Manic Street Preachers songs 20 - 11
20. “Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky”
The Manics didn’t traffic in quiet acoustic numbers early in their career (outside of B-sides, usually) until this gently devastating track from Everything Must Go about the plight of zoo animals in cages. Of course, while Edwards is mostly writing about his own inner turmoil, this track will still make you not want to see animals in captivity for a while after hearing it.
19. “Comfort Comes”
It’s rare for a modern group to boast a plethora of B-sides and rarities that rival their album cuts, but the Manic Street Preachers are one such group. “Comfort Comes” was a B-side to “Life Becoming a Landslide” and it expertly prefigured the group’s angular, post-punk-inspired sound for their finest-ever album, The Holy Bible.
Boasting a potent solo and an unhinged vocal from Bradfield that sounds as if he’s delivering it through a crack in the door to his padded cell, this track showcases the group at their best – even on a B-side.
18. “Born a Girl”
A gorgeously lilting melody showcases one of the most personal and powerful lyrics of Nicky Wire’s career. With Edwards sadly departed, Wire had to pick up the lyrical slack on TIMTTMY, and he delivers in a major way – especially thanks to this beautifully tragic paean to feeling trapped in your own body.
Bradfield’s vocals have never sounded more fragile and feminine, which is exactly what this song requires. With an intricate, delicate, and stunningly beautiful guitar part underscoring it, this deep cut showcases the Manics’ quieter side perfectly. A beautiful left turn that deserves myriad listens to help understand its complexities.
17. “Jackie Collins Existential Question Time”
One of the catchiest guitar riffs in the group’s entire discography, the Manics follow up the astonishing opening track from 2009’s Journal for Plague Lovers with this darkly humorous and supremely catchy salvo from a band firing on all cylinders nearly 20 years on from their debut album. Everybody now, sing along: “Oh mommy what’s a sex pistol?”
16. “Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart”
Despite the infamous typo in this tongue-twisting song title, no band has ever distilled rampant imperialism into such a song-length fiery diatribe. This song from 1994’s The Holy Bible questions a number of long-held Western beliefs that still, sadly, remain at the forefront of public consciousness, despite this song being over 30 years old.
With an utterly zany guitar part and some of Wire’s most polemical lyrics—on an album dominated by the words of Richey Edwards—this song typifies the Manics at their creative zenith.
15. “My Little Empire”
Some Manics fans might balk at such high placement for this TIMTTMY deep cut, but I have long believed that this quiet, introspective number is the best song from the album, and part of that near-perfection is achieved through a surfeit of instrumentation.
It’s just Bradfield on vocals and guitar, Wire on bass and sparse backing vocals, Moore on drums, and a cello accompanying some of Wire’s best lyrics from the album. This song is worth listening to for Bradfield’s guitar line alone, which serves as a running commentary throughout it – each serpentine lick snaking its way around the song’s melody and cello part. A supreme achievement.
14. “This Joke Sport Severed”
One of the band’s best-ever acoustic songs, the fourth track from Journal for Plague Lovers is a showcase for the near-telepathic interplay between the musical epicenter of the group (Bradfield) and the lyrical brain trust of Wire and (in this case) Edwards, as the somewhat mealy-mouthed couplets found in this gorgeous track sound perfectly placed due to the outstanding synchronicity between the band’s writing style—especially at this point in their careers (2009).
While there are better songs from the album, there aren’t many, and the abstract imagery and stunning melody on display in “This Joke Sport Severed” puts many other musical peers of the Manics to shame. Impressive for “only” a top-15 song on this list.
13. “Autumnsong”
The three catchiest guitar riffs in Manic Street Preachers history could likely be organized in this order: “Jackie Collins Existential Question Time,” “Autumnsong,” and “Motorcycle Emptiness.” That’s pretty impressive company for this 2007 banger from Send Away the Tigers and showcases the pure pop leanings of the group in all their splendor.
Featuring a spirited vocal performance from Bradfield and some retro remembrances via Wire’s lyrics, this mid-career classic represents the best song from their 2007 album.
12. “Yes”
“Yes” is a disturbing way to open The Holy Bible, throwing the listener straight into the album’s world of exploitation, commodification, body horror, and psychic collapse. Built around Richey Edwards’ harrowing lyrics about sex work and the body as both product and prison, the song immediately announces that this will not be a polite Manic Street Preachers album. Bradfield, to his eternal credit, does not soften any of it. He sings it like the walls are closing in.
As an opener, “Yes” remains one of the band’s most brutal achievements: jagged, literate, furious, and almost perversely catchy given the subject matter. The Holy Bible would go to darker, stranger, and perhaps even more devastating places, but this track represents the door slamming shut behind the listener right after they cross the threshold. From here on out, there is no easy exit.
11. “Bag Lady”
You know a band is really clicking when one of the best songs from an album happens to be a hidden bonus track at the end of the final song, but that is exactly the level the Manics were operating at when they tucked “Bag Lady” at the end of Journal for Plague Lovers.
While it did finally get its due years later as a bonus track from various archival releases related to this classic album from 2009, “Bag Lady” truly sounds as if it were beamed in from the recording sessions for 1994’s The Holy Bible, which is exactly what the band was aiming for in their quest to honor Richey Edwards with one of their best mid-career releases.
Jagged, catchy, and laced through with staggering imagery, “Bag Lady” is the Manics at their explosive best. And, to think, some people might have missed this track!
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