Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band. The band's lineup has consisted of guitarist and lead vocalist James Dean Bradfield, bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire (both b. 1969) and drummer Sean Moore since the disappearance of rhythm guitarist and songwriter Richey Edwards (b. 1967) in February 1995.
Richey Edwards
The band's rhythm guitar player and lyricist Richard James "Richey" Edwards (b. 22 December 1967) disappeared on 1 February 1995 at the age of 27.
Political views
The band has taken a leftist political outlook since its inception in 1986, and has released songs such as Motorcycle Emptiness (1992) with lyrics criticising capitalism. On the other hand, the band's song PCP (1994) took aim at political correctness[1], and the band's hugely successful first UK chart-topper, If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (which still holds the record for the longest unpunctuated title of any UK #1 single) is also not easy to situate politically: the lyrics are strongly influenced by George Orwell's accounts (in Homage to Catalonia and his essay Looking back on the Spanish War) of fighting the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War only to be betrayed by the Communists.
Discography
- Generation Terrorists (1992)
- Gold Against the Soul (1993)
- The Holy Bible (1994)
- Everything Must Go (1996)
- This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (1998)
- Know Your Enemy (2001)
- Lifeblood (2004)
- Send Away the Tigers (2007)
- Journal for Plague Lovers (2009)
- Postcards from a Young Man (2010)
- Rewind the Film (2013)
- Futurology (2014)
- Resistance Is Futile (2018)
- The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021)