The years 1994 -96 saw the nation in a celebratory mood: British music was back in the ascendant, our film industry was providing Hollywood with some serious competition, and there was a general sense of national pride in our sportsmen and women. "Cool Britannia", as the press dubbed it, saw a positive and hopeful mood that mirrored the swinging sixties. But not everyone went along, or fitted in with this mood. Certainly not Manic Street Preachers. They'd arrived in a whirlwind of eyeliner, leopard print, rage, and political sloganeering back at the beginning of the decade, declaring themselves to be celebrating the "culture of boredom, alienation, and despair", writing cut and paste lyrics attacking consumerism, capitalism, exploitation, as well as themes of the struggles of youth, despair, and other personal subjects. Their manifesto was to sell sixteen million copies of their self-proclaimed "best rock'n'roll album ever" Generation Terrorists, and then split up. Needless to say, although the double album and its attendant singles did moderately well, they fell somewhat short of their target. The following album, 1993's Gold Against The Soul, switched to a more grungy sound, lavishly produced with string sections, and far more personal lyrics, which recieved a mixed response from critics and fans alike. The band, by now feeling like the end was nigh, and with chief lyricist and artwork designer Richey James Edwards in rehab for alcoholism, as well as suffering from depression and anorexia, went into the studio to record what they thought would be their last album. Going back to the post-punk influences of their youth - early Simple Minds, Gang Of Four, PIL, Joy Division and so on - they created an edgy, stripped back, spiky sound, full of rage and darkness. Which couldn't have been easy for James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore, their singer/guitarist and drummer and the musical side of the band, given the lyrics handed over to them by Edwards - about 70% of the album, according to co-lyricist Nicky Wire. Streams of words, full of despair at not only his own mental and emotional state, but at the horrors of the world, delivered in a stream-of-consciousness flow. Bradfield struggled to fit the lyrics to the music at first, wondering how on earth he was going to actually SING them. But he succeeded, and on 29th August 1994, in the midst of Britpop, The Holy Bible was unleashed upon the world. Preceded by the first single, "Faster/P.C.P", which channelled the metallic groove of PIL's "Public Image", their performance on Top Of The Pops was incendiary. The band, kitted out in military garb and playing on a stage that looked like a army checkpoint, stormed through "Faster", and i was hooked. The show received over 25,000 complaints about Bradfields' paramilitary-style balaclava. When i first heard the album, it was such a dark, screaming, howling black abyss of a record that it took me nearly a decade before i was able to listen to it all in one go. From the opening song - the half voyeur/half victims point of view of sex trafficking and prostitution of "Yes", set to a tune that might have done well on Rock radio were it not for the explicit lyrical content - the tone of the album was set. Songs about the holocaust - "The Intense Humming Of Evil" and "Mausoleum" -, anorexia (4st 7lb), right-wing totalitarianism (Of Walking Abortion), the glorification of serial killers and mass murderers (Archives Of Pain), self abuse (Faster), and attacks on American culture and ultra-left wing political correctness ("Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart" and "PCP"). The lyrics weren't just about those subjects though: Richeys' state of mind informed the way they written, mixing personal experience and feeling with opinion and comment, with "Die In The Summertime" and "This Is Yesterday" seemingly drawing on nostalgia and happier childhood memories. The songs were bookended by samples of dialogue from film, tv, interviews, and documentaries that fitted in with the themes of each track. The fierce yet bleak feel of the album was definitely not in keeping with the prevailing musical trends, and the critical acclaim it recieved didn't tally with the initially poor sales, the UK excepted, where it charted at No. 6. The Holy Bible has gone on to be the fans favourite, and is considered a landmark in the bands career. It also marked the end of a chapter for them, as Richey James Edwards disappeared on 1st February 1995, on the eve of a promotional trip to the U.S, leaving his car at the Severn Toll Bridge. He has never been found or seen since. The Manics would return as a three-piece a couple of years later, to widespread success. But they never sounded as charged, vital, or alive as they did on this album. It's one of my favourites, and my go-to record for angry, pissed off, or frustrated moods.
I'm not a fan of following the herd. If an artist, film, tv series, etc is huge or the current trend then my contrary tendencies will rise to the surface. There have been many times when a mildly successful band suddenly become huge and i will lose interest, or when, wary of hype, i won't get into them until the fuss dies down. But at the same time i want the things i love to get recognition. As i said, contrary. I have always steered clear of mass appeal, lowest common denominator stuff. I wasn't interested in Manic Street Preachers when they first appeared - and i still think Generation Terrorists is packed with filler - only to take interest during their next two albums which were less successful. And then lose it during their This Is My Truth...... era. When i stood in a record shop trying to choose who to spend my hard earned on that week i would rarely pick the current favourites, usually plumping for record that would, if lucky, be a footnote in the history of music.
It's not often i love a new album enough to play it on repeat - not since my late twenties any rate - but that's what happened when i put my Eco-vinyl copy of IDLES Crawler on the turntable. After the deliberate self parody of last year's Ultra Mono Joe Talbot and co. have taken a bold step forward: Crawler largely dispenses with the political sloganeering and post-punk moshpit anthems and reaches within for inspiration. Talbots' well documented 14 year struggle with alcohol and drug abuse, and his long road to recovery are the dominant themes here, in all their ugly details, but with a life affirming sense of redemption. The music is largely quieter and more measured too. Opener "MTT 420 RR" is a slow burning electronic textured track which represents the crash that saw him at his lowest point, the spare and eerie atmosphere over which Talbot recites the details in gruesome honesty. "Car Crash" sounds exactly like just that: a minimalist dubby, g
For as long as there has been recorded music and a music industry there have been musical artists who, despite hype and promotion, have underperformed or sank without trace. Since i began reading the (now sadly defunct) music weeklies in the early nineties there was barely a week without a new band or solo artist being excitedly talked about as "the next big thing" . Before, during a and after Britpop this went into overdrive as record companies fought to sign the next Oasis/Blur/Pulp/Stone Roses etc, acts coming and going, sometimes without a sniff of chart success. On rare occasions bands would be declared "your new favourite band" before they'd even recorded a note! (Menswe@r spring immediately to mind.) Too often, a promising new act would be signed on the strength of a couple of raved about independent singles only for their new paymasters to demand changes to their musical style to make them more marketable to a mass audience: edges smoothed off, more expe
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