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

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.

this song weirded me out a bit when I initially heard it (at 14 or so), now I just think it's catchy and kickass.

it would be my first choice for holy bible karaoke i reckon.

the undeniable thrill of shouting nazi buzzwords

private room karaoke of course.

lucky voice, with all the accoutrements - afro wig, blow up guitar, nazi armbands.

lolll

just looking at the singles discog and that run of UK chart placements from 96 to 07 is insaaaane: 2 5 9 7 1 9 8 15 19 6 2 2 2 10

"Masses Against the Classes" was the first UK #1 of 2000, wasn't it? (also, LOL)

yeah i fucked that up:

2 5 9 7 1 2 11 5 11 1 9 8 15 19 6 2 2 2 10

Yep - only happened because that week after Xmas is always the slowest singles week of the year (also the reason Iron Maiden got a number one with Bring Your Daughter i seem to recall) and they were headlining the huge new arena in Cardiff on NYE

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!