Manic Street Preachers songs 30 - 21
30. “All Is Vanity”
A powerful late-album deep cut from the group’s 2009 masterpiece Journal for Plague Lovers boasting a terrific guitar riff that develops some interesting interplay with Sean Moore’s intriguing drum part.
29. “Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)”
The Manics have never been shy about delivering interesting cover songs—just look at their takes on “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” and Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” Their 1992 take on the M*A*S*H theme song represented the group’s first-ever top 10 single and remains the definitive version of this powerful track.
28. “Democracy Coma”
Self-professed socialists, the Manics have never been shy about the innate hypocrisy of modern society. Lacerating lyrical takedowns such as this one from a B-side to “Love’s Sweet Exile” underscore their sometimes apocalyptic (but always pragmatic) view of cultural modernity.
27. “Close My Eyes”
This song sounds as if it could have been released during the early 1990s alternative rock boom, but it actually was a late-‘90s B-side to the band’s “The Everlasting” single from This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. A supremely underrated Manics deep cut.
26. “Die in the Summertime”
A guitar riff that sounds like nails clattering against a steel girder underpins a potent late-album deep cut from The Holy Bible. Somehow, Bradfield turns the song’s chorus of “I have crawled so far sideways I recognize dim traces of creation; I want to die, die in the summertime” into a catchy singalong, which is a testament to his immense talent.
25. “P.C.P.”
The Holy Bible ends with two double-barrel blasts of post-punk- and punk-adjacent sloganeering with an epic-length, endlessly disturbing look at the Holocaust via “The Intense Humming of Evil” sandwiched in between. The more diffuse but overall catchier “P.C.P.” gets the slight nod as a top-25 Manics track, and it acts as a timeless warning against mass conformity: “Be pure, be vigilant, behave!”
24. “From Despair to Where”
The best song from Gold Against the Soul is this blistering salvo that breezes by on strong guitar work, tragic lyrics, and a stirring melody. On one of the Manics’ least-regarded early albums, this track represents the pinnacle of GAtS.
23. “The Everlasting”
A softer, gentler Manics greeted listeners upon firing up the group’s 1998 album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours as a gentle drum machine beat fades in and Bradfield’s voice is at its most melodic when he blankets listeners with his enveloping falsetto via the single’s first line: “The gap that grows between our lives…”
22. “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next”
Following up an anthemic album opener like “The Everlasting” was always going to be difficult, but the Manics showcased their songwriting (and sequencing) chops by placing one of their biggest hits right after it.
To help avoid this song being too “corporate,” this #1 U.K. hit from the band (their first of two all-time) features lyrics inspired by the Spanish Civil War. Lines like “if I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists” underscore that meaning.
21. “Imperial Bodybags”
A terrifically underrated album track from Send Away the Tigers, this rockabilly-inflected song showcases some of the best guitar work of Bradfield’s career, which is saying a lot, since JDB is easily one of the greatest guitarists of his generation as well as one of the best of all time.
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