Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986 in Blackwood and consisting of James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar), Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and Sean Moore (drums). They are often colloquially known as "The Manics", or simply, "Manics". Originally a quartet, the band became a trio when primary lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards disappeared on 1st February 1995. Their early combination of androgynous glam imagery and critical social lyrics about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" gained them a loyal following and cult status. Following Edwards' disappearance, Bradfield, Moore and Wire persisted with Manic Street Preachers, and went on to gain critical and commercial success, becoming one of Britain's premier rock bands. The band's later albums retained a leftist politicisation and intellectual lyrical style while adopting a broader alternative rock sound. Altogether, they have garnered eleven Top 10 albums, fifteen Top 10 singles and have reached No. 1 on the UK charts three times—with their 1998 This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours album, the 1998 "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" single and the 2000 "The Masses Against the Classes" single.

Links To Peel
Peel discovered the band through Heavenly Records, where the group released Motown Junk in 1991. However after their debut single on the Heavenly Records, Peel seemed to have lost interest in the band. However listeners took the opposite view and voted A Design For Life at #42 in the 1996 Festive Fifty. Peel in later years seemed to discover the Manics 1988 first self-financed single, Suicide Alley, sometime in the late 90's and played the song Tennessee on his show.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1996 Festive Fifty: A Design For Life #42

Other Shows Played
(The list below was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is incomplete. Please add further information if known.)

1991 1996 1997 1999
 * 26 January 1991: Motown Junk Heavenly
 * 21 December 1996: 'A Design For Life (CD-Everything Must Go)' (Sony Music Entertianment) FF #42 (JP: 'I think any chart you made for 1996, whether it's records, or books. or sportsmen or sportswomen of the year, that's gonna be in it.')
 * 02 April 1997: ‘Tennessee [I Get Low] (7 inch - Suicide Alley )’ SBS Records
 * 11 March 1997: You Stole The Sun From My Heart (Mary Ann Hobbs show)