The Manics released their debut album Generation Terrorists in 1992. Their combination of androgynous glam punk imagery, outspoken invective and songs about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" soon gained them a loyal following and cult status. The band's later albums retained a politicized and intellectual lyrical style, while adopting a broader alternative rock sound. Enigmatic lyricist Richey Edwards gained early notoriety by carving the words "4 REAL" into his arm with a razor blade (narrowly missing an artery and requiring seventeen stitches) in response to the suggestion that the band were less than authentic. The dark nature of 1994's The Holy Bible reflected the culmination of Edwards' instability.
Following Edwards' disappearance, Bradfield, Moore, and Wire persisted with the Manic Street Preachers and went on to gain critical and commercial success, becoming one of Britain's premier rock bands. They have had eight top ten albums and fifteen top ten singles. They have reached number one three times, with their 1998 album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours and the singles "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" (1998) and "The Masses Against The Classes" (2000). The Masses Against The Classes Songfacts reports that the latter was the first UK #1 of 2000. They have also won the Best British Album and Best British Group accolades at the BRIT Awards in 1997 and 1999, and were lauded by the NME for their lifetime achievements in 2008. Their ninth studio album, Journal For Plague Lovers, was released on 18th May 2009 and features lyrics Edwards had left behind to the band weeks before his disappearance.
They came together in 1986, when James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore and rhythm guitarist Flicker formed Betty Blue in the small South Wales town of Blackwood. Two years later, Flicker had left and Nicky's friend Richey Edwards (previously the group's driver) joined in his place. Richey would later say in Vox magazine, "If you built a museum to represent Blackwood, all you could put in it would be shit. We used to meet by this opening called Pen-y-Fan. It was built when the mines closed down but now the water has turned green and slimy. They put 2,000 fish in it, but they died. There's a whirlpool in the middle where about two people die every year". A bleak image, then, but it provided the necessary fuel to drive the band.
Inspired by the passion of The Clash, and moved by Thatcher's suppression of the miners, the band's lyrics exploded with politicised anger. Their first single, the self-financed Suicide Alley, didn't make great waves, and the band moved to London. There, they found a sympathetic character in the form of Bob Stanley: later a member of St Etienne, but then a freelancer for the Melody Maker.
Stanley released a collection of their demos as the New Art Riot EP in June 1990. It caught the attention of Philip Hall, who became their publicist and co-manager.
In early 1991 Heavenly released Motown Junk, an inspired three-minute punk blast. Later that year it was followed by You Love Us, a swaggering, arrogant self-regarding slice of brilliance.
The Manics paved the way for a resurgence of guitar bands in Wales. In the press, they were forced to live with punning headlines referring to sheep, boyos and leeks - they got all the clichés out of the way so the bands of the so-called Cool Cymru would be taken more seriously.
Yet their image often overshadowed the music. On 15 May 1991 came a turning point for the Manics. Following a gig at Norwich Arts Centre, Steve Lamacq, then writing for the NME, argued with the band that they were a cartoon band - not real punks. The band refuted this, but still Lamacq persisted. Frustrated, Richey Edwards took a razor and calmly carved the words 4 REAL into his forearm. Lamacq was horrified; Richey needed 17 stitches. Six days later the Manics signed to Sony. Richey had suffered from depression for many years, and self-mutilation had become increasingly common for him. But the Norwich incident was the first time the guitarist had aired his emotional problems in public.
In February 1992 the debut album Generation Terrorists was released. Heavily influenced by Appetite For Destruction, Richey said of it, "We wanted to sign to the biggest record label in the world, put out a debut album that would sell 20 million, and then break up. Get massive and then just throw it all away". The album sold 250,000 copies worldwide. Predictably they didn't split up, but the album polarised opinion between those that saw them as the new saviours of rock and roll, and detractors who considered them contrived and insincere. Not that the Manics cared: they were off on their first American tour, shortly after the LA riots, and singles such as Slash 'N' Burn and Motorcycle Emptiness were climbing up the charts.
The second Manics album was released in June 1993. Gold Against The Soul was overproduced and less passionate, but did contain the classic songs La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh) and From Despair To Where. However, they also chose to support Bon Jovi for a string of unwise live dates. The troubles continued with the death on 7 December 1993 of their mentor Philip Hall, who had been battling cancer for two years. Meanwhile, Richey's problems were worsening. Weighing less than six stone and subjecting his body to drinking and cutting binges, he was eventually admitted to the Priory in Roehampton.
Richey's despair was documented in what is now considered the Manics' masterpiece, 1994's 'The Holy Bible'. Unremittingly bleak, the opening song Yes contained the lines "I eat and I dress and I wash and I still can say thank you / Puking, shaking, sinking / Can't shout, can't scream, I hurt myself to get pain out". The song was about prostitution, but every line emanated from Richey's fragile state of mind. He rejoined the band for tours with Therapy? and Suede (and an early incarnation of Vitriol I.D.) in Europe, and a series of frantic shows at the London Astoria in December. The final night saw them destroying 10,000 worth of their equipment. "We'll never be that good again," said Nicky after the event. It was also their last live appearance as a four-piece.
Although they had never found transatlantic success, at the beginning of 1995 they were preparing to give America one last try. However, on 1 February Richey walked out of the Embassy hotel in London and never returned. His passport and money were found in his Cardiff Bay flat, and two weeks later his car was discovered beside the Severn Bridge - a notorious local suicide spot. The file on his disappearance remains open.
"We decided to carry on in April," said Nicky Wire in The Guardian, "after two months of waiting by the phone and feeling ill and exhausted. We thought we'd been so close, and in the end we couldn't do anything for him." September saw the band record a cover of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head for the War Child "Help" album, and by January 1996 the Manics were recording their comeback album 'Everything Must Go'. It was released on 20 May to critical acclaim, went double platinum and yielded four top ten singles: 'A Design For Life', the title track, 'Kevin Carter' and 'Australia'. The sound represents a cross between the heavy rock of 'Gold Against The Soul' and a new, less agressive, almost Britpop like sound.
Two Brit Awards later, they released the LP This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours which gave the band their first number one single in If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, perhaps the only song that references the Spanish Civil War to ever appear on Top of the Pops.
On December 31st 1999 the band said goodbye to the 20th Century with a gig at Cardiff Millennium Stadium, attended by upwards of 50,000 people. This was followed by their second number one single, The Masses Against The Classes, which hit the top spot despite not having a video or marketing support from their record company.
Shortly afterwards, Nicky stated that "the fourth era of the Manics is beginning".
The fourth era, so far, has involved an audience with Fidel Castro in Cuba, the 2001 album Know Your Enemy, and continuing success. Their long awaited greatest hits collection, Forever Delayed, appeared in October 2002, followed in 2003 by Lipstick Traces, a two-disc collection of covers, B-sides, and outtakes including the last song recorded with Richey, 'Judge Yr'self'.
The Manics returned in November 2004 with the more reflective Lifeblood, which featured the singles The Love Of Richard Nixon and Empty Souls, both of which went straight in at number two in the charts.
Not to rest on their laurels, the band released a 10th anniversary edition of The Holy Bible in December 2004 which included a digitally remastered version of the original album, a never before heard U.S mix and a DVD of live performances and extras.
In April 2005 the Manics released a limited 3 track E.P. titled God Save The Manics as a free download but with hard copies distributed also without cost at the final date of their small, intimate 'Past Present and Future' tour at Hammersmith Apollo, London - their last show before a two year hiatus.
Later that year the band contributed the new track Leviathan to September's War Child charity album Help: A Day in the Life, becoming one of the few bands to contribute tracks to both albums.
2006 saw both James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire releasing solo albums, The Great Western and I Killed the Zeitgeist respectively. But both insisted that this in no way meant an end to the Manics and in December the band headlined XFM's Winter Wonderland gig in Manchester.
2007 sees the band enter yet another era with their 8th studio album, Send Away The Tigers, which was released on May 7th.
The album Journal For Plague Lovers was released in May 2009 and features lyrics left to the band by Richey before he disappeared. They released several different versions of the album, including a special edition, which has a book featuring copies of the original typed lyrics and pictures that went with them, and a bonus disc with all the original demos, recorded at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, which they say is one of their favourite studios.
Their 10th studio album, Postcards from a Young Man, was released in September 2010. The album features several guest artists: Duff McKagan on A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun, John Cale on Auto-Intoxication and Ian McCulloch on Some Kind of Nothingness. A deluxe edition was also released containing a bonus disc with the original demos on it.
In 2011 the band released their second compilation National Treasures- The Complete Singles Collection, a release preceded by new single This Is The Day a cover of a ´¨The The song. The collection featured every single released since and including Motown Junk.
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Condemned to Rock 'n' Roll
Manic Street Preachers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Love song cull destroy poem.
Misery and trauma making love.
Best go shoot the fucking doves.
The past is so beautiful.
The future like a corpse in snow.
I think it's al the fucking same.
It's a life sentence baby.
A line of vodka tears inside.
A shot of boredom helps my mind.
Staring through a thousand dead eyes.
I guess my nerves are brutalised.
Lips I kiss just another plague.
Love can't fix the hole they made.
Condemned to Rock ‘N' Roll.
No innocent exit when hope dies.
And claustrophobia buys my mind.
I ran to breathe contagious lies.
No reason for just living life.
Rip cord opens but my soul is cold.
With you I never felt more alone.
Skin never sweating dignity.
Kept my line breath ecstasy.
This fragile prison of sanity.
An ocean wave to death babe.
Masochistic love going nowhere.
You're nothing, pestilence, a seed.
Lips I kiss just another plague.
Love can't fix the hole they made.
Condemned to Rock ‘N' Roll.
Oblivion's all we know.
Sterile like a line of piss, motherfucker.
Review with avant-garde lips, mother-fucker.
There's nothing I wanna see.
There's nowhere I wanna go.
The lyrics of "Condemned to Rock 'n' Roll" by Manic Street Preachers is a commentary on the highs and lows of being a musician. The song stresses the irony of a famous musician, who is loved by his fans, but also feels trapped and misunderstood.
The first verse paints a bleak picture of life on the road, where feelings of loneliness and despair often overcome the thrill and glamour of rock 'n' roll. The phrase "condemned to rock 'n' roll" highlights the paradoxical nature of being an artist - a life full of excitement, but also shackled by its own toxicity. The second verse criticizes the music industry's tendency to commercialize and exploit artists for profit. The line "sterile like a line of piss" describes how the system drains the art form of its raw emotion and authenticity.
The chorus is self-explanatory - the love and fame that comes with being a rock star cannot heal the emotional wounds that it inflicts on the artist. The final phrase "there's nothing I wanna see, there's nowhere I wanna go" emphasizes the idea of being trapped in a life that once felt like a dream come true but now feels like an endless nightmare.
Overall, "Condemned to Rock 'n' Roll" is a powerful commentary on the music industry and the struggle of being a musician.
Line by Line Meaning
Always feeling torn and slow.
I am constantly feeling held back and sluggish.
Love song cull destroy poem.
Love songs ruined poetry for me.
Misery and trauma making love.
My experiences with pain and trauma have defined my view of love.
Best go shoot the fucking doves.
I'd rather kill something innocent than feel this pain anymore.
The past is so beautiful.
I find comfort in looking back on my past.
The future like a corpse in snow.
The future holds no promise or hope for me.
I think it's al the fucking same.
I see no difference in the choices I make or how things turn out.
It's a life sentence baby.
My life is a never-ending punishment.
A line of vodka tears inside.
I drink to numb the pain and sadness I feel.
A shot of boredom helps my mind.
Being bored helps me cope with my thoughts and feelings.
Staring through a thousand dead eyes.
I feel alone and disconnected from the world around me.
I guess my nerves are brutalised.
My emotions and senses are dulled from constant exposure to pain.
Lips I kiss just another plague.
Every person I become involved with brings more misery and pain.
Love can't fix the hole they made.
Love is not enough to heal the damage that has been done to me.
Condemned to Rock ‘N' Roll.
My life is forever tied to the music and culture of rock 'n' roll.
No innocent exit when hope dies.
When hope is lost, there is no way out without causing harm to myself or others.
And claustrophobia buys my mind.
I feel trapped and suffocated by my own thoughts and emotions.
I ran to breathe contagious lies.
I sought comfort in things that were destructive and unhealthy.
No reason for just living life.
I see no purpose or justification for simply existing.
Rip cord opens but my soul is cold.
Even when I try to break free from my pain, I still feel empty and distant.
With you I never felt more alone.
Despite being with someone, I still feel incredibly lonely and isolated.
Skin never sweating dignity.
I feel like I have lost all sense of pride and self-respect.
Kept my line breath ecstasy.
I clung to anything that brought me momentary pleasure or escape.
This fragile prison of sanity.
My sanity is all that keeps me from completely falling apart, but it feels like a prison.
An ocean wave to death babe.
I feel like I am drowning and suffocating in my own pain and sorrow.
Masochistic love going nowhere.
I am addicted to unhealthy and painful relationships that only drag me down further.
You're nothing, pestilence, a seed.
The person I am addressing is like a disease that is infecting and draining me.
Oblivion's all we know.
The only thing we can truly count on is that eventually we will all be forgotten and fade into obscurity.
Sterile like a line of piss, motherfucker.
I feel like everything around me is empty, meaningless, and sterile.
Review with avant-garde lips, mother-fucker.
Even the most praised and popular things in our culture feel hollow and shallow to me.
There's nothing I wanna see.
I am so full of apathy and despair that there is nothing in the world that sparks any interest or joy in me.
There's nowhere I wanna go.
I have no direction or motivation to pursue anything in life.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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