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

'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

12. Motown Junk (stand-alone single) [7 votes, 156 points, 1991]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axAJ0RtBd7I

last one for tonight

11. You Love Us (from Generation Terrorists) [7 votes, 159 points, 1992]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgKXBJ2LZKo

Surprised those two aren't Top 10. Faster for the win.

never really got the big deal wrt "You Love Us"

Okay, those are two big ones out the way. The top ten's not at all obvious to me.

much prefer the heavenly version of 'you love us.'

'faster' would be a good no. 1.

ok expected them to be top 5. i hope its not just going to be the big hit singles off emg in the top 10

Trying to think what'll definitely place, and there's going to be a good few missing out: at least half of Masses vs Classes, Australia, La Tristesse, Sleepflower, Repeat, Black Dog, Nixon won't make it.

Sleepflower and Repeat better make it

'Faster' must win - it was the first song they ever did that made me actually take them seriously and when 'The Holy Bible' came out I must've listened to it twice a day or more for about three months. It was the oddly comforting soundtrack to the second half of my first acid trip.

'The Holy Bible' sounds pretty middling on relistening now but 'Faster' still sends tingles.

So… Faster, Design, Tristesse, Kevin Carter, Motorcycle, Yes, Masses, This Is Yesterday, Repeat, From Despair to Where? I always forget something when I guess poll top 10s.

If 4st 7lbs also places, that would be every track from The Holy Bible bar Intense Humming of Evil, which even the Manics admit is a bit hard to take. Apparently they played it live just once, and people were running away.

ugh kevin carter. almost as bad as the everlasting