memories you associate with manics albums...

[The Gutless Wonder]

Originally Posted by Dean V

I gte that same feeling whenever I read a play that someone (who I trust taste-wise and knows me) bangs on about, but that just seems different...Stones in His Pockets is one of those plays, I love it!

Not just me then thank goodness! Maybe it was the pictures of nipples and stuff that did it!

[The Gutless Wonder]

Lifeblood - dark, cold, November, thunderstorms.

[The Gutless Wonder]

GT/GATS/THB - sneaking into my brothers room to listen to them when I didn't have a CD player!

[tzb]

Originally Posted by tzb

Lifeblood reminds me of Brighton beach in November 2004 which was where and when I heard it first, huddled next to one of those walls which divide the beach up and go out into the sea. The worst year of my life, and the beautiful sadness of the album struck a massive chord with me. I listened to it 3 times in a row, and by the end of it my hands had gone orange (after going white then purple). Then I walked the 6 miles home and had a bath

Was thinking about this again today, something about that particular memory and this time of year always brings it back to me. It was pretty much the perfect way to hear it, at the perfect time in my life. I have very few memories like this.

[Little Troll]

Forever Delayed was the first manics CD I bought because I thought a greatest hits would be the best place to start. I put it on my MP3 player and really annoyed my friends by sitting there listening to La Tristesse Durera on repeat instead of talking to them at my youth club. I always think of that now when I see the CD.

JFPL - I had been waiting for that to come out for ages and my friend and I took the bus to Kingston after our Business Studies GCSE exam so we could both go buy the new Green Day album (which had come out the week before or something) and so I could get JFPL as well. Also makes me think of my first Manics gig as it was on that tour. I went with my mum and I was feeling sick because I was so nervous and I had never met any other manics fans before so I was terrified in case they were all really scary.

[relic]

Generation Terrorists - Slash n Burn, NatWest Barclays Midlands Lloyds remind me of driving home from work, through the hills, in a storm. I'd had a middle of the night call out and driven thirty miles to work in awful weather (unpaid!) because some bozo had smelled something bad and thought the factory was responsible. It wasn't. It was the first time I ever heard the Manics, it was a Radio 1 session. I thought 'Brilliant, best new band for a decade.'

Gold Against The Soul. First vinyl I'd bought for years. I fell in love with Tristesse. Again, most of the memories are of being in the car, commuting to or from work, listening to it on the radio and thinking 'I have to buy this.'

Holy Bible. First of all, being in Ade's car, saying "Please turn this shite off, it's just indecipherable shouting." Then, about five years later, finally 'getting it' as I turned into the car park of a school I was working at, and sitting there for ten minutes crying my eyes out.

Everything Must Go. Oddly enough, for the 'breakthrough album' I don't have many memories of the album itself, but I do remember listening to interviews with the band about Richey, and about the album, and realising for the first time that it wasn't just the music I loved, there was something else there.

This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. Being very, very aware of the Tolerate video, falling in love with Nicky and not having a single soul to talk about him with.

Know Your Enemy. Getting really rather annoyed that Ade had appropriated the CD for his personal use in his car. Only hearing bits of it when we went somewhere together. Laughing with pure delight the first time I heard So Why So Sad on the radio.

Forever Delayed. First Manics gig. Life changed.

Lipstick Traces. Went a bit barmy, spent the night on the street in London queuing for a wristband. I was nearly 40. Met lots of other fans.

Lifeblood. Gigs, gigs, gigs. Life becoming a Manicsslide. Cardiff gig cancelled at the last minute, had a great night out with fans anyway. Spent the next day driving for about 12 hours because one of our friends was panicked about getting home so we took her from Cardiff to Essex before driving home to Lancashire via Manchester city centre.

Send Away The Tigers. Doubt creeps in, disappointment for the first time. What the effing fuck have they done? Still, gigs, gigs, gigs.

Journal For Plague Lovers. Total redemption. Best album ever in the history of the world. I love this band. Listening to it with Ade for the first time, driving up to Scotland for the first show of the tour. Gigs, gigs, gigs. Nicky being injured, crying at the Llandudno gig because he was so sad. I was well over 40. Gaaagghhh.

Postcards From A Young Man. Worried that it would be SATT II, but it wasn't. Gigs, gigs, gigs. Train journeys across Scotland. Being sensible and staying at the back for about three gigs, then giving in to my inner idiot and starting to queue and go for the barrier again. Missing the mini tour because I'd booked a holiday.

National Treasures. Renewal of vows, pretty much. Listening to the album, watching the 'This Is The Day' video. Crying a lot with joy and nostalgia.

[franny]

GT - Playing loudly, massive amounts of air guitar, realised that this was this 'punk music' people went on about so much

GATS - Being really ill ad glum and this album perpetuated that mood, a bad memory, but I like it now

THB - Coupled with endless playing of FFII, reading the lyrics and being blown away, wanting to break stuff

EMG - Bought at the same time as THB, ignored a lot other than to play Small Black Flowers a lot

TIMTTMY - Buying in a charity shop for a quid because of Tolerate, my first Manics album, Born a Girl and MLE stayed in my head for a year though I rarely listened to it.

KYE - Last Manics album I bought, thought it was the bees knees, waking up early to listen to Intravenous Agnostic a few more times.

LB - Disbelief that this was the Manics but utterly swept away, bought at the same time as GT and was proud of myself for liking them equally.

SATT - The album that got me into them, waiting for it to be cheap in HMV, playing and being amazed, still love it. Bought it in December and delayed Christmas for my family by listening to it in bed lots on the 25th, now a tradition.

JFPL - My first Manics release that I got on the day, had heard the leaks but only once or twice, on CD it really came to life, listened about 3 times a day for weeks, first proper standing gig too, feeling part of a community.

PFAYM - Endless build up through radio interviews, recording INW off Radio 2 on an mp3 player while camping, listening to that version non-stop until getting back to civilisation. Endless gigs.

[Thomas]

when i was psychotic i burned the booklet of gold against the soul frantically laughing.

[sculptureofabloke]

Now that I think about it, there are no major world events that I've found out about while listening to Manics, really thought there'd be all of them considering how much time I spend listening to Manics.

This Is My Truth sticks with me though, kinda defining an era. The summer before my last year at school, having no idea what I was gonna do when I left and listening to My Little Empire and thinking woah this really speaks to me maaaaan. Yeah whatever, I was 15 and not too bright, daft really. Other than that, Manics have been a pretty constant feature of my life so there's nothing much that particularly stands out now that I think about it. Besides gigs and being in places I'd have never gone otherwise cos of em, there's not much really.

[Dancing Kirby]

I recall picking up The Great Western on the day of release from Tesco. There was a freak thunderstorm and then hailstones on the way back and I recall mocking everyone waiting at the bus stop from the safety of the cosy car while An English Gentleman played.

God, what a shithead. Seemed like a satisfying thing to do at the time... Who doesn't like to indulge in a spot of bus stop trolling?

[beautifuldistortion]

GT - Remember falling in love with Condemned to Rock n Roll and wondering if it was OK to like Damn Dog?! (probably not)

GATS - Got it for xmas one year, played it endlessly

THB - The greatest album ever recorded, but it still gives me chills. It changed my life and not always for the better!

EMG - Gave me a sense of pride that the band could pull of something this uplifting, yep I know it's all been said before!

TIMTTMY - Remember buying this in Our Price and leaving my copy in the pub after work - it was the version with the embossed font on the CD cover, had to buy it again the next day!

KYE - Found That Soul grabbed me immediately as did Intravenous agnostic, I was falling in love with the band even deeper at this point.

FD - first time I met the band, ecstatic

LT - Got my copy signed - happy

LB - This album stayed in my CD/DVD player for about 8 months, it provided a backdrop to my whole home life, it is gorgeous. Remember Nicky's quote about it being 'The Holy Bible for 30 year olds'? I can kind of relate to that even if it was just a soundbite!

SATT - A hell of a lot going on in my life at that time, working away from home for a long periods of time, only managed to give it my full attention a few years later - good but short and I can't understand ever why Indian Summer was a single, but the B-sides were pretty good! I love Anorexic Rodin

JFPL - Excitement, I remember hearing peeled apples and playing it in my office at work on youtube over and over again and not giving a flying fuck about what the others thought

PFAYM - Played it to death, was so looking forward to it, I think I made myself like it. It's a bit of a dissapointment and is certainly now my least favourite. However on a positive note, it's been awesome seeing them all over the telly and magazines etc

NT - The O2 gig - one of my top 3 gigs of all time. Had to go in seated area because my wife is heavily pregnant, but sitting down did not happen

[The Gutless Wonder]

EMG - The feeling of warm albumen being poured over my head (not literally!).

I shall ponder the other ones later!

[ISLWYN]

The Holy Bible reminds of depressing Manics gigs and young female fans with 'self harming' scabs and scars on their wrists.

[Parma Violets]

My musical history is that I liked a lot of cheesy dance when I was younger, swore off music altogether from about 1992-1996, then got back into the charts right at the start of the Britpop era, which was a hugely exciting time to be getting into music. As a result, my chronology is a bit scrambled, but these are the overwhelming memories.

Generation Terrorists - 1992. Watching Top of the Pops, seeing them play 'Slash 'n' Burn'. Thinking "God, what a bunch of wankers" and waiting patiently for, I don't know, Dr. Alban or something like that to come on.

Gold Against the Soul - 2008. Finally buying that copy of Forever Delayed I'd told myself I didn't need and listening to 'From Despair To Where'. Looking up 'Sleepflower' and 'Roses in the Hospital' on YouTube. Realising that, rather than the soft-rock pariah of Manics albums, GATS was full of amazing stuff. Wondering why, exactly, I didn't own this album? Buying it. Putting 'Roses...' on in a pub and getting a nod and smile of approval from an amazing-looking six-foot Bangladeshi guy in a biker jacket with an enormous pink mohawk.

The Holy Bible - 1998. Watching the Close Up profile of them and hearing this astonishing scraping, this high-pitched synthesiser wail, a clipped voice talking about the grief of a mother. What the fuck is this? It's amazing.

Everything Must Go - 1996. Getting back into music, seeing a gold cassette box on a friend's shelf. "What's that, a Benson & Hedges packet?" Hearing it's the Manic Street Preachers and thinking "Oh no, not the shirtless metal bores from that old TOTP?" "Put it on, then..." "Libraries gave us power..." "Fuck. Me." Also, a lot of excited 12-year-old giggling at news that the first track on the album had some swears on it, yay!

This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours - 1998. So much to remember. My first Manics gig on a freezing night in Newcastle. "This is called Tsunami - or, if you want, Toon Army." Explaining why Nicky would introduce 'Train in Vain' with a disparaging reference to Garbage to a less music-history-minded friend. Getting angry when the radio on the school bus didn't play the whole of 'The Everlasting'. Most of all, sitting on the computer, in the dark, in the friends' house where my mum stayed after her breakdown, getting ready for the long walk home and listening to 'Be Natural'. I've never paid much attention to the lyrics of that song - partly because they're so low in the mix - but it just felt like the right song for the moment then.

Know Your Enemy - 2001. All my flatmates are in the kitchen shouting and getting drunk. I, meanwhile, am putting together a cassette that re-edits Know Your Enemy and the 'Found That Soul' b-sides into the album it could be. I still feel like I made the right decision there.

Forever Delayed - 2011. A foggy morning, I'm going with my friend, driver and cameraman Olly to a film shoot in a freezing village we don't know how to get to. I've been unhappy all month for work-related problems and suggest we bring FD along to play in the car. Despite his contempt for best-of albums ("It's cheating!") he agrees. Halfway through 'The Masses Against the Classes' he turns to me and says, "This is really good, isn't it?" Turn and nod.

Lipstick Traces - 2011. Manics obsession now at its all-time high, I notice that my local pub has a jukebox where you can request songs that it will instantly download. So, how exactly do the inhabitants of a rough Middlesbrough pub respond to 'We Are All Bourgeois Now'? Don't know, don't care, too busy singing along.

Lifeblood - 2004. Watching Later With Jools Holland. Quite enjoyed 'The Love of Richard Nixon' but felt a bit thrown by it - I wonder what the other songs on the album sound like? 'Empty Souls' starts up. Decide this might be a Manics album I can live without.

Send Away the Tigers - 2007. Watching the film Rendition. Earnest politics, clumsy 'multi-stranded' drama, simplistic portrayals of terrorism, adequate performances. And, in the back row, me trying not to sing along.

Journal for Plague Lovers - 2009. In an exciting coincidence, two of my all-time favourite artists have released Steve Albini-produced albums on my birthday (the other was Jarvis Cocker). Go out to Borders (RIP) to buy them on the day of release. Reflect that my best birthday present came not from a friend or family member, but from four Welshmen I've never met. Spend the rest of the day utterly thrilled.

Postcards from a Young Man - 2011. Driving home from a film shoot with Olly again. This time it's a lovely sunny day, and it's been an unusually fun shoot. Looking through the CDs in his car I suggest we listen to PFAYM, as I haven't heard it since it came out. Neither of us were that thrilled by it, but halfway through 'A Billion Balconies...' we turn to each other and both say, "Hey, this is fucking brilliant, isn't it?"

National Treasures - 2011. In the London Underground, grinning broadly every time I see the poster.

[sim]

GT: Lying on my bed at my Dad's house, looking up at my collages. I didn't move for the 72 or so minutes the CD ran for. Brilliant.

GATS: No particular memory really, just being a miserable teenager.

THB: I remember not liking it first. In particular, Faster. I do remember taking it on a school trip to France when I was 15 (must have liked it by then) and showing my history teacher the picture of Lenin in his coffin. I remember him looking at the lyrics book with a look of quiet worry.

EMG: My friend let me borrow it on a tape copy. I remember my Mom getting it me on CD for my birthday, she bought it while I was with her. She was perturbed by the title of Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky.

Truth: Another tape borrowing thing. Be Natural was one I would sit in my room and cry in a typically morose teenage fashion.

KYE was the first album I awaited as a fan, having got into them just after they finished promoting Truth. So I was WELL excited. I remember having Year of Purification running through my head on my school photo. It shows.

Lifeblood: Reminds me of deepest, darkest winter. In a really odd, nice, melancholic way.

SATT: No memory, other than I got it months after it was released. Just wasn't interested.

JFPL I think I got late as well? Again, no memory even though I love it. I think some things are best listened to as a teenager in a pit of despair.

PFAYM: I actually heard the singles on the radio and was NOT impressed. Although they have grown on me now.