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

"systemised atrocity being ignored as long as bilingual signs on view" - has this actually ever happened?

being

With respect, I don't think you understand the song. There's nothing strawmannish or credulous in PCP. It's not a stretch to argue that in the early 90s the left was more concerned with identity politics and language than the more old-left ideas that interested the Manics - the phrase "pyrrhic victory" is the key. You're acting like nobody's allowed to criticise political correctness lest they turn into Jeremy Clarkson.

Well, maybe I have a knee-jerk reaction to knee-jerk anti pc reactions, and maybe I'm misremembering the glory days of the loony left. But really you don't think there's anything straw man sounding in the song at all?

Individual lines yes, but not in the round. There's all kinds of messy, contradictory ideas going on in that album and I think it needs to be taken in that spirit rather than holding up individual lines. Especially as it's quite hard to pick apart a Richey lyric.

Like you, I hated kneejerk PC-bashing in the 90s, as I do now, but I don't that's what's going on here.

weird conflation/ confusion of macro and personal politics doesn't aid in untangling those lyrical contradictions IMO (not that I'm suggesting anyone's trying to do that!)

Sorry, that probably doesn't make sense! What I mean is that the contradictions aren't easy to untangle given the dubious parallels Richie was sometimes making between the personal and the political.

For my part I always read it as wider than PC, being more about all types of excusing inaction through false priorities. Unlike you I have lots of time for PC bashing, unless done by the Mail, because whatever the theory, the sole significant practical effect that I can see is to mask the real issues. Hence its being the target here, because it's the clearest example of diversionary tactics.

The 'bilingual signs' line is about Bosnia I think btw, I doubt it's a reference to Wales.

xp Agree 100%

catching up on today backwards. agree with IK there on PCP, it's the modern political fixation on surface over substance. like elsewhere on the album the lyrics do leave a bit of a gap for you to fill in. it's a great song, i enjoy the mentalness.

no surface and elvis are a couple of the better EMG tracks. i thought about diddling my ballot because it seemed harsh to have nothing after THB but it's more of a reflection of just how good the earlier tracks are.

bought the 12" at the time but never particularly liked roses, even when i really really like GATS. slash and suffering too low, obv. lol @ everlasting, just terrible. grace of god hardly better. dead trees is v good, not far off my ballot, think i only had one EMG track higher. don't know prologue to history, will check that out when i get home.

that should be really really liked GATS - past tense sadly

the everlasting is the worst ever manics song by a long long way.
Cannot believe anyone voted for it.

I always just think of 'PCP' as a rapid delivery device for as many ambiguous statements as possible before the album finishes up.

'ambiguous' in intent, I mean.

mausoleum – i had this way up. love this song. the reason i didn't go (even) more heavily on THB tracks was because

they aren't quite the same as individual tracks versus pieces of that whole. i don't mean that they don't stand up

as individual songs, but the sharp darkness of individual tracks is somehow subsumed by the charcoal smear of the

whole, and maybe by the foreknowledge that i am listening to THB, whereas if i pull out intense humming or archives

or 4st 7 it's like, uhhh, well this is pretty fucking brutal eh? the singles are naturally the tracks that avoid this most obviously, but i always found mausoleum a timely release from the intensity. it is a banging rock tune with hilariously ott, schlocky lyrics. richie gets close to the line enough times throughout the record but on mausoleum they careen gleefully into cartoon. and that just makes me love it more. i am the opposite of whoever above (IK?) because i particularly like how the different parts are welded together, and each of the individual parts is great in its own right - the haunted house, telltale bass of the verse; upshift to the gradually sinking fast n shouty pre-chorus; goth metal powerchord chorus; unintentionally hilarious voice clip; awesome thundering finish to a dead stop.

estimated percentage chance i was writing that in notepad so it wasn't too obvious i was ilxing at work?

well this is pretty fucking brutal eh?

otm. You wouldn't believe the scorn I drew on the metal poll for railroading it in their direction. THB is the heaviest thing I've heard that doesn't sound like it's actually being sung by a corpse.

a recap of 50-21 would be awesome if someone has a little time on their hands

"Mausoleum" would be my pick from THB, with "Faster" a close second. I'm sorry I didn't vote in this poll, though I'm not sure I would have voted for anything post THB.

so far...

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]

cool, thx. long wait for a GATS track. so i have 14 tracks left for the last 20 spots. would guess i am due 4-5 disappointments, hopefully not more than that.

still have 16 left - I expect 8 of them will place.

Wow, Prologue To History is fantastic!

I have 14 left. I expect them all to place tbh, except Further Away and possibly Repeat.

i hope design for life doesnt win, but I think it will. Hopefully we will find out tonight!

nah it's either Motorcycle Emptiness or - possibly - Yes.

I'm saying Faster. I'd most like it to be Yes I think.

it really is fucking perfect, esp. the US mix.

okay let's do 10 this evening, and then final top ten tomorrow

20. Life Becoming A Landslide (from Gold Against The Soul) [6 votes, 120 points, 1993]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWeL1bXPjdc

19. Everything Must Go (from Everything Must Go) [6 votes, 121 points, 1996]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9kz10lAMFY

I don't normally do this, but Life Becoming A Landslide is far

TOO LOW

18. Further Away (from Everything Must Go) [6 votes, 134 points, 1996]

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

17. Little Baby Nothing (from Generation Terrorists) [6 votes, 144 points, 1992]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM3N54avEQc

Love Further Away, but I didn't think anyone else would!

it's edging towards best track on the album for me

"Everything Must Go" still strikes me as an incredibly ballsy comeback statement both sonically and lyrically, even if "A Design for Life" was the flagship tune.

no more bsides or early singles to come then?

I'd bank on "Stay Beautiful" making it, and that other one.

for a lot of ppl the ballsy statement of EMG was "sorry dudes, we're not gonna be making any music you like anymore"

i tried to talk myself into voting for little baby nothing out of some kind of sentimentality but it hasn't held up at all

16. If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next (from This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours) [7 votes, 150 points, 1998]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX8szNPgrEs

15. Of Walking Abortion (from The Holy Bible) [7 votes, 151 points, 1994]

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

i fell like tolerate and abortion being practically identically regarded maybe indicates we have a healthy balance across the spectrum on manics appreciation. good job team.

I thought I was the only one who liked Further Away!
Lifeblood- not happening :/

14. Stay Beautiful (from Generation Terrorists) [6 votes, 152 points, 1992]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eorwh5MMIao

oh sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM_oov3dU6A

stay beautiful is too low

13. Die in the Summertime (from The Holy Bible) [7 votes, 154 points, 1994]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPJtsI74xow

yeah, stay beautiful is too low, and was too low on my ballot too iirc, so i am part of the problem. i know i had a rationale for it at the time but dammit i shoulda had that top 5. all we love is lonely wreckage. lol at swift slip

die in the summertime is good but not a particular highlight for me.

I put Stay Beautiful very high on a whim really, 'cos I barely know it. I've probably only heard it maybe half-a-dozen times somehow, either that or its hook is a lot less hooky than I always think. Anyway I'd thought it might win the whole thing, i associate it with the whole Freaky Trigger/populist aesthetic for some half-understood reason.

IK on vibes