Owen Hatherley on the Manic Street Preachers
Added 2025-06-11 05:10:01 +0000 UTCOwen Hatherley returns to discuss his New Left Review article on the Welsh guitar band, the Manic Street Preachers. We talked about the particular appeal the group seemed to hold for working class kids from non-metropolitan backgrounds in the 1990s, and about the forbearance and occasional embarrassment that is the lot of fans who've followed their work in the subsequent decades. We also talked about why such an avowedly left wing and politicised group have shown such little regard for contemporary left movements such as the Corbyn moment in the UK.
Show notes:
Music:
Owen's acceptable Manics playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/53GV8dNKLZlo72Wp3GOdy5?si=e25a5413ece248ed&pt=8393e6591814e26432a7fd35670b2d43
Alex's reluctant Manics playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/55IG8eV1kVH3kwAfEo9Z2y?si=ee8bcba703fc437a&pt=9a1779265389af95dcd44445656ef4c8
Videos:
Faster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0f9qUheits
Faster TOTP performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5PI7k_ZiQ0
You Love Us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgKXBJ2LZKo
A Design for Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ
Enjoyably angry Design for Life TV performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbdsc-YxGB4
4st 7lb acoustic MTV performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXrzttSPlc0
Motorcycle Emptiness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gavcjNniIvk
The Love of Richard Nixon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_G_R_1gMfc
Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYvbtSTamRc
Further Reading:
Owen's New Left Review article
https://newleftreview.es/sidecar/posts/mislaid-plans
Everything (A Book about Manic Street Preachers) by Simon Price
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780753501399/Everything-Book-Manic-Street-Preachers-0753501392/plp
Triptych: Three Studies of Manic Street Preachers’ The Holy Bible by: Daniel Lukes, Larissa Wodtke, Rhian E Jones
https://repeaterbooks.com/product/triptych-three-studies-of-manic-street-preachers-the-holy-bible/
Comments
My ears perked up on hearing of the idea of the 1990s as a bit of a fraud. Although the 'ERM Years' were pretty crap, after 'White Wednesday' (or whatever day of the week it was) things got pretty good for me. I'd be quite keen to hear an episode on the false promises of the 1990s, if you can find someone to talk about it. Also, for me, I like these culturally-themed episodes a lot. More, please.
Paul Brewer
2025-06-13 15:14:25 +0000 UTCAgree re. the shirts but I think there's a distinction between the sort of mini-era of New Art Riot/Motown Junk/the Heavenly version of You Love Us and then the Generation Terrorists era proper. As you say, in the earlier period they're much more under the influence of the Pistols and the Clash - less so on the album itself.
Politics Theory Other
2025-06-12 15:58:45 +0000 UTCCultural commentators are fond of movements being 'killed off' when really fashions just fade as their fans age and new audiences emerge and find their own thing. If anything replaced hair metal it was the ascendance of Metallica, peaking with the Black album (same year as Nevermind and outselling it). Black cover, black t-shirts, no (visible) make-up. Nirvana were never taken up by metal fans the way, say, Alice in Chains were to an extent. I remember the Manics saying they wanted to be as big as Guns n Roses and over time this seems to have mutated to everyone saying they wanted to emulate those sorts of bands aesthetically which they never really did. Their early stencilled shirts were always more Jamie Reid than Nikki Sixx.
Hand ov Doom
2025-06-12 15:55:51 +0000 UTCYes, it's true! I remember in 1992 they did a set on the Tommy Vance Rock show on Radio 1 and I think Simon Price mentions in his book that the Manics were delighted to be doing that rather than a Peel session.
Politics Theory Other
2025-06-12 15:50:34 +0000 UTCGreat listen. On a ROCK related tangent, my brother and I were avid readers of Kerrang magazine in early/mid 1990s west of Ireland - that's where I first heard of the Manics. They gave The Holy Bible 5 stars, iirc - so the metal love-in wasn't entirely one sided!
Kieran Curran
2025-06-12 15:36:19 +0000 UTCugh yes. That's a bad error from us both.
Politics Theory Other
2025-06-12 13:15:00 +0000 UTCPained to hear MBV described as a British band.
Mark Foley
2025-06-11 22:09:40 +0000 UTCThanks so much for this, guys.
Bob Hickson
2025-06-11 13:42:13 +0000 UTC
