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

that's the only one on the list that I'm sure I voted for. Great song.

vocal rhythms of ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart really get stuck in my head. "unimportant just another inner city drive by thing", who'd have thought such a line would be so catchy?

otm - really top craft from jdb there

Also hurrah for 'Too Cold Here' - I missed it off at the last moment for its bleakness, which was stupid.

yeah, top respect to bradfield for corralling all of that lyrical lunacy. i love it when you can tell he has changed something to crowbar a lyric in and it only just makes sense still. am i right in remembering that the GT lyrics book has "throw some acid into the mona lisa's face" in defiance of the fact that that would be impossible to sing and he doesn't even try? also like to imagine the conversation when richey+nicky heard how he brutalizes the pronunciation of la tristesse durera. "fuck it you pricks, it goes with the fuckin tune, that's how it's fuckin staying"

I want 'Life Becoming A Landslide' to win this now - just (belatedly) realised it's the best thing they did.

I like that one but the chunk production of that whole record is a huge distraction.

*chunky

love that album now.

landslide is an extreme example of the manics combining corny and profound. i loved it so much but as i have gotten older and crabbier some of the triter lyrics and elements like the fucking horrible strings constantly seem to get in my way of enjoying the song. over the few revisions i did it slipped from my top ten to off the list. it seemed to get worse with every listen.

overthinking! my "revisions" consisted of reading lyrics pages and replaying some songs i last listened to ten years ago, maybe all the way through if they got lucky. this was an adolescent poll for me (adolesence reaching into my mid 20s to be fair).

btw is the countdown continuing over the weekend? if so i will be absent for most of it ;_;

nah i'm gonna be busy so will do another 15 on monday

http://martyvanags.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/BurnsExcellentSticker.jpg

http://img.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/3/7/6/1/2/5/1/orig-3761251.jpg

Pauvre petit Sean can't catch a break in that photo.

here we go then

35. Enola/Alone (from Everything Must Go) [3 votes, 81 points, 1996] tied with 34 & 33

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgVyQRqTZu4

34. Mausoleum (from The Holy Bible) [3 votes, 81 points, 1994] tied with 35 & 33

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf4zsRbiHY4

Sorry I didn't have time to vote in this. Enjoying reading the results nonetheless. My number one would have been Faster, without a shadow of a doubt. Probably the best rock song of the 1990s.

Had to remind myself which one Mausoleum is. It's one of the ones on The Holy Bible which works least well I think (only faint criticism!). The gear change into the 'chorus' is either too prominent or not prominent enough, I can't decide - the former because the two parts don't mesh all that well, the latter because there's no *huge* dynamic shift, so it makes the song more of a kind of featureless hum. Maybe one time where the Spartan arrangement let's them down a little?

Thinking about the poll over the weekend, Ifwhiteamerica... is really scandalously low, what a terrific track. I can hardly talk though, I didn't note for it myself.

lets, dammit - autocorrect's fault, not mine

loved Enola/Alone when I was younger, now the chorus bugs me.

love Mausoleum still, esp the ending.

33. There By The Grace Of God (from Forever Delayed) [3 votes, 81 points, 2002] tied with 34 & 35

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHuBrh2B5nc

and one of my favourites so i'm glad to see it up highish

32. Dead Trees and Traffic Islands (b-side to A Design For Life) [4 votes, 82 points, 1996] tied with 31 & 30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSN3nw6Ki_8

oooh that's a good b-side. never really 'got' TBTGOG though.

I did not know 'Dead Trees' before, but it's marvellous.

31. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time (from Journal For Plague Lovers) [5 votes, 82 points, 2009] tied with 32 & 30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpSzPL-Qu20

30. Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless) (stand-alone single) [4 votes, 82 points, 1992] tied with 31 & 32

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y11f8Oc25AI

Yes! Closest they got to their stated early aspirations imo. I wish they'd really gone for it, promotion-wise - it could've been a startling #1 in 1992.

29. The Everlasting (from This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours) [4 votes, 83 points, 1998]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeU_qC5tBOE

28. Peeled Apples (from Journal For Plague Lovers) [4 votes, 85 points, 2009]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4mL_YAJG_c

The Everlasting is one of the songs that the band themselves famously hate. Surprised it's this high.

really shoulda voted for Suicide is Painless, they own that song AFAIC

I thought I liked it 'til I relistened for this poll, but I couldn't even get through it. It's not bad, it's just boring.

I always loved Suicide is Painless - I think that was the first thing I ever heard by them - must've been about 11? The Everlasting = Mum's favourite.

xp that was

Their 'Suicide Is Painless' is the definitive version imo. Was extremely disappointed when I heard the original.

I hope "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" shows up - very similar in tone and execution to MASH and definitely one of their most poignant moments since it was their first release after Richey's disappearance.

Suicide is Painless somewhat let down by the structure - very short verse/very short chorus, repeat * infinity. Also I do not endorse the message, somewhat glad it wasn't a startling #1.

they certainly had a fixation on morbidity. I'm surprised the hordes of emo kids circa 2006 didn't latch onto early Manics in a big way.

somehow I hadn't heard their version of "Raindrops..." yet. It's really lovely. They ought to have done a whole "American Standards" record back then, imagine the backlash!

Ha yes, their contrarian antennae failing them there

27. She Is Suffering (from The Holy Bible) [4 votes, 91 points, 1994]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYNwr58V1Pg

26. Prologue To History (b-side to If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next) [5 votes, 92 points, 1998]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8Q3SR9x5W0

Prologue to History is my favourite Manics B-side. Better than most of TIMT - and a much stronger look at their own history than The Everlasting - but would never have worked on that album.

I do not endorse the message

"My name is ledge and I do not endorse this message."

"I don't WAN-na beee/A prologue to his-to-ryyyy"

A b-side I actually know!

That is the best new-to-me track I've heard so far.

There was a pretty great four-song set by them on a spinoff of C4 show Naked City circa 1994. 'She Is Suffering' was one of the four iirc. I had it taped and watched repeatedly - terrific performance and nice touches like Richey having to attend to technical issues on his guitar whenever James decided to sling his own aside for a verse.

It was called 'Butt Naked', I remember now, and disfigured by a horrible cartoon of a descending arse whenever the credits showed. Why oh why have such crap graphics? It can't've been funny ever.

25. Slash & Burn (from Generation Terrorists) [5 votes, 99 points, 1992]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8a1WEjLqUw

24. No Surface All Feeling (from Everything Must Go) [4 votes, 109 points, 1996]

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

Yup, love No Surface, All Feeling. There's a long line of resignation and passivity running from, where, maybe This Is Yesterday onwards, which I assume is Wire's work because it gets expanded amplified with diminishing returns once Richey bows out. No Surface All Feeling's really good with it though, it's touching and quite tender.

yeah that was my #9. verse is over passive maybe but the chorus + guitar line make it. then they rock out yeeeaaaaahhh.

Okay last ones for today. Not sure if i'll be continuing tomorrow as have to attend a funeral but we'll see...

23. P.C.P. (from The Holy Bible) [6 votes, 110 points, 1994]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN5AxvjTJhQ