MANIC STREET PREACHERS Best Album Poll

holy bible is great but the debut it is

gt is kind of a masterpiece -- a lot of it is awful, but its sheer ridiculousness stood out at the time (and really would prob stand out at any time). gats has a couple of good songs but aged pretty poorly. holy bible is still surprisingly gritty and exciting as music (james bradfield surely gave his best ever vocals here), and a lot of the lyrics ("yes," "die in the summertime") even stand up as poetry, or something closer to it than most pop lyrics. i never listen to EMG but most of it probably still holds up. liked know your enemy a lot at the time, haven't heard it in years.

Trust Geir to have as his fave manics song the one i hate most.

LIFEBLOOD is 50 % amazing.

can you list the songs you think this of?

It's not that bad but it does have one of the worst songs ever made The Everlasting

whoa, whoa, whoa.... that song's great! the first few times I thought it was forced, but now I find it to be among their best songs, and one of their most affecting.

IF YOU STAND UP LIKE A NAIL

fUCK YOU

God, I remember thinking "I've been too honest with myself, I should have lied like everybody else" was the greatest thing I'd ever heard. I was WAY old enough to know better at that point as well.

There are no bad tracks on the 1st three ablums, I'm gonna vote GT to balance out the contrarianism a bit.

I don't look for nihilistic songs. Period.

WHY THE HOLY FUCK ARE YOU LISTENING TO THE MANICS THEN?

Ailsa otm

I'm a bit amazed at how popular this band seem to be here

but you're delighted about it?

Couldn't be less delighted

These guys sell out arenas in Europe, right? Cause in America they're completely obscure.

I don't pay attention to their lyrics very much, and could care less about their politics. But Know Your Enemy is a great rock album, particularly Epicentre.

I don't pay attention to their lyrics very much, and could care less about their politics.

Yeah I feel this way about the Democrats.

Are they big in mainland Europe or just here in the UK? (stan m to thread?)

i like the way Sean looks in that photo. He looks like he's about 12 years old.

V big in Thailand apparently.

Funny you should say that, as I was in Thailand several years back and heard one of their songs playing out of someone's car. at the time, I thought it very odd.

I remember reading an article about them about 14 years ago with them visiting Thailand and mass hysteria and arm cutting occurring amongst their fans. Pretty fucked up.

And Richey visiting a prostitute

yes that's right ham shandies all round!

Even better is how Nicky looks like Shirley off EastEnders in that photo.

dunno who that is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Carter

It is pretty uncanny:

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:JfT_AndWpk4K7M:http://static.whatsontv.co.uk/images/0836_103919_116883.jpg

x-post!

i see the resemblance

nicky's way cuter though. i saw them in concert once and nicky made both me and my female friend swoon!

one of the last times I saw them he wore angel wings

one of the nights at the barrowlands on the know your enemy tour.

he was wearing a feathered boa when I saw him.

oh he probably had that too. He definitely had one on his mic. That gig was 1999 it seems.

Are they big in mainland Europe or just here in the UK?

The "Everything Must Go" album sold well here, as did also "This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours". Before that they didn't mean much.

Before that they didn't mean much.

you mean when they were great.

I'm glad I did make this poll last longer now.

So Manics.........

Manics at Hull Adelphi 1991 - incendiary. Ruffled Ritchie's hair and haven't washed my right boot since.Can't reach it as strapped in zimmer.

Would've loved to have seen them then.

My mate saw them at King Tuts in 91

he told me he saw them quite a few times back then.

More convinced than ever that I know Fer Ark IRL.

Have you asked him?

bump

Listened to the 1st 3 albums this evening. Still sound great, even if GT is a bit overlong and the ep versions of songs were better.

http://www.thisisyesterday.com/pics/last_gig.jpg

idea that 'the holy bible' was ironic, courtesy but stanton, is adorable.

Nice pic

That Thailand article xp had the quite brilliant headline Bangkoksucker Blues. The NME didn't even use it properly, they threw it away as the tagline on the masthead

I read it again a couple of years ago. Disturbing as the cutting stuff was, it was striking to me now how prudish the tone was. The band sleeping with groupies was a scandal, and Richey's visit to a brothel ('it was just paid masturbation, really') was like the end of the world. I was aware that we're supposed to have become a more sexualised culture over the past decade, but I didn't realise that we started off as the 50s midwest

I remember the same story in RAW or Kerrang and they didn't seem that bothered, they asked how old the girl was and he said not particularly young (prob his age) I suppose the shock may have been because they thought the manics wouldnt approve of groupies and read books and drank tea on the tourbus.

Bankoksucker Blues- new handle right there!