manicstreetpreachers Blog and Journals

This was by far one of the best years in music of this decade. It just seemed like every single band I love released an album this year. Well, except for the ones that no longer exist. No, fuck that, even the ones that no longer exist re-united just to release albums this year. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? Last year I didn't make one of these because I could find honestly, about 5 truly worthy albums. That No Air wankery was my favorite song from 2008. Go figure. But this year is so good. Apart from the bands I list in here, an insane amount of amazing bands released amazing albums; Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Air, Sufjan Stevens, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, múm, Porcupine Tree, Peaches, The Flaming Lips, The Most Serene Republic, Kasabian, Zero 7, Metric, YATCH, The Dead Weather, the list is endless. I could make a top 40, I swear. But I'd bore everyone so, here's my top 20 instead.

20. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

I think the only word I can use to describe this album is enjoyable. This is by far one of the most enjoyable albums of this year and of Yo La Tengo's career overall, in my opinion.

19. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Bitte Orca is fucking amazing, DP are a really really good band, don't be turned off by the hipster dramaz that seems to be their burden. Or the cover Beyoncé's sister did of their fab single "Stillness Is the Move". Yeah I know, Beyonce's sister listens to the Dirty Projectors, what is happening to the world?

18. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures

Oh god. Oh god. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Dave fucking Grohl of Foo Fighters/Nirvana. OH MY GOD. How can such awesomeness be contained in one single album, I don't know.

17. Indochine - La République des Meteors

I am a happy girl, Indochine hadn't released any new stuff since 2005 which is fucking ridiculous, so of course, this new album made my little fangirl heart squeal with joy. Of course, it's not their best, not nearly, but my god this band has been playing for what? 30 years? And they put out some quality stuff, it's amazing.

16. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

This album is great. This band is great. What can I say? I love them so much and I couldn't be sadder I've lost them to twatlight now.

15. Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps

This is a side project of Sigur Rós lead singer Jónsi Birgisson and his partner Alex Somers, guitarist of Parachutes. Like, the Icelandic post-rock Parachutes, not the Warped Tour Parachutes. They make the most amazingly sublime music ever together. My love for these two guys is immense.

14. Mew - No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry, They Washed Away...

 I jumped on the Mew bandwagon too late (only a year ago). How the fuck could I live so long without their music?

13. Florence + the Machine - Lungs

Shhh. I love her. ILY FLORENCE WELCH. EVEN WHEN YOU SING BEYONCE COVERS.

12. Morrissey - Years of Refusal

MORRISSEY. Every year Moz decides to grace us with a new album is a good year.

11. Sonic Youth - The Eternal

Uhh, it's Sonic Youth. Nuff said.

10. Placebo - Battle for the Sun

This album is not really good.

It's filled with horrible, unchallenging, poorly written lyrics. That either repeat the same word over and over and over again, or the same sentence over and over and over again. Or have like, fucking choruses in Spanish, which is fucking CHEESY. The rhymes are weak and lacking in creativity. The melodies are repetitive and bordering on tiring. The singles they chose are tragic. Some songs are actually quite good, some are actually quite great, some are weird as fuck but work for some reason, but mostly, the album is just a bundle of clichéd, motivational, happy-go-lucky, "redeeming" crap. And fuck you's towards the ex-drummer.

And you know what?

I love it. I LOVE IT.

OH MY GOD WHY.

Failcakez, I love this clusterfuck of nonsense. I know all the lyrics. It makes me cry, it makes me sing, it makes me wanna do air guitar and a stupid little dance in my seat. Shoot me now. I fucking love this band.

So yeah, like I was saying, THIS ALBUM RULES.

9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

It's a bit poppier, and more synth-oriented than the older Yeahs albums but it's still fucking brill.

8.  Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night Of The Soul

You guys HAVE to listen to this. Stop whatever you're doing. Danger Mouse (member of Gnarls Barkley, producer of Gorillaz and Beck, mash-up artist extraordinaire) and Mark Linkous (aka Sparklehorse) wrote a set of 12 AMAZING songs that feature vocalists of the likes of Frank Black, Iggy Pop, Julian Casablancas, The Flaming Lips and Suzanne Vega amongst others. Due to problems with EMI (yeah, what's new?) he album itself is not available for purchase, BUT you can buy the book that was meant to accompany the album, which is, get this, 100+ pages of original photos taken by David Lynch which are a "visual narrative" of the album. HOLY SHIT HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Also, with the purchase of this you will get a blank CD where you can basically record the illegally downloaded mp3's. So yeah, in a nutshell; THIS IS AWESOME. SO AWESOME.

7. The Gossip - Music for Men

I was never really into the Gossip before this album came out. I have to admit it was the uber catchy Heavy Cross that caught my attention, but I listened to the rest of the album and was so very pleasantly surprised. Why had no one told me Beth Ditto has the most amazing voice evar? Damn you all.

6. Muse - The Resistance

*BRB. Face melting*

5. Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor

Many people bitched and moaned about how this was seeew different from Patrick's older stuff (especially the single, Vulture) but fuck it, I love that the guy re-invents himself with every album. Also, have you seen that video? Holy moley so wrong. And so right. And so wrong. But mostly so right.

4. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

Oh god I just wanna be Natasha Khan when I grow up. She is so amazing.

3. Chris Cornell - Scream

jk, jk.

LOLOMGWTF. I can't get over how bad this is.

 

*weeps*

3. John Frusciante - The Empyrean

I may be alone here, but I think John Frusciante's latest solo album is better than the last 3 albums of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He's just an amazing creative force that can't and shouldn't stick to one single genre. I always loved Fru's solo stuff, it's much more imaginative and experimental that anything the Chili's have done in the last 10 years. This album is a testament of that. Oh and did I mention Johnny Marr plays in two songs?! HOWS THAT FOR GUITAR HERO.

2. IAMX - Kingdom of Welcome Addiction

This is the best band formed during the last half of the 00's. That's it. No, don't even try to talk me out of it. They just keep getting better.

 

1.  Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers

Richey lyrics. Steve Albini produces. THE WIRE SINGS A WHOLE SONG. This album is epic in so many different ways, but mostly, it's just a flat out quality album, with great songs, smart lyrics and an over-all great production. And fuck it they're the Manics, of course they had to be first. Duh.

 

Yea, so I haven't been on much.  Oh well.  I haven't been the greatest Buzznet user, only commenting sporadically.  I'm sincerely sorry for that : (  I mean to but then by the time I sit down at my computer with any kind of free time, I have to go off somewhere.  I'm currently trying to live right now in two different places (long story).

HOWEVER, I am so excited I just wanted to share this.  Okay, I get a link from the wonderfully amazing and lovely Chloe (chloetraisnel) through Twitter asking me if I'll be going to this upcoming concert.  I click on the link, and lo and behold, the Manic Street Preachers are going to be here, in Minneapolis, in September.  I figured they'd play a big venue like the Target Center or Roy Wilkins Auditorium...BUT NO...they're playing the Varsity Theater, which happens to be really dinky, teeny-tiny small, and adorably cute.  Last summer at the beginning of August, I went there to see Solid Gold (local band...they're awesome...look them up on Myspace) and the Ting-Tings.  I arrived at the venue late (of course because I had to stuff my face first...I can't be somewhere standing for more than 3 hours if I don't have a belly full of food...sorry), but I still managed to get thisclose to the stage. 

This time, my game plan is different.  I am arriving very early to the club, perhaps a few cocktails in the over sized stuffed lounge chairs they have at the side of the stage; and, I'm going to be front and center for this concert...that's a promise!

Just thought I'd share.  I'm very, very excited to see MSP in concert and in such a small and intimate setting.  The show is September 30, and I'm already plotting stuff : )

YAY!

To the untrained eye, Madison (EyelinerSmudge) may seem like a walking contradiction. Her political views don’t always jibe with her emotions and her musical favorites seem out of sync with one another. But we learned this isn’t quite so. In a candid interview with the aspiring writer/photographer, we learned how she’s embraced her own differences, how art keeps her alive, and why the Manic Street Preachers are the greatest band on the planet. –Mark Oshiro, Community Manager, panasonicyouth

Learn more about EyelinerSmudge inside today's Get To Know....

 

      This write up is brought to you  in part by  Buzznet's Manic Street Preachers group.

[Manic Street Preachers 1989-94 are: Nicky Wire on bass, Richey Edwards on guitar, Sean Moore on drums and James Dean Bradfield on guitar and vocals.   Manic Street Preachers 1995-Present are: James Dean Bradfield on guitar and vocals, Nick Wire on bass and Sean Moore on drums.]

 

 

 

  Upon hearing the name Manic Street Preachers most pop music junkies will hear the line "Have you ever wanted to disappear? And join a monastery? Go out and PREACH on MANIC STREET?"    Tweeny-boppers and musical illiterates will jump to say that the band ripped their name from Fall Out Boy's "20 Dollar Nosebleed."  These are the same people who would say that corporate band Green Day's Know Your Enemy is an original title.  What the masses fail to do is look back for the originators, the source.   

            Before Emo was at the top of the charts,  'punk rock' bands went mainstream and boys in eyeliner was the norm,  four pasty boys from Wales were priming themselves into white denims.   They were shrouding themselves with spray-painted slogans and reading more thought-provoking books than an AP Lit. class.   They were a lonely group fighting to break the industrial lifestyles they had watched make old so many other promising youths.   Glamour divorced them from their surroundings.  Political thoughts set them free from fate. So, like Manic Street Preachers they took their electric guitar painted message to the stage, forever changing the face of music.

            Before them had walked great bands like the Sex Pistols, the Clash and David Bowie.  From here the group built their style.  While Nicky Wire's early hair style was no doubt a tribute to Sid Vicious,  James Dean Bradfeild's rasping voice was a sophisticated mimic of Johnny Rotten.   The adolescent, look in the mirror and see how ****ed you and your generation really are lyrics both Richey Edwards and Wire produced were in the same vein as the Pistol's "Abortion" and The Clash's "Straight to Hell." Leopard print and mascara were worn better than women, a kick back to the glam rock days which lead to the evolution of punk. 

            Unlike other bands their age, Manics didn't look to the music of contemporaries to form their dogma.   They went straight to text.  Literature played a large roll in the band's style.  Frequently the group would take to the stage with quotes from Derutti and Camus spray-painted on their shirts.  More importantly they interpreted books to assist in conveying their message.   Songs like "Motor Cycle Emptiness" and "Of Walking Abortion"  are prime examples of author inspired songs.   Literary minds lines also accompanied tracks.   A line from Orwell's 1984 introduces "Faster" and Camus ends "Masses Against the Classes."   Books weren't the bands only influence, text's rival, film played an important role in Manic Street Preacher's creative birth. 

            College student cult classics including Naked Lunch, Quadrophenia,  and Repulsion  inclined the band's anti-establishment and crashing youth vibe.  Thus helping blend the line between ideology, visual appeal and sound.  This gained aesthetic ability is perhaps what helped the Manics excel.

            Art was another visual form Manic Street Preachers clung to.   Having grown up in a time where art had just been opened up as something the working class could enjoy as well, the four Welsh lads took in all they could of canvas and paint, broadening their mental palate.   Painter Jean-Michael Bisquiat's work "To Repel Ghosts" spawned a song of the same name.   "Strategy," a three view portrait of a morbidly obese woman by Jenny Saville was used as the cover of  Manics most potent album, The Holy Bible.  This was not the only time the French painter's art was used by the band.  Journal for Plague Lovers, Manic Street Preachers' latest release features an original painting by Saville.,  Photographer Kevin Carter, most famous for his picture of a starving African collapsed on the ground next to a vulture, was also paid homage by the group in the track is "Kevin Carter" which speaks of his untimely demise. 

            No doubt it takes a set of extraordinary minds to turn a group of mediums and turn it into something new.  What is even more extraordinary is the band's ability to cope.   In 1994, after years of playing as a quartet, lyricist and Patron Saint of The Manics, Richey Edwards went missing.  After having dealt with having to watch their dear comrade injure himself and spiral deeper into an unyielding depression, the nerves of the remaining three were frazzled.  For any other band this would have been a fatal blow.    Yet, they pushed on.  

            No doubt, the group was in pain, but hope remained that Richey was still alive and happy somewhere.  Yet, they knew there was no point to cling to the past. They  tossed away their glitter, feathered boas and pretentious glamour and emerged a mature, alternative sounding band.    Keeping a bank account open for the MIA lyricist Manic Street Preachers released their most commercially successful album Everything Must Go.   What the public now saw was a band turning its lowest point into a high. 

The next ten years were a transitionary time for the group.   In the public eye they had grown into men who were now getting married, started families and still writing lyrics ripping the superficiality of America to a pile of ash.   In support of their album Know Your Enemy  Manic Street Preachers became one of the first western bands to play Communist Cuba.   Not only did the band play sold out audiences, but they had the once in a life-time experience of meeting Fidel Castro, a thrilling experience for anyone in the Marxist spectrum.  Shortly afterwards Manic  Street Preachers released the double album Lipstick Traces which was compiled of covers and b-sides spanning the band's early career.  During this time Richey was a strong fixture on their minds.   In 2008 the lyricist was finally declared as legally dead.   While no press release was issued, Manics shortly announced afterwards that their latest album  Journal for Plague Lovers will consist of the final lyrics Richey left behind.   Fans have taken this as the group saying their goodbyes to their misplaced comrade. 

This act of sincerity is what sets Manic Street Preachers apart from the common music horde.  Despite the lines of self loathing they've belted out over the years and mockery of lesser bands, the fact remains that Manic Street Preachers are still a very human band.   They have passion, something every band since has lacked.   

 

Manic Street Preacher's latest release Journal For Plague Lovers will be out on May 19^th.  

 

 

Tracks:

Faster

A Design For Life

Love's Sweet Exile

Yes

 

 

"the songs that saved your life". "But don't forget the songs
That made you cry
And the songs that saved your life
Yes, you're older now
And you're a clever swine
But they were the only ones who ever stood by you"- The Smiths, "Rubber Ring". So I'm the kind of loser geekface who cares far too much about popular music. it is my lifeblood, my reason for living, the fire in my heart and the love of my life. So i thought I'd make a list of sorts of a few of the songs and bands that have meant a lot to me over the past decade or so. Some of these are songs that at one point summed up how i felt, some of them are by bands that meant the world to me. This is not a definitive list at all, but it's a start; an introduction to the Kasperian heart, if you will.

Blur - Country house

Laugh all you want, but this is the song that started it all. It was 1995, I was ten going on eleven, i saw this video on TV and IT. CHANGED. MY. LIFE.

No, really. It did. Not because it was a mindblowing work of musical genius, but because it was the song that introduced me to Blur, and once I got into Blur, that was it. Suddenly, over the following few months, it became clear both to myself and to my surroundings, from parents and relatives to fellow school kids and my teachers, what kind of kid I was: I was That Weird Kid, the one who listens to "different" music and doesn't care about much else. The weird obsessed fankid, the pop music obsessive. That was who I became that autumn day in 1995, and that is who I have remained since then.

Manic Street Preachers - Faster
If you know me at all, you will know that I am a huge fan of Manic Street Preachers. The album this song is from, "The Holy Bible", is my favourite album of all time. There are quite a few songs I could choose to represent the Manics, but I chose this because it encompasses so well so many of the things I loved about this band back when they were the most important band in my life - actually, scratch that, they were the single most important thing in my life. I defined myself by this band, they influenced me in far too many ways for me to list. They introduced me to more books, bands, films, and ideas than I can name, they gave me something to believe in when I had little else, and they made my shitty, lonely, unhappy adolescence just a little bit more bearable.

The Smiths - Half A Person
Ah, The Smiths. How did people get through their teens before this band existed? I know, of course, that people did somehow manage - my own parents were both well into their adulthood before this band even formed, and they turned out fine. But on some level, I just can't imagine getting through the trauma of adolescence without having this band in your headphones to tell you that, though it might seem like it, you are not alone. Someone out there understands, someone knows exactly how you feel and is able to articulate it much better than you ever can. That person's name is Morrissey, and he has been singing the story of my life since before I was even born. There is such great comfort in this. Simply put, The Smiths epitomise everything I love about pop music - they were the greatest example of how life-affirming and life-changing music can be. They are the sad, hurtful, confusing parts of your life spat out on vinyl and distorted into something beautiful.

Belle & Sebastian - Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
I met my best friend through our shared love of this band. That's reason enough for them to be included here, but there are many other reasons why i consider them one of the most important bands of my life. When I was nineteen, after years of loving this band, I finally got to see them live. After the show I met their singer and chief songwriter, Stuart Murdoch, and had a complete fanboy attack, gushing about how they're my favourite band since The Smiths, and all kinds of things that I should probably be embarrassed by. But you know what? I'm not embarrassed by that in the slightest. Because this band summed up my awkward, lonely teenage years better than almost anyone I can think of. They made me realise that hey, it is OK to be fifteen and kind of bookish and geeky and lonely, and I don't have to be cool and overly confident and loud and brash or any of those things. They steered me onto the path to finally accepting myself, standing up and confidently declaring: I don't need your sex & drugs & rock&roll; I'm into snogging, tea, and indiepop.

The Libertines - Time For Heroes
Sometimes a band comes along just when you need it to and sum up a part of your life, or your feelings, or what you want your life to be like, that you desperately needed someone to articulate and put to music for you. The Libertines were that band for so many people. They were not the most original or innovative of bands, but they had something special that countless bands that came after them tried to emulate, something none of them succeeded in. This song is not my ultimate favourite Libertines song, but it goes a long way towards summing up what so many of us loved about the band: it's in the jangle of the tune, the youthful optimism of the lyrics, and the feeling that,  shit, this actually means something. I met a lot of the people i now consider some of my best friends through my love for this band, and they'll always have a tiny piece of my heart.

The Others - This Is For The Poor
I got a lot of shit for being into this band - probably more than I've ever got from being into any other band. They were not, musically or lyrically speaking, a fantastic band on record - though their gigs were, at their best, utterly fantastic. They were not particularly innovative or groundbreaking. But they had something that I and certain other people considered to be special - something we needed at that particular point in our lives. And that's what it's all about, ultimately - latching onto something that makes something in your life make a little bit more sense for a while. I met a ton of fantastic people through our shared love of this band and grew closer to people I already knew because of them, I had some of the best times of my life at their gigs, and I have a tattoo on my arm of a lyric from one of their songs that serves as a reminder that there are always things worth living for, even when things are shit, when it all seems pointless, there will always be something that makes you want to say "fuck it, i'm not giving up" and keep going.

Hefner - The Sweetness Lies Within
Sometimes you love someone so much that trying to put it into words becomes completely futile because nothing you say, no words in any language you know, can adequately convey exactly how you feel. And then there are times when loving someone hurts you to the point where you start to think that maybe, just maybe, alcoholics have got the right idea. And that's when you listen to Hefner: their songs alternate between joyous declarations of everlasting love, and miserable, depressing whine fests designed to make you want to down an entire bottle of your preferred brand of hard alcohol while slitting your wrists and screaming "WHY, WHY, GOD, WHYYYYYY" into the great, big, bleak nothingness. This song is somewhere in the middle, leaning towards the former category; it remains one of my favourite songs of theirs, and it is guaranteed to make me go a bit mushy inside.

The Times - I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape
The Times are Edward Ball's sometimes-a-band-sometimes-a-solo-project. Edward Ball is my Number One Ultimate Hero Of Music. This is not my favourite song of his, but it's certainly in the top ten. And it gets bonus points for introducing me to the 1960s genius british TV drama The Prisoner.
The Times are one of the most underrated, underappreciated, underexposed bands of the past 30 years, and i do not use such terms lightly. It would be completely impossible to sum up the talent, diversity, and - yes - genius of Edward Ball in a single paragraph, and certainly just by pointing out one song or even one album. So I will state quite simply that he is my  favourite and that there are many very good reasons why he is. 

1. How did you get into 29? Madonna
I used watch lots of videos on MTV ( you know, when MTV was really a music channel not stupid reality show and emoness channel ) and I remember that I fell in love with Ray Of Light , although the video make me feel dizzy hehe .

2. What was the first song you ever heard by 22? Megadeth
Peace Sells

3. What’s your favorite lyric by 32? Franz Ferdinand .

I dunno . Maybe Michael because that song make thinks about something that I shouldn’t . *omg men lovez!! *

Sorry, I fail.

4. What is your favorite album by 49? Blind Melon

Their first album , with the same name.

5. How many albums by 13 do you own? Guns’n’Roses

3 . Appetite For Destruction, Use Your Illusion II , and some live album that my brother download . I think it’s Live At Ritz (Paris)

 

6. What is your favorite song by 50? R.E.M
Currently, it’s The One I Love .

7. Is there a song by 39 that makes you sad? U2
With Or Without You

8. What is your favorite album by 15? David Bowie
Ziggy Stardust is epic , but he has some many great albums . It’s hard to choose .

9. What is your favorite song by 5? Garbage

Ah god! I love their song so much, but at moment, since I have to choose one I pick Trick Is To Keep Breathing. I can relate with that one very much.

10. Is there a song by 6 that makes you happy? Foo Fighters

One of my feel good bands :D Basically all those “silly” songs( and videos) make me happy , like for example Learn To Fly :)

11. What is your favorite album by 40? Slipknot
I don’ have any albums of them . Just random songs that I like.

12. What is your favorite song by 10? Hole
Violet.

13. What is a good memory you have involving 30? The Smashing Pumpkins

My childhood. I used to be in love with Tonight Tonight video. I still am :D

14. What is your favorite song by 38? Audioslave

Like A Stone

15. Is there a song by 19 that makes you happy? Pantera

LOL , not a very happy band I most say .

16. How many times have you seen 25 live? Alanis Morissette

None, but I watched her show in here this year on TV. Not bad at all.

17. What is the first song you ever heard by 23? Melissa Auf Der Maur
Taste You.

18. What is your favorite album by 11? Green Day
Dookie

19. Who is a favorite member of 1? Red Hot Chili Peppers

They all means a lot to me but John Frusciante is my biggest inspiration. If music saves life , then I need to thanks him .

20. Have you ever seen 14 live? The Offspring

Yes . It was a cool gig but I was expecting more . and it was freaking small .

21. What is a good memory involving 26? Bon Jovi

My crush on Jon Bon Jovi when I was 12 . I thought he was the man of my life till the first time I saw Orlando Bloom . He was heartbreak XD

22. What is your favorite song by 16? System Of Down

I have three : Psycho, Forrest and Chop Suey .

23. What is the first song you ever heard by 47? Amy Winehouse
Rehab ( like almost the whole World)

24. What is your favorite album by 18? Soundgarden
Superunknown

25. What is your favorite song by 21? Stone Temple Pilots
At the moment is Vasoline

26. What is the first song you ever heard by 27? Manic Street Preachers

I think it was Your Love Alone Is Not Enough *facepalm*

27. What is your favorite album by 3? Nirvana
Nevermind, but In Utero come very close.

 

* Why the fuck I’m so cliché ? *

28. What is your favorite song by 2? Metallica

Too many ! My all time fave is One but Master Of Puppet , Creeping Death, Orion , Damage Inc, The Four horsemen , Jump In The Fire , …AJFA, Harvester Of Sorrow , Dyers Eve, Ride the Lightning… etc etc etc  are also great!

Old school Metallica is just epic !

.

29. What was the first song you ever heard by 33? Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody

30. What is your favorite song by 9? Muse
Citizen Erased

31. How many times have you seen 17 live? Placebo

None but lets no talk about it ok ?

32. Is there a song by 45 that makes you happy? Courtney Love

I wouldn’t say “happy” but I always get crazy when I heard Mono . I scream like no other

*is pathetic*

33. What is your favorite album by 12? Fiona Apple
When The Pawn ….

I’m listening it while I’m doing this survey hehe :D
34. What is the worst song by 44? Radiohead

I don’t really like There There :S

35. What was the first song you ever heard by 34? Coldplay

Yellow

36. What is your favorite album by 48? Temple Of The Dog

Like … they only have one . Duh ! XD

37. How many times have you seen 42 live? The Smiths

None, but I would’ve liked it. They’re really great .

38. What is your favorite song by 37? John Frusciante
The Will To Death

39. What was the first song you ever heard by 28? Dave Navarro
Hungry * thank you Lastfm . love you *

40. What is your favorite album by 7?  Alice In Chains

Dirt

41. Is there a song by 31 that makes you happy?  PJ Harvey
This is Love

42. What is your favorite album by 43? The White Stripes
I only own Elephant .D: I download all the songs that I have on my computer of them.

I suck balls.

43. What is your favorite song by 24? No Doubt

Just A Girl . It’s my anthem :D

44. What is a good memory you have involving 46? Depeche Mode

None

45. What is your favorite song by 35? Bush

Swallowed

46. Is there a song by 8 that makes you happy? Peal Jam
Wishlist is cute ^^

47. What is your favorite album by 4? Tori Amos
From the Choirgirl Hotel

48. Who is a favorite member of 36? Jimi Hendrix

Jimi . wow you’d never guess this one .

49. What is the first song you ever heard by 41? Moonspell

Finisterra , I think.

50. How many albums do you own by 20? Iron Maiden
3 . Killers , The Number Of The Beast and Piece Of Mind.

 

I know this have ages but I didn't have nothing to do and I thought it'd cool .

Pephase I was wrong :P

         Excuse the typos and grammaritical errors that were skipped when I was editing. This is one of my favorite papers I've written.  I ended up with 97% on it.

---

Manic Street Pistol

            Imagine you’re standing in the orchestra pit at a  rock show.   To the right snaggle-toothed bleach blonde girls are staring to the stage, dazed as heroine sets in.  You follow their gaze, watching as the lead guitarist goes into a wild solo.  As he plays, the most media worthy band mate stands shirtless, sweaty and more than just a little buzzed on alcohol.  In his hand he clutches a sharp object that he immediately brings to his chest.  He drags the razor over his pale skin to the rhythm of the music, but his blood trickles down to the beat of his undeniably human heart.   Unable to focus on the carnage you glance to his gaunt face.   Who do you see?

            The musically savvy see Manic Street Preacher’s Richey Edwards in a dramatization of his actions in Bangkok in ’94.  The mind’s eye of the mainstream music junkie Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, and his attention grabbing show antics materializes.  Appearing on stage with a self-inflicted slashed chest is on the only tie that binds the Manic Street Preacher and the Sex Pistol.  Their demons, weaknesses, attitude and premature demise take the similarities of Richey Edwards and Sid Vicious from comparable to uncanny.

            Self-harm was a great struggle for both men.  Richey Edwards was known as the face of self-injury.  During interviews he would not shy away from the topic and even carved “4 REAL” into his left forearm during an interview with NME.  He went on record saying, “When I cut myself I feel so much better. All the little things that might have been annoying me suddenly seems so trivial because I’m concentrating on the pain.  I’m not a person who can scream and shout so this is my only outlet.”  His lyrics also highlighted his ‘outlet.’ Lines from the second verse of “Roses in the Hospital” serve as prime example:  “Stub cigarettes out on my arm/Roses in the hospital/Want to feel something of value.”

            While this was a confession of Richey Edward’s practice Sid Vicious would have related.   After joining the Sex Pistols in 1977, Sid Vicious and band mate Johnny Rotten would get together and stamp cigarettes out against their forearms.   Frequently he bragged to interviewers that his body was blanketed with scars from self inflicted wounds.   Following a show in Atlanta Sid went to search for drugs and instead ended up in a hospital after carving “GIMME A FIX” into his chest.  It was apparent that Vicious was headed down a path of self-destruction much like Richey Edwards.

            The two both suffered from severe drug and alcohol abuse problems.   In the case of Richey Edwards drugs and alcohol played a strictly functional rule in his life.  Drinking before a show calmed his nerves while having a few drinks before bed, he claimed, got him to sleep.  He turned to drugs for the same reasons but fought to keep his addiction in control.   He knew what the stimulants turned a person into and didn’t want to see himself become an invalid.  

            Sid Vicious on the other hand, was aiming for such a thing.   His mentality was live fast and die young, a mindset that booze and heroin fit perfectly. Having come from a household where his mother, the figurehead, was a speed addict Sid Vicious embraced illegal substances.  He would put himself into such a doped up state that it not only would calm his nerves, but, it would numb all sensation.  Much like Richey Edwards he would perform while intoxicated.   Had either been legitimated musicians in the first place this would have taken a toll on their bands’ sound.

            The Manic Street Preachers would have been nothing with out Richey Edward’s potent lyrics.   While he excelled as a songwriter he lacked all skill at playing the guitar.   During show he would pretend to play his part with his amp turned off.   For this reason Manic Street Preacher vocalist James Dean Bradfield recorded both lead and rhythm guitar parts for the band’s debut album Generation Terrorists.

            Sid Vicious too was left off his band’s first album Never Mind the Bollocks… It’s the Sex Pistols.  When asked as to why Sid hadn’t recorded his own bass part, Sex Pistol’s guitarist, Steve Jones explained “Sid was in hospital with hepatitis, so he couldn’t really play.  Not that he could play anyway.”   While playing at venues it was common practice for his bandmates to turn off Sid Vicious’ amp because his playing lacked quality.

            The only thing that kept Edwards and Vicious in the public grace was the sense of outrageousness they brought to pop culture.

            In the early years Manic Street Preachers were known for their glamorous fashion headed off by Richey Edwards and bass player, Nicky Wire.  Edwards claimed his affliction for skintight white pants and pink-feathered boas came as not only a cure for depression, but as a kick back to childhood when he would dress to bring himself attention.   Depression was as essential to Richey’s style as black eyeliner and spray paint.  He wore his struggle on his sleeve.  In interviews he was sullen and desolate.  When he did speak he would mention his emotional state and some literary or cultural allusion that would give what he was feeling depth.   The only things fans love more than a tortured artist is a rebel.   Sid Vicious was just that.

            Those close to Sid claimed that really he was a shy young man who was terrified of audiences, at least when sober.   The public, on the other hand, never saw that side.   Sid Vicious made himself known for being violent.  On stage he would challenge hecklers to fights and off stage he would let his temper fly at anyone and everyone who got in his way.   The most famous incident took place at a 100 club where Vicious beat NME journalist Nick Kent with a motorcycle chain after hearing he’d printed an unfavorable review about the Sex Pistols.  More than anything it was for the attention.  Everything Sid did involved attention, including his personal fashion.  He would wear ensembles consisting of scuffed boots, jeans and a leather jacket without a shirt beneath.  His hair was worn spiked up in every direction and his fingernails would be coated haphazardly with purple nail polish.   He was so obsessed with this portion of his life that he left a suicide note requesting he be buried in his leather jacket and motorcycle boots.   Everything both Richey Edwards and Sid Vicious did stole attention, especially when they made an exit.

             Richey Edwards dropped off the face of the planet one cold February day.  He had been on a downward emotional spiral, made apparent when he violently smashed his guitar during his final performance in London.   That night started a two-week trend of withdrawing 200 Pounds a day from his bank account.  At the end of two weeks he left London and returned to his apartment in Cardiff, Wales.  From there it is rumored he was spotted at the Newport Passport Office and the New Port Bus Station.   Weeks later his car was found abandoned at the Severn View service station.   No tangible signs of Richey have materialized since.

            Vicious’ end, however, is far more concrete.   At a 1979 party to celebrate his bail from Rikers Island jail, Sid Vicious took a shot of top-rate heroin his mother had obtained for him. This was a mother’s love turned fatal. Having been off drugs for nearly two months the unadulterated heroin had an adverse affect on Vicious’ body.   He had started to overdose and Michelle Robinson, his girlfriend at the time, revived him.  The two thought the worst was over and resigned to go to bed.   The pair was not aware that he was not done overdosing.  When Vicious hit REM sleep his heartbeat slowed down with every cycle.  As is common with a heroin over dose, his lungs filled with fluids, causing suffocation.   The combination of a lowered heart rate and oxygen deficiency assured that Vicious was dead by morning. 

            The two fates, other than affecting two very young men (Edwards: 28, Vicious: 21,), seem to have nothing in common.  What ties them is the date.

            Richey Edwards disappeared on February 1^st, 1995.

            Sid Vicious died on February 2^nd, 1979.  

            It is not unusual for rock stars to be self destructive, outrageous or fashioned in a similar manner.   It is, on the other hand, bizarre for one seemingly unconnected icon to meet his fate in such close proximity to the 14^th anniversary of another rock idol’s passing.   The similarities between Richey Edwards and Sid Vicious are not just coincidence.   They’re uncanny.  

 

small relation of Heavenly Manics performance. they began at 8pm.

the set list:

Motown Junk

Sorrow 16

Ceremony Rape Machine

Starlover

Spectators Of Suicide

You Love Us

 the performance was really powefull, funny and great. Wire jumped a lot, they all seemed to have great fut while playing those songs. why I moan the most is the
place where they played - it's rather classic concert hall, so not ready for rock gigs, jumpin and waving
unfortunatelly. YLU was a mash-up of YLU heavenly and Sony, all the songs were really good.

after the gig we saw Simon Price standing in staircase and talking to his friends. then me and my friend found other
Manics fans and went with them to meet the band after the performance.

We met them all! James at the very beginning, he remembered me from Lodz!! I was so extremely happy about that!! he's such a cute guy, we talked a little bit and took a pic. he signed my TGW!
then Sean, who wasn't nice tbh. he said only a kind of 'I'm in hurry, so hurry up, I will sign some stuff' and walked away :/
at the very end Nicky came, he looked brilliantly, he's so pretty, signed my stuff, we took pics and talked a little moment.
I love him with all my heart! I gave him a bag with some presents (t-shirt, letter and bracelet) he said that's great that
we gave him a plastic bag because he didn't take his own.
all the Manics signed my pictures from Lodz, EMA (Nicky didn't recognized himself at that picture ;) ) he probably wasn't
sober :P

all the trip to London was great and I want to come back there very soon!! London's sucha a pretty city!

I took a quiz, out of boredom, titled:  Which dead rock musician are you?  My result was Joey Ramone, but there were a couple I had never heard of before.  Jeff Buckley (downloaded Hallelujah...hauntingly beautiful) and Richey James (Edwards) from Manic Street Preachers...

 

...how do you just disappear?! 

Are you: a guitarist? a bassist? a drummer? (beginners are welcome)

Do you like good music?

Do you want to have lots of fun?

Do you want to help a friend?

Are you able to record yourself at home?

We're giving you the oppurtunity to be a guest member of our band Born A Girl and to record a part of our first song "Your Love Alone".

All details are here: http://www.buzznet.com/groups/manicstreetpreachers/forum/topics/324861/#freplies

This is quite urgent, so please, give us a reply quickly.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.