Talk about a love/hate relationship. Normally I try and skirt the issue by saying "well, The Holy Bible" was a great album (actually, much more than that; it was, in my considered opinion, the best British rock album of the 90s) and this usually lets me leave a conversation with my muso-cred intact.
Here's a secret - were it not for the Manics, I probably wouldn't be the nerdy music fan I am today. While most people at school were all drawly Nirvana types (and don't get me wrong - Nirvana WERE the better band, by about three million miles), I idolised four Welsh boys in leopard-print and eyeliner. Everything had to be political, everything had to be a bit pretentious. I think they served me well - to analyse the Manics earlier lyrics was to set yourself a fairly spectacular reading list. My GCSE English original writing coursework was about how I discovered them, and it won me a NATE/TES award and pretty much made me realise that I know some words and how to write them down, occasionally.
Let's start with a few home truths:
With the exception of a few tracks, Generation Terrorists is a terrible, terrible double album (in vinyl terms). It should've been an EP. "You Love Us", "Motorcycle Emptiness" and a couple of others are cracking rock songs, but it suffers from a massive 80s/GN'R hangover. Programmed drums. Ugh.
Self-harm is totally not cool, and in no way a thing to imitate or admire. I wholeheartedly blame Richey Edwards for the fact that my paperclip collection is raided by some of the older, panda-eyed young ladies I teach.
They haven't made a truly great album since Everything Must Go, which was a wonderful piece of music. I dare any of you to deny the brilliance of "A Design For Life", if nothing else.
ONE phenomenal musician. Just one. James Dean Bradfield is a singer/guitarist extraordinaire. Sean Moore is an average drummer. The other two are/were borderline incompetants. I put Moore's idolisation down to the fact that most Manics fans don't listen to any other bands.
Nicky Wire is a cock. Simple as that. He's like the guy at a party who tells everyone "how much The Matrix made me get into philosophy". He's got a degree in political history. A 2(ii), don't you know?
But, for all their faults, they can and have been a fucking great rock band. I'm currently playing Gold Against The Soul and sporting a wry smile. Noah has fallen asleep to it; I use him as a barometer of taste - he likes Tom Waits and it makes him smile, whereas my own guitar playing usually makes him cry, so this is somewhere in the middle.
Back to The Holy Bible - I don't own many better records. Razor-sharp new-wave guitars, arrythmic drums, lyrics spat out far too quickly because they don't actually fit the songs and a genuine sense of despondancy. I mentioned yesterday that Johnny Cash knew his time was up when he recorded American IV: The Man Comes Around, and when you listen to this record, it is painfully obvious that Richey Edwards' mental state had deteriorated to the point of suicide. Even if I was not a fan of the band, I would own this record as a voyeur of human misery.
Anyway, despite the fact that they haven't made a truly great album in over a decade, they have a new one on the way, produced by Steve Albini and I'm a bit excited. Not holding out much hope though.
Expect a short blog consisting of "oh well, it's a bit shit" to appear here soon.
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