Manic Street Preachers Destructive Alienating Cultural and Despair Filled Tracks POLL RESULTS

44. Epicentre (from Know Your Enemy) [2 votes, 1 first place, 62 points, 2001]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wVLvXvX7Jc

Seems a lot agree this is one of the best post richey era albums then. Good stuff.

Great live on this tour as well.

I think a lot of songs on it really work when you hear them separate from the album, but as a whole it's too long and badly sequenced

looking at the ILM polls thread I saw this

My own inclination for Zep was to allow 3 days for voting and 2 days for the reveal.

Is that what everyone's to do then? (it's certainly fine by me)

i'd say a week for voting is better, and maybe a 3 day reveal.

Not sure how the poll format has come to be standardised, though it does make sense to stop them overlapping. Do what fits I say - I'd be inclined to have a week or more for voting then a quick reveal myself, given the choice, but it'd depend on the artist.

'Found That Soul's a good 'un.

I have no use for post-Richey manics. Ismael captured pretty well upthread:

"It lacks a bit in the metre which I presume is Wire's work (imagine! it's totally different from the insane cramming in their earlier lyrics though)"

Richey's crazy electric word collages of despair really affected the Manics' sound as a whole, obviously in that insane cramming, but it seemed like every part of the songs had to rise up to meet the challenge of his verbiage. That fire just isn't there anymore.

yeah id just finish the reveal over the weekend if you can. Its not like there's hundreds of voters who have no access to the internet. Plus it would liven up the weekend on here!

And whilst I voted for all richey era tracks as it was ltd to 20, and i certainly do prefer the 1st 3 albums to what came after,there's still been some good albums and great tracks since.

43. Archives Of Pain (from The Holy Bible) [3 votes, 64 points, 1994]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bdcnysXhHU

This was the track I remember the Manics-obsessed girl I fancied in sixth-form college would bang on about as being one of the most frightening songs in the world. I was slightly underwhelmed when I heard it as a result, as it had been overhyped, but still a good enough track.

I love Bradfield's pronunciation of "A killer" - sounds like "tequila" but more menacing, like a poisonous spider or scorpion.

Awful anti gun control/pro captial punishment lyrics notwithstanding

― ledge, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 09:57 (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The gun control ones are silly and contrarian but I like the capital punishment ones for their sheer extremity - artistically successful even if I disagree. Bands just don't sing about that stuff.

― Strictly vote-splitting (DL), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 10:03 (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i suppose there is a kind of clarity in the lyrics here, no pussyfooting or hypocrisy, seeing the naked lunch for what it is and gleefully biting down on the fork - "STERILISE RAPISTS! ALL I PREACH IS EXTINCTION!". Still smdh at them though.

during- and post-Richey Manics are obv very different bands but both are worthy. They've probably released at least 50-60 songs I at least like in the post-Richey era.

Man, that is a LOT of KYE so far. Are we going to see "The Convalescent"? That's my fave off the record - can't argue w/ that coda despite the frequently naff lyrics.

'Archives of Pain' is a fine track. I remember stumbling on the Foucault book that the horse image (and probably most of the rest of the lyrics) came from in the short loan section at uni library. It was completely useless for study, no idea why it was in there. The book was far more gruesome than the song, in fact looking at the lyric now I don't recall why pro-capital punishment lines caused such a fuss, it seems a perfectly defensible opinion to me. Possibly largely largely down to my own drift through time, but there's a strong element of personal and communal responsibility in it which rarely features in the public dialogue (and only obliquely in this lyric, to be fair).

I'm just so surprised at how many albums they've actually made since I stopped following them. Last thing I paid any attention to was The Masses Against The Classes, which felt like a marker point in their history, but they've just gone on and on with few sabbaticals. The album artwork for Lifeblood is so so of its time, with the minimal but gothy theme. It screams cut-out bin to me.

Most of those albums have some worth, too, and - though there's some disagreement on this point - I think Journal for Plague Lovers is their best since Everything Must Go.

Id agree with that, then Know Your Enemy.

as mentioned on the vote thread i actually really like Lifeblood - probably enjoy it the most of the last four albums - but saying that I didn't vote for any of the tracks

1985 is a great song, I left it off my ballot at the last second, but the rest of the album is rubbish. It was worse than TIMTTMY, which really says something.

send away the tigers is better than Lifeblood.

Just read the lyrics to "Archives Of Pain" - woah! They don't make em like that any more.

Hey - This Is My Truth is a good album!

I like that there is little to no consensus as to which of their albums are even worthwhile. I always assumed that Lifeblood was generally agreed upon as dogshit (the band certainly seems to think so), but apparently not!

the best of these polls are the ones with no given consensus.

I always assumed that Lifeblood was generally agreed upon as dogshit (the band certainly seems to think so)

I agree with the band!

42. So Why So Sad (from Know Your Enemy) [2 votes, 1 first place, 65 points, 2001]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3i1E9N8zww

41. Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky (from Everything Must Go) [4 votes, 67 points, 1996]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19N9H1JXvko

I gave 'Small Black Flowers' a spin before voting, expecting it to make my shortlist, but just found it really boring.

it is!

Umm... So Why So Sad was when they started going into Stereophonics territory and probably the last song I remember being conscious of.

I remember Small Black Flowers being good, but can't remember it. NTS: Must get hold of EMG - was never a huge fan, but it's okay really.

is that it the one about a gorilla throwing shit everywhere?

sadly, "SWSS" has one of their better videos.

I like both of those a lot.

im getting excited for the top 20 already. Are there any non-album tracks to come?

i've always been intrigued by archives of pain. it reads very well as a parody of the opinions it supposedly espouses. i kind of wonder if he did that on purpose, showing the conflict between the impulsive reaction to something and his ethical/rational take. and i guess as a criticism of the fetishization(?) of murder and murderers the bent of the lyrics makes sense as rhetorical exaggeration. there's clearly a lot more to it than just advocating capital punishment etc but it sounds from comments the others have made that that was a genuine part of it too, assuming they had a convo about it at the time, "so rich, what's the deal with the, eh, tearing torsos and such?"

So much contrarianism on THB it's hard to tell what to take seriously, although iirc the biog I read suggested they were sincere if misguided about a lot of it, "fuck the brady bill" in particular. Certainly I always found it easier to lol at "scratch my leg with a rusty nail, sadly it heals" than anything in archives of pain.

yes some bsides to come

in fact...

40. Sepia (b-side to Kevin Carter) [3 votes, 68 points, 1996]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkjx-znIO48

xposts true about Archives of Pain - it could well be a critique of smoke'em'out hysteria rather than a claim for capital punishment.

"Sepia" is OK but they have many better b-sides.

Never worked out why 'So Why So Sad' is hated so much.

39. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart (from The Holy Bible) [4 votes, 70 points, 1994] (tied with 37 & 38)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtD6mrkSZ0

where's the bad apostrophe?? revisionism!

ha. so anyway apparently "fuck the brady bill" (requiring background checks on firearms purchasers) because it was an attempt to prevent the poor and black from tooling up, to keep power in the hands of the white and privileged. I dunno if they got that straight from the NRA...

decent song though, nice singalong bridge. but what the hell is that zapruder masturbation line about.

i mean i can guess what it's about but y'know... o_O

probably my least fave on THB. still pretty great though.

38. Revol (from The Holy Bible) [3 votes, 70 points, 1994] (tied with 37 & 39)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf91dTrLkgA

sha na na

i like that zapruder line! it really stood out to me at the time. i remember telling friends about it and expecting some kind of amazing response. i guess i had and still have a thing about the many different varieties and levels of rubber-necking that ppl get swept up in.

revol was the single i liked least off THB. i still had it around #25 iirc.

interesting, faster got more 1st places but for some reason a good chunk of voters didn't touch it, whereas nearly everyone voted for ME. as of course they should have. feels like being a teenager again.

thanks to everyone who voted and commented. if you want to know positions of any other tracks let me know...

No, thank YOU. Go on, give us a full rundown.

yeah, it was cool to see the full list of positions/score/votes/#1s if you can just dump that stuff into a post.

thanks jamie, superb job.

okay here goes, everything voted for, don't have time to stick in the albums, years on the non 50 stuff though

114. Gold Against The Soul [1 votes, 12 points]
113. Let Robeson Sing [1 votes, 12 points]
112. Black Holes For The Young [1 votes, 13 points]
111. Born To End [1 votes, 13 points]
110. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head [1 votes, 13 points]
109. To Repel Ghosts [1 votes, 13 points]
108. Australia [1 votes, 14 points]
107. Intravenous Agnostic [1 votes, 14 points]
106. Send Away The Tigers [1 votes, 14 points]
105. The Convalescent [1 votes, 14 points]
104. I'm Not Working [1 votes, 17 points]
103. Love Turn Us Under [1 votes, 17 points]
102. Teenage 20/20 [1 votes, 18 points]
101. Virginia State Epileptic Colony [1 votes, 18 points]
100. 4eva Delayed [1 votes, 19 points]
99. Automatik Technicolour [1 votes, 20 points]
98. Love's Sweet Exile [1 votes, 20 points]
97. Ready For Drowning [1 votes, 20 points]
96. Horses Under Starlight [1 votes, 21 points]
95. Door To The River [1 votes, 22 points]
94. Empty Souls [1 votes, 22 points]
93. I Live To Fall Asleep [1 votes, 22 points]
92. Postcards From A Young Man [1 votes, 22 points]
91. Second Great Depression [1 votes, 22 points]
90. Some Kind Of Nothingness [1 votes, 22 points]
89. This Joke Sport Severed [1 votes, 22 points]
88. Umbrella [1 votes, 22 points]
87. We Are All Bourgeois Now [1 votes, 22 points]
86. All Is Vanity [1 votes, 23 points]
85. Democracy Coma [1 votes, 23 points]
84. Emily [1 votes, 23 points]
83. Facing page:top left [1 votes, 23 points]
82. Indian Summer [1 votes, 23 points]
81. Marlon JD [1 votes, 23 points]
80. Strip It Down [1 votes, 23 points]
79. Underdogs [1 votes, 23 points]
78. Methodone Pretty [1 votes, 24 points]
77. SYMM [1 votes, 24 points]
76. The Love Of Richard Nixon [1 votes, 26 points]
75. You're Tender And You're Tired [1 votes, 26 points]
74. You Stole The Sun From My Heart [1 votes, 26 points]
73. Another Invented Disease [1 votes, 28 points]
72. Natwest Barclays Midlands Lloyds [2 votes, 28 points]
71. Me And Stephen Hawking [1 votes, 30 points]
70. Never Want Again [2 votes, 33 points]
69. Bag Lady [2 votes, 35 points]
68. Comfort Comes [2 votes, 35 points]
67. Patrick Bateman [2 votes, 35 points]
66. Solitude Sometimes Is [2 votes, 37 points]
65. William's Last Words (Underworld Remix) [2 votes, 38 points]
64. Condemned To Rock N Roll [2 votes, 39 points]
63. Crucifix Kiss [1 votes, 1 first place, 40 points]
62. The Girl Who Wanted to be God [2 votes, 41 points]
61. Yourself [2 votes, 42 points]
60. AutumnSong [2 votes, 43 points]
59. Tsunami [2 votes, 43 points]
58. Judge Yrself [2 votes, 44 points]
57. New Art Riot [2 votes, 44 points]
56. The Year of Purification [2 votes, 47 points]
55. The Masses Against the Classes [2 votes, 48 points]
54. Repeat (UK) [3 votes, 49 points]
53. 1985 [2 votes, 51 points]
52. The Intense Humming Of Evil [2 votes, 52 points]
51. Black Dog On My Shoulder [3 votes, 53 points]
50. Ocean Spray (from Know Your Enemy) [3 votes, 54 points, 2001]
49. My Little Empire (from This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours) [3 votes, 55 points, 1998]
48. Interiors (Song for Willem De Kooning) (from Everything Must Go) [2 votes, 56 points, 1996]
47. Spectators Of Suicide (from Generation Terrorists) [3 votes, 57 points, 1992]
46. Found That Soul (from Know Your Enemy) [4 votes, 58 points, 2001]
45. My Guernica (from Know Your Enemy) [3 votes, 60 points, 2001]
44. Epicentre (from Know Your Enemy) [2 votes, 1 first place, 62 points, 2001]
43. Archives Of Pain (from The Holy Bible) [3 votes, 64 points, 1994]
42. So Why So Sad (from Know Your Enemy) [2 votes, 1 first place, 65 points, 2001]
41. Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky (from Everything Must Go) [4 votes, 67 points, 1996]
40. Sepia (b-side to Kevin Carter) [3 votes, 68 points, 1996]
39. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart (from The Holy Bible) [4 votes, 70 points, 1994] (tied with 37 & 38)
38. Revol (from The Holy Bible) [3 votes, 70 points, 1994] (tied with 37 & 39)
37. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough (from Send Away The Tigers) [3 votes, 1 first place, 70 points, 2007] (tied with 38 & 39)
36. Too Cold Here (b-side to Revol) [3 votes, 71 points, 1994]
35. Enola/Alone (from Everything Must Go) [3 votes, 81 points, 1996] tied with 34 & 33
34. Mausoleum (from The Holy Bible) [3 votes, 81 points, 1994] tied with 35 & 33
33. There By The Grace Of God (from Forever Delayed) [3 votes, 81 points, 2002] tied with 34 & 35
32. Dead Trees and Traffic Islands (b-side to A Design For Life) [4 votes, 82 points, 1996] tied with 31 & 30
31. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time (from Journal For Plague Lovers) [5 votes, 82 points, 2009] tied with 32 & 30
30. Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless) (stand-alone single) [4 votes, 82 points, 1992] tied with 31 & 32
29. The Everlasting (from This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours) [4 votes, 83 points, 1998]
28. Peeled Apples (from Journal For Plague Lovers) [4 votes, 85 points, 2009]
27. She Is Suffering (from The Holy Bible) [4 votes, 91 points, 1994]
26. Prologue To History (b-side to If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next) [5 votes, 92 points, 1998]
25. Slash & Burn (from Generation Terrorists) [5 votes, 99 points, 1992]
24. No Surface All Feeling (from Everything Must Go) [4 votes, 109 points, 1996]
23. P.C.P. (from The Holy Bible) [6 votes, 110 points, 1994]
22. Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier (from Everything Must Go) [5 votes, 111 points, 1996]
21. Roses In The Hospital (from Gold Against The Soul) [6 votes, 118 points, 1993]
20. Life Becoming A Landslide (from Gold Against The Soul) [6 votes, 120 points, 1993]
19. Everything Must Go (from Everything Must Go) [6 votes, 121 points, 1996]
18. Further Away (from Everything Must Go) [6 votes, 134 points, 1996]
17. Little Baby Nothing (from Generation Terrorists) [6 votes, 144 points, 1992]
16. If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next (from This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours) [7 votes, 150 points, 1998]
15. Of Walking Abortion (from The Holy Bible) [7 votes, 151 points, 1994]
14. Stay Beautiful (from Generation Terrorists) [6 votes, 152 points, 1992]
13. Die in the Summertime (from The Holy Bible) [7 votes, 154 points, 1994]
12. Motown Junk (stand-alone single) [7 votes, 156 points, 1991]
11. You Love Us (from Generation Terrorists) [7 votes, 159 points, 1992]
10. La Tristessa Durera (Scream to a Sigh) (from Gold Against The Soul) [8 votes, 170 points, 1993] tied with 9
9. Sleepflower (from Gold Against The Soul) [7 votes, 170 points, 1993] tied with 10
8. From Despair to Where (from Gold Against The Soul) [9 votes, 189 points, 1993]
7. This Is Yesterday (from The Holy Bible) [7 votes, 1 first place, 202 points, 1994]
6. 4st 7lb (from The Holy Bible) [9 votes, 1 first place, 244 points, 1994]
5. Kevin Carter (from Everything Must Go) [9 votes, 1 first place, 252 points, 1996]
4. A Design For Life (from Everything Must Go) [11 votes, 2 first place, 275 points, 1996]
3. Yes (from The Holy Bible) [11 votes, 2 first place, 344 points, 1994]
2. Faster (from The Holy Bible) [11 votes, 3 first place, 347 points, 1994]
1. Motorcycle Emptiness (from Generation Terrorists) [15 votes, 2 first place, 424 points, 1992]

Raindrops was mine, surprised noöne else voted for it. I also voted for Repeat. Apart from them, everything else made the fifty.

my fallen soldiers:

8. Methadone Pretty
11. New Art Riot
12. Love's Sweet Exile
14. Teenage 20/20
16. Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll
19. Born To End

looks like i was the only person to vote for 4 of these (love's sweet exile??) but then i did have all of the top 3 in my top 5 so i can't complain.

So just me voting for 4Ever Delayed then. Other non-placers: William's Last Words, Comfort Comes, Solitude Sometimes Is.

And thanks Jamie. That was fun. More fun even than The Intense Humming of Evil.

Thanks! This was a fun poll with a ton of Youtube material to check out after the fact.

Mine that didn't place:

6 You're Tender and You're Tired
11 Horses Under Starlight
12 Tsunami
16 Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds
17 Repeat (UK)

Did any other Americans vote in this? I gotta admit a lack of familiarity with a whole lot of B-sides (which is not totally surprising, considering).

Cheers Jamie!

My sole non-placer: 72. Natwest Barclays Midlands Lloyds [2 votes, 28 points]. Everything in the top seven was in my top seven but I had first and second place swapped.

Really wish Horses Under Starlight had placed. love it.

I didn't vote, but I'd have stuck Raindrops pretty high

(Motorcycle Emptiness) feels like being a teenager again.

Yus indeed - Can't listen to it without being transported back to Hatfield Forum indie night.

yay, someone else voted for "Never Want Again"!

Am I the lone Yank? It can't be. Glad to see 1985 get love. I was already overloading my ballot with Lifeblood!
Intended to vote Raindrops but got distracted by Umbrella.
Big thanks to Jamie!!

I'm Canadia fwiw

and yes thanks Jamie!

er *Canadian

ballots?

Sleepflower
Motorcycle Emptiness
Stay Beautiful
Patrick Bateman
Die In The Summertime
This Is Yesterday
Life becoming A Landslide
IfWhiteAmericaToldTheTruthForOneDayIt'sWorldWouldFallApart
She is suffering
Spectators Of Suicide
New Art Riot
Strip It Down
Motown Junk
You Love Us
Slash 'N' Burn
Revol
Repeat
Little Baby Nothing
Yourself
Roses In The Hospital

This Is Yesterday
Yes
Sleepflower
Stay Beautiful
Faster
Revol
4st 7lb
Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier
Kevin Carter
Suicide Is Painless
My Little Empire
Yourself
P.C.P.
Further Away
No Surface All Feeling
From Despair to Where
Life Becoming a Landslide
Slash & Burn
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
Repeat (UK)

Bag Lady (12)
Black Holes for the Young (13)
The Convalescent (14)
Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier (15)
From Despair to Where (16)
I'm Not Working (17)
Never Want Again (18)
The Year of Purification (19)
Die in the Summertime (20)
La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh) (21)
Peeled Apples (22)
Everything Must Go (23)
William's Last Words (Underworld Remix) (24)
Black Dog On My Shoulder (25)
Too Cold Here (26)
Faster (28)
Motorcycle Emptiness (30)
No Surface All Feeling (33)
This Is Yesterday (36)
Yes (40)

Great poll jamie, thank you very much for doing it all!