Manic Street Preachers

I would say Manic Street Preachers are as undervalued as Glen Cook is.
I love many of their songs as much as I love my favourite Glen Cook novels.

They are in many ways similar to Glen Cook. They are not afraid of experimenting. Every single album released by them is significantly different from the others. They write songs the way they want to write, just like Glen Cook writes his novels. They don’t care about critics, but they are highly valued by them, just like Glen Cook.

They are not very famous, but they have many die-hard fans, just like Glen Cook. They were as controversial as Glen Cook was gritty. Thankfully they matured and changed over time. They are still able to play pure and fun rock or become utterly melancholic, but their lyrics are nowadays much more positive. Some of their earlier songs were too depressing to me, exactly the same as some of Glen Cook's later novels are to me.

I am sure EVERYONE would find some songs that suit his/her taste,
no matter what his/her taste is. I posted several 2-minute samples of their songs with lyrics in my other posts. Below are 2 samples without any singing. The reason for that is the fact that you have to get accustomed to their lyrics before you start really enjoying them. Most of them when heard for the first time is simply distracting. Some of their lyrics are hard to enjoy even for a die-hard fan like me, but musically they are always amazing.

First sample is a rock-only sample. Please notice what an outstanding guitarist James Dean Bradfield is.



Manics have never wanted to be a classic rock band. They have been experimenting with their music and they have been often using instruments unusual for a rock band. In fact it made them write even more enjoyable musical arrangements.



(Thursday, 21 April 2011 )