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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The Soulmates
Manic Street Preachers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They last the distance
They make promises
They feel like misfits
The soulmates
They need each other
They're faithful warriors
The graffiti
You left on me
Means every part
Is still bleeding
No souvenirs - no symphonies - no dead feelings
The soulmates
The soulmates
The soulmates
The soulmates
They take their place
They slip away
They remain safe
The graffiti
You left on me
Means every part
Is still bleeding
No souvenirs - no symphonies - no dead feelings
The soulmates
The soulmates
The soulmates
The Soulmates by Manic Street Preachers is a song that speaks of a deep, almost romantic bond shared by two individuals. The term "soulmate" is usually associated with romantic relationships, but in this song, it seems to suggest a more profound, spiritual connection. The lyrics suggest that these two "soulmates" are faithful to one another and make promises that they keep, but they also feel like misfits who don't quite fit in with the rest of the world. They need each other, and they're faithful warriors, which could suggest that they might be fighting for a cause or against something together.
The chorus of the song repeats the word "soulmates" over and over again, which emphasizes the importance of this bond. The graffiti that one of the soulmates left on the other seems to indicate a desire to leave a lasting mark on the other person. However, the fact that it's bleeding suggests that it is causing pain. The line "no souvenirs - no symphonies - no dead feelings" hints that this bond might not necessarily leave anything concrete behind or be marked by any grand actions but that it is significant nonetheless.
Overall, The Soulmates seems to be a song that speaks of a deeply intimate yet tumultuous bond shared by two people who feel like they don't fit in with the rest of the world. It suggests that this bond is both a source of strength and pain for them, but they remain faithful to each other nonetheless.
Line by Line Meaning
The soulmates
Two individuals who are deeply connected in all aspects of life, including emotionally and spiritually.
They last the distance
Their bond is strong enough to endure any challenges and obstacles that may come their way.
They make promises
They vow to support each other and always be there through good and bad times.
They feel like misfits
Both individuals may feel like outsiders in society, but their connection with each other brings a sense of belonging.
They need each other
Their relationship is built on a foundation of mutual support, and they rely on each other for strength and comfort.
They're faithful warriors
They fight for each other and their relationship, regardless of any external factors that may threaten to tear them apart.
They want for nothing
Their love is enough to fulfill their deepest desires, and material possessions are insignificant compared to their bond.
The graffiti
Metaphor for the emotional wounds that have been inflicted on one of the soulmates by the other.
You left on me
The painful marks have been left by one of the soulmates, symbolizing the hurt inflicted on the other.
Means every part
The emotional damage is so deep that it affects every part of the wounded soulmate's being.
Is still bleeding
The emotional wounds have not healed and continue to cause pain and suffering.
No souvenirs - no symphonies - no dead feelings
Their love is not based on superficial things like material possessions or grand gestures, but on the deep, genuine emotions they share for each other.
They take their place
The soulmates find their rightful place in each other's lives, supporting, loving, and inspiring each other every step of the way.
They slip away
Although they may face challenges and hardships, they always find a way to come back to each other, never letting go of their bond.
They remain safe
Their love provides a place of safety and comfort, where they can be themselves without fear of judgement or rejection.
The soulmates
Recurring theme of the emotional and spiritual connection between two individuals who share a deep, unbreakable bond.
The soulmates
Reinforcing the importance of this bond and the themes of love, support, and faithfulness that it represents.
The soulmates
Closing the song with the idea that the connection between two soulmates can transcend all boundaries and last a lifetime.
Contributed by Henry B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Stephanie Wyman
This is such a beautiful song. It blows my mind that it isn't even an album track let alone a single. I had been a casual Manics fan for years, with "A Design for Life" being the one song that I had full-blown love for and kept coming back to every so often when I needed to hear it. This happened the other day, and thanks to YouTube's automatic playlist mechanism I just now rediscovered them and this time the music connected with me in a massive way. I've been listening to nothing but their catalogue for weeks. I had previously been barely aware that a past member of the band had disappeared, but the more I read about them, interviews, docs, the more I identified and felt for Richey's struggles and began to appreciate how incredibly special he was. The gravity of the tragedy had been building on me for about a month. I had only just stumbled on this song and felt like hearing it a second time yesterday morning, and played it for myself on headphones as I waited for my coffee to be made. I was wrapped up in the magic of the song, and could only really make out the song's title in the lyrics. The thought of walking down the aisle to it crossed my mind. I figured the use of these images in the video reflected a fan's fancy rather than the subject matter of the song, so I looked them up out of curiosity and read them as I walked outside. Despite not being the type of person who cries much, as soon as I read the line "the grafitti..." I began crying in the middle of the street, as much for the pain Nicky was left with as for Richey.
Paula Boncompagni Ludovisi
This song used to be my anthem with my ex boyfriend. This one and fearless punk ballad. Miss you, N. Hope you're safe wherever you are.
empav1971
What an awesome set of pictures to go with a lovely song! Great job! Richey and Nicky - two most beautiful faces of rock&roll
NCB Radio
WHY wasn't this on the Lifeblood album! Such an amazing tune!- AJA
Khizar Jamil
This is in my top 3 Manics songs along with Cardiff Afterlife and Distant Colours!
Jenna Mallow
such a beautiful song!!!..Richey&Nicky,they are cute together:)
Kate Burgess
Think the images in this video speak for themselves, great song!
薔薇薫麻美
i love them so much❤thank you for upload this
123AutumnBreeze
I'm glad you like the video :) yeah I thought this song was perfect for a video like this and to remember Richey today. 15 years.. time flies :(
Pearl Lewis
I love them so much 😥