manic street preachers - the holy bible
 

simply one of the most darkest yet catchiest albums ever, the loss of Richey Edwards really fucked these guys over. this is weirdly their only GOOD album, and it's ultimately amazing. this is the album that made me think this band have SOMETHING good about them... so if you've not heard anything from this album then i assure you check it out asap.

Richey Edwards was a lyrical genius, a truly innovative person who was underrated just because he couldn't actually play an instrument...

so yeah, discuss this album and all it's glory!

"he's a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock
tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want"

"I want to walk in the snow
And not leave a footprint
I want to walk in the snow
And not soil its purity
Stomach collapsed at five
Lift up my skirt my sex is gone
Naked and lovely and 5st. 2
May I bud and never flower"

i've never heard this album, and hopefully i never will. it's good to be closed minded in certain cases.

it's got some good songs.
The next LP "everything must go" has got some good songs also.
a mix CD of these two would be good. never been a fan.
i rememeber owning this and thinking to myself "this is too bleak for me"

why not? this is completely different to their glam rock or pop rock music. this isn't like anything they've ever done. i don't even like their other albums, this is the only one i'm interested in.

I voted this as my no1 album of the 90s
because its the no1 album of the 90s
and the no1 album ever.

The Richey mythology was never the point for me, but his lyrics are truly extraordinary and a million times more striking than most writers you would be likely to read. James Dean Bradfields performances are also extraordinary, ill never know how he fitted those words around his songs.
I dunno about anyone else, but this was THE album when i was 15, i dont think ive ever heard anything thats so extroverted in its hostility.
These Sunless Afternoons i cant find myself

ocean colour scene for goths

I thought Goths liked Ocean Colour Scene?

you worded it well my friend.

you'd know!

Never heard anything by manic street preachers, and can't be arsed to hear, but I like the paintings by the artist who made the piece in holy bible album cover.

ill take off my Ben Sherman shirt and get back to you

Here's the first track from the album, "Yes":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mtwZaRObP8

"For sale? dumb cunt's same dumb questions
virgin? listen, all virgins are liars honey
and I don't know what I'm scared of or what I even enjoy
dulling, get money, but nothing turns out like you want it to
and in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
for $200 anyone can conceive a God on video
he's a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock
tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want
I eat and I dress and I wash and I still can say thank you
puking - shaking - sinking I still stand for old ladies
can't shout, can't scream, hurt myself to get pain out
I 'T' them, 24:7, all year long
purgatory's circle, drowning here, someone will always say yes
funny place for the social, for the insects to start caring
just an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff
in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
for $200 anyone can conceive a God on video
he's a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock
tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want
I eat and I dress and I wash and I can still say thank you
puking - shaking - sinking I still stand for old ladies
can't shout, can't scream, hurt myself to get pain out
power produces desire, the weak have none
there's no lust in this coma even for a fifty
solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment
the only certain thing that is left about me
there's no part of my body that has not been used
pity or pain, to show displeasure's shame
everyone I've loved or hated always seems to leave
and in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
for $200 anyone can conceive a God on video
he's a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock
tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want
power produces desire, the weak have none
there's no lust in this coma even for a fifty
solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment
don't hurt, just obey, lie down, do as they say
may as well be heaven this hell, smells the same
these sunless afternoons I can't find myself. "

my friend is a fan, so i've listened to it a couple times... and i felt nothing.

Fair enough, some people feel different things in music.

SMALL BLACK FLOWERS THAT GROW IN THE SKY
this song is really nice

here live

and also DESIGN FOR LIFE
nice....


me likey

these two songs are the only Manics song i like!

Design For Life is a good song... horrid album though.

yeah
meh

I prefer Generation Terrorists. Maybe a touch overlong but Motorcycle Emptiness, Spectator's Of Suicide, the Public Enemy-like remix of Stars And Stripes: a lot of good stuff on it.

The Holy Bible is good but I hardly ever want to listen to it apart from the song Faster. Judge Y'Self is my favourite Manics song, shame it wasn't on a proper album.

A Manic Street Preachers thread eh?

Who said this board was in decline?

A pillock like you

Ouch.

Reminds me of the Morrissey song, Pillock On The Hillock.

How dare you mention Morrissey in this thread. Piss off.

Pillock on the hillock
She told me not to say
What happened that day
She only wanted to play, hey hey

no joke, that sounds like the stereophonics

this band would also be in my musical hell. people go on about them, or used to as if they were great, amazing, wonderfulness but the drummer knows two beats and looks like someone just pissed on his bed, the bass player thinks that wearing a dress somehow makes up for being a cunt and the other one is just a twat, hands down. i dont even like motor cycle emptiness which is what most people say is a good one of theirs.

Love the band and heavily prefer the first 3 albums with Richey than the post-Richey material, but those have some good songs too.

wow, some people really hate this band it seems hahaha. whatever, i don't even like them that much, i just think The Holy Bible is a genius album.

it's my fav by them... :D

It's the only record of theirs which I like.

gold against the soul is a pretty solid album too.
their post-richey-disappeareance albums are quite shitty to be honest :P

Yeah, horrible pop rock trash really.

I prefer not to know much about the rest, to be honest.

haha... :P

Yrself from 'gold against the soul' is a pretty damn good song.
love the lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wort4Klz7vk

Your ritual everyday
A mild shower soak in aftershave
Best clothes do your best
Look in the mirror go on
Belittle yourself yourself yourself

You go on day after day
Dreaming on a lie
That you keep locked inside
Of yourself
Yourself

Can you sleep tonight
Cast aside for some pouting young pup
Sink into a slurred veneer
Alcoholic haze so now
Least you can like yourself

You go on day after day
Reservoirs of guilt
That your fixed grin always hides
And yourself

You look at ad's all day
Everyone is perfect and you're so lame
Free scent burns your skin
But no smell can really cover sin
Too many teenage holes to fill
Too many teenage holes to fill

You go on day after day
Speak to your despised
Blanking your loved ones
And yourself
Yourself
Yourself

-

good song. too bad i can't figure out how to play the solo :S

I really admire this position, and those of the people who hate the Manics. Because their music is some of the most cloyingly dire, sub-u2 shite imaginable.

Having said that, the Holy Bible is an amazing album. It's a masterpiece of ironic art. I can't think of any other song, let alone album, where the disparity between what the lyrics are saying and the mood of the music itself is so large. One of my favourite albums for its lyrics, buried deep underneath this largely abysmal music. It's a perverse enjoyment, but an enjoyment nonetheless.

The thing with this band is that they created too many people who chose the motto 'I hate myself, but instead of going for self-improving techinques, I'll go for continuous negative whinging that will only lead me to a life of unprolific worthlessness''. This happened because they had little of interest to say, but said it too loud, innit? Trust me on this, I used to go out with a Manic Street Preachers fan who was barred from playing them in my presence for reasons that involve the above motto.

Weird that Sonic Youth fans don't like them.

It's very strange how the musical landscape has changed in the last 10 years. I have no idea where those kids who were in the Manics cult went, and why there's no cult that's replaced it. For a period in the 90s, in Britain, there was a very real subculture built entirely around the Manics.

I tended to fuck Manics fans.

Essex Road, can't remember the name of the pub 'cause I went there last night, and I was mashed to the eyeballs. They were dancing to A-fuckingHA and what our friend Joe Pop calls 'spiky, new-wavey things'.

Nice and friendly atmosphere, mind.