#21

4 out of 5 from me.

I’ve got most of their albums and there’s generally 6 cracking tunes on each.

Remember seeing them live at the Plaza in Glasgow sometime between Gold Against The Soul and Holy Bible albums in Feb 1994. Just before they hit the stage all the lights went out with white flashes every so often and loud gunfire ringing out of the speakers. The four of them walked on stage dressed in full camouflage boiler suits and balaclavas. James Dean Bradfield was holding his guitar like he was shooting a gun to the background noise. He then walked up to the microphone and shouts “We are the Manic Street Preachers and we’re gonna FUCKING KILL YOU” then launched into the first song.
From memory, Ritchie played the first 6 songs with the balaclava on!

13 Likes
#22

I’ve given them a 5 based on their first few albums. Lost interest now, but there’s enough of substance for them to have been one of my most listened bands for a long time.

There were times when I thought they were a bunch of controversial dicks, but on reflection I think they were saying important political things at a a time when everyone else was on pills, or going to parties with Tony Blair.

3 Likes
#23

3 or 4 great records
A lot of dross
I do love Holy Bible and Journal For Plague Lovers a lot though

4

#24

A rare band I feel truly embarrassed to have liked, just thinking about them makes me cringe 1/5

#25

Yeah, Journal For Plague Lovers is a great album!

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#26

How embarrassing for everyone involved.

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#27

Nah, it was brilliant.

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#28

Can’t give my teenage Holy Bible obsession much expression here. In the cold light of day they’re 3/5 aren’t they?

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#29

Holy Bible remains a great, great album of course.

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#30

reckon they’ll get 3.82 or something

#31

A very important band for me growing up (once bunked off school to queue for several hours outside Brixton Academy to be at the front, lol), turned me onto a lot of great books / films as a teen and I still enjoy listening to them when I’m drunk though never listened to anything after Know Your Enemy. But would probably not admit a lot of the above in public. 4/5

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#32

I’ll take your word for it!

#33

The Love Of Richard Nixon is a proper underrated choon.

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#34

5* for all of Holy Bible
4* for Motorcycle Emptiness
1* for the dross

But most importantly

5* to whoever contributed to the football/music pun thread with ‘Mertesacker Emptiness’ cos I think about that quite often

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#35

I mean… the Holy Bible is one of my all time favourite albums. A few good songs outside of that, but otherwise, yikes.

2/5 because The Holy Bible is great.

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#36

Had the misfortune to catch them at their most plodding and bloated at Reading Festival around 2001 time(ish, haven’t checked the dates). A set so full that it effectively neutered my fandom.

3 - they have been dull much much longer than they were exciting

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#37

1/5 for Nicky Wire alone

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#38

Great live, some genuinely brilliant stuff between holy bible through this is my truth (my personal fave cause I’m a needy Twat, much like the album) and not totally embarassing through their workmanlike later years. That acoustic focused one had some good stuff on. Enjoyable combination of pomposity and self deprecation. The drummer is fucking excellent.

Be Natural and Interiors are their best songs.

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#39

(4/5)

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#40

Oh they’re so fucking great. Yes of course they’ve put out a load of shit, they’re still a 5/5.
That gig that they did for Fidel Castro is them all over - embarrassing as all hell but also completely amazing at the same time.
Journal for Plague Lovers is my favourite, it’s like The Holy Bible with jokes. I also maintain that there is a great 10-track album in Know Your Enemy screaming to get out. And they’re brilliant live. And they had a number 1 with a song about the Spanish civil war. And did you know that the drums on Motorcycle Emptiness are a drum machine? And is there a hit single with a better opening line than “Libraries gave us power”? no there is not

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