Manic Street Preachers

The widely known British band Manic Street Preachers was assembled in the small Welsh town of Blackwood in 1986 uniting four school friends James Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore and the instrumentalist with the Flicker pseudonym, who was in two years substituted by Richie Edwards. The young outfit’s first single, Suicide Alley, was released at the expenses of the musicians and failed to draw massive attention, which prompted the group to relocate to London. In 1991, Manic Street Preachers issued a number of solid singles and soon signed an agreement with Sony. In February 1992, they delivered their debut full-length studio work under the title Generation Terrorists. This album sold about two hundred and fifty thousand copies worldwide, which was definitely a high result for a fresher. This was followed by Manic Street Preachers’ first tour to the USA. Their politically colored singles Slash ‘N’ Burn, and Motorcycle Emptiness appeared big hits in America due to their release shortly after the recent notorious LA riots.

The second Manic Street Preachers long player, called Gold Against The Soul, entered the market in June 1993. While the quality of the recording and playing left no dissatisfaction, the musicians apparently paid too much attention to the technical aspect putting it far ahead of the emotional side of the work. As a result, the public’s reaction to this product was cooler than to its predecessor. Yet the much more serious trouble for Manic Street Preachers was Edwards’ lasting and aggravating depression. The musician subjected himself to body mutilations and took in alcohol far out of control, which brought him to the special rehabilitation center. Despite all these difficulties, he pulled all his physical, mental and creative strength to write solely the whole material for the album that became the cornerstone in the history of Manic Street Preachers, The Holy Bible (1994).Besides, he managed to reunite with his band for a row of concerts in Europe.

Manic Street Preachers remained far from conquering the American audience, and in 1995 the members decided to give it their last try. However, shortly before the start of the campaign, Richie Edwards disappeared without leaving a trace. The investigation of this case endured for more than a decade and brought no results. After the two months of waiting and believing their leader would show up, the rest of the band resumed their activities with the reduced lineup. They made their comeback in 1996 with the album Everything Must Go. This record was an excellent seller to gather double platinum status, multitude of praiseful reviews and to produce four songs into top ten singles. Two years later, followed another remarkable album, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, featuring the track If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, the group’s first composition to top the charts.

Manic Street Preachers stepped into the new century to keep doing as well as always before. They carried on producing powerful albums and giving memorable concerts, including the one in Cuba in the presence of Fidel Castro in 2001. The same year, the group released another studio work, Know Your EnemyKnow Your Enemy. In 2002, the British ensemble prepared their first official collection of hits Forever Delayed. Two years later, they celebrated the anniversary of their legendary record The Holy Bible by issuing the new edition of this album and producing the long player with brand new songs, Lifeblood. After that, the participants of Manic Street Preachers took a break and worked on their solo projects. In spring 2007, the Welsh band enlarged their rich discography with another studio effort, Send Away The Tigers. In two years, they surfaced with one more official record, called Journal For Plague Lovers. The lyrics for all the songs featured were penned by Edwards. The musicians again pleased their fans with the strong work Postcards From A Young Man in 2010. That record was really enjoyed by the listeners, while the experts noted the highest level of Manic Street Preachers’ performance skills. There is no doubt that this band found its style a long time ago; however the rockers are not going to quit rocking: the extremely powerful long play Postcards From A Young Man is the best proof of that.