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. (more on wikipedia)
Links To Peel []
Manic Street Preachers - Suicide Alley (Radio One - John Peel 1989)
Peel played the band's debut single on his 24 August 1989 show and in an interview with Chris Burke from MusicRadar, drummer Sean Moore described how the group sent off their record to radio stations, journalists and A&R departments:
"We sent our seven-inch vinyls off to radio stations and A&R departments and journalists that we thought might have some affinity with what we were trying to do. We had a play on John Peel, I don’t think he particularly liked it but he played it because we’d achieved making a vinyl record and sent it in, and it opened the door then, people pricked up their ears."[1]
Peel continued playing some of the band's material until the end of the 90s. In 1996 Peel's listeners voted A Design For Life at #42 in the 1996 Festive Fifty. A year later he played the band's first ever debut B-side single Tennessee on his show.
Because their first album sounded in places much more like hard / heavy rock than the music usually favoured by Peel - it was intended, largely unsuccessfully, to win over Guns N' Roses fans with its sound, while its lyrics were a sub-Marxist dissection of that style of rock music, its appeal and social role - they recorded a session at that point for Tommy Vance (without ever recording a Peel session) and were also played by Alan Freeman.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- 1996 Festive Fifty: A Design For Life #42
Live[]
- 26 June 1999: Live set from Glastonbury.
- Everything Must Go
- You're Tender And You're Tired
- No Surface All Feeling
- Motorcycle Emptiness
- Prologue To History
- Motown Junk
Other Shows Played[]
Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life
A Design For Life, #42 in the 1996 Festive Fifty
(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.)
- 1989
- 24 August 1989: Suicide Alley (7") SBS
- 1990
- The Peel Tapes Vol.11: New Art Riot (12") Damaged Goods – YUBB 4
- 06 July 1990 (BFBS): New Art Riot (12") Damaged Goods - YUBB 4
- 1991
- 26 January 1991: Motown Junk () Heavenly
- 1996
- 05 August 1996: You Love Us (Non-Peel session) (John Peel's Classic Sessions)
- 14 December 1996: Take The Skinheads Bowling (single - Australia) Epic
- 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.')
- 1997
- 02 April 1997: ‘Tennessee [I Get Low] (7 inch - Suicide Alley )’ SBS Records
- 17 June 1997: Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (Various Artists CD – You’ll Never Walk Alone – The Hillsborough Justice Concert) V2 Records
- 18 June 1997: You Love Us (Various Artists CD – You’ll Never Walk Alone – The Hillsborough Justice Concert) V2 Records
- 03 July 1997: You'll Never Walk Alone (with Various Artists) (Various Artists CD – You’ll Never Walk Alone – The Hillsborough Justice Concert) V2 Records
- 1999
- 24 June 1999: Tsunami (CD Single) Epic