit
Awards. The release of This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours in 1998 led to more
accolades: their first #1 album and single, two more Brit Awards, and the title The Best Act In The World from Q Magazine. However, the success of the band has not changed their original beliefs; they recently turned down a command performance by The Queen Of England, citing their disgust for the
British monarchy.
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Manic Street Preachers
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Virgin, Released 1999
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Truth follows up The Manics' commercial breakthrough, Everything Must Go, which made the band a household name throughout Britain and revived the entire Welsh music scene. Everything
took the world by surprise by with its epic, almost majestic
sound. That this follow-up is even stronger is a testament to how blessed the Manics are.
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours is the perfect title for this record. Wire's lyrics encourage listeners to start living on their own terms, not those of others, all the while offering the
wisdom of a learned social critic. "If You Tolerate This Your
Children Will Be Next" is an impassioned battlecry of
a song, and appropriately became the Manics' first number one single.
The Manics have gotten better with age. They play their instruments better,
their arrangements are more complex, and James Dean Bradfield is a more convincing,
singer with every album. With success comes confidence, and confidence fills every
guitar lick and earnest lyric on Truth. Where tracks on Everything Must Go
tended to wander off at key moments, the songs on Truth are tight. And if Truth lacks the freer, organic feel of past records, it also features a more sophisticated production courtesy of an expanded role by
drummer Sean Moore and beautiful sitar beautifully from Bradfield on "Tsunami"
and "I'm Not Working."
Whatever The Manics were in the past, they are now a pop group. Yet few pop groups make you think like the Manics. If Everything Must Go provided a design for life, This Is
My Truth Tell Me Yours provides the reason to start living out that design,
starting now.
If you like Manic Street Preachers, check out:
Manic Street Preachers Everything Must Go
Nirvana Nevermind
The Clash London Calling
-- Pierre Stefanos
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