manic street preachers

mms

sometimes
I just don't understand, they're massive, very popular lasted about 15 years so far.

The subject matter of their songs is always very obscure they've got a single about richard nixon in the top ten which is just mad.
They're very serious and Welsh, does anyone buy or know anyone who buys their records ?
What are they like?
They are good at melodies but can anyone explain their huge popularity above that?
 
B

be.jazz

Guest
mms said:
They're very serious and Welsh, does anyone buy or know anyone who buys their records ?
Maybe the same people who buy Bond and Vanessa Mae?
 
B

be.jazz

Guest
mms said:
:p you don't understand how serious i am about this!
Okay... I heard that Richard Nixon song the other day and, while I can't remember the lyrics, I do remember thinking that the concept was rather "mad." What are they talking about, anyway? More generally, all the MSP singles I've heard have seemed massively boring.
 

mms

sometimes
be.jazz said:
Okay... I heard that Richard Nixon song the other day and, while I can't remember the lyrics, I do remember thinking that the concept was rather "mad." What are they talking about, anyway? More generally, all the MSP singles I've heard have seemed massively boring.

yeah that's another aspect, lyrics that make very little sense and a grand concept for a song title.. the new one richard nixon is a bit different, it's essentially a vague tribute to Nixon and how he's only famous for watergate etc, i think.........
 

mind_philip

saw the light
They're popular with adolescents aren't they? The obscurity of the lyrics and the garden-sprinkler range of the angst suits teenage years pretty well, when you're unhappy about something, but might not know what it is. C'mon, their best song rhymes 'loneliness' with 'emptiness'; the constituency is clear.

Having said all that, they have another tone, which is political, and all I can think of about that is that they are admired by fans of juvenile reactionary politics?
 

xero

was minusone
mms said:
I just don't understand, they're massive, very popular lasted about 15 years so far.

As far as I know, they built up a "loyal fanbase", as the pop-pickers might say, over quite a long time - at the beginning they were situationist inspired neo-punks at a time when that was fairly unfashionable. They transormed into the sta(te)dium rockers you now see after Richey went missing presumed dead. Personally I think they're one of the dullest bands I can think of but my girlfriend, who used to avidly follow their early gigs, assures me they rocked 'back in the day'
 

xero

was minusone
just remembered, she also dubbed them 'the working class radiohead' which links them to the second dullest band I can think of
 

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
Their politics are a bit bizarre- OK, so Nixon made peace with China (and as Mr Spock said, "only Nixon could have gone to China"), but you'd think they'd realise how involved he was with Kissenger's South American shit-stirring. On the whole their political stances seem extremely lazy, one dimensional, as if their youthful politics was just a phase.

I know people who think "they mattered a lot", but argue that by the time of their first album they were shit. The Holy Bible had some good moments when they dispensed with the glamour and went dark, so overall most of their legacy is based on some very exciting interviews, full of political bile but short on ideas on how to convert this into good music. Which is why none of their lyrics scan, packed with nonsensical reams of bizarre poetry.

They have around as much a legacy as as Menswe@r, really. So yeah, they're utter crap aren't they. They accidentally did a couple of good songs- A Design For Life is a fairly beautifully-bruised rock song.
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
I enjoyed this from Dan Cairns reviewing 'Lifeblood' over the weekend:

"Like the unwilling heirs to a family business, the three remaining Manics continue to turn up for work at R Edwards, Dry Goods"
 
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