Forever Delayed - The Independent Manics Forum  

Go Back   Forever Delayed - The Independent Manics Forum > Manic Street Preachers > Manic Street Preachers Discussion

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 21-10-2007, 23:04
Lindseyn's Avatar
Lindseyn Lindseyn is offline
Winterlover
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: In the FD Naughty Canal
Age: 41
Posts: 5,651
Masses against the Classes - who is it aimed at?

I've always wondered this - as I've heard it's about the music press who turned against them after This is My Truth, or that it's aimed at the Oasis loving new fans that started following them in the late nineties. Can anyone shed any light?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 21-10-2007, 23:23
user3837
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
its not a very coherant song....

james said it sounded like they had tourettes......
its a mixture of a lot of things....
title is from Gladstone
music is sort of noisy and messy
the outro quote by Chomsky has little to do with the lyrics or title
the cover is an altered cuban flag
and the lyrics themselves are just the manics trying to reclaim the anger they once had ,or more specifically reafirming a polemic or something similar.

i think they might be aimed at the people who basked in their glory and success, the passive ford mondeo crowd who bought their number 1 album, or maybe the media who courted them when they made music that was quite serene.

Last edited by user3837; 21-10-2007 at 23:27.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 21-10-2007, 23:25
Tom Tom is offline
Footprint of history
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: bat country
Posts: 21,619
I've never understood what the lyrics or the title are supposed to mean.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 21-10-2007, 23:52
Lindseyn's Avatar
Lindseyn Lindseyn is offline
Winterlover
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: In the FD Naughty Canal
Age: 41
Posts: 5,651
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan One View Post
its not a very coherant song....

james said it sounded like they had tourettes......
its a mixture of a lot of things....
title is from Gladstone
music is sort of noisy and messy
the outro quote by Chomsky has little to do with the lyrics or title
the cover is an altered cuban flag
and the lyrics themselves are just the manics trying to reclaim the anger they once had ,or more specifically reafirming a polemic or something similar.

i think they might be aimed at the people who basked in their glory and success, the passive ford mondeo crowd who bought their number 1 album, or maybe the media who courted them when they made music that was quite serene.
Yeah - it's definitely a mish mash of ideas. I've always thought "Hello it's us again" at the start was aimed at the music press who wrote them off after This is my Truth, but I dunno... "Success is an ugly world, especially in your tiny world" could be aimed at older fans who resented the fact that they carried on after Richey. So they've never actually explained it then?
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 22-10-2007, 00:04
user3837
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lindseyn View Post
Yeah - it's definitely a mish mash of ideas. I've always thought "Hello it's us again" at the start was aimed at the music press who wrote them off after This is my Truth, but I dunno... "Success is an ugly world, especially in your tiny world" could be aimed at older fans who resented the fact that they carried on after Richey. So they've never actually explained it then?
sounds about right id say, and no ive never heard them say anything about the song....

they released it straight after the millenium gig, then disappeared until the following yr with know your enemy
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 22-10-2007, 00:15
BloodFlowerBill's Avatar
BloodFlowerBill BloodFlowerBill is offline
Winterlover
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Cardiff
Posts: 5,834
The press, the fans, themselves!Its like a link back to You Love Us, in that way.Its one of their last great singles really.
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 22-10-2007, 00:21
Lindseyn's Avatar
Lindseyn Lindseyn is offline
Winterlover
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: In the FD Naughty Canal
Age: 41
Posts: 5,651
That's very true - whenever I hear it, it always makes me think of You Love Us.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 22-10-2007, 07:57
socialist cook's Avatar
socialist cook socialist cook is offline
Winterlover
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: County Palatine of Durham
Age: 38
Posts: 7,030
Quote:
Originally Posted by BloodFlowerBill View Post
The press, the fans, themselves!Its like a link back to You Love Us, in that way.Its one of their last great singles really.
Spot on Bill.
__________________
If God wanted Football to be played in the air he would have put grass up there
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 22-10-2007, 11:15
prologue2history
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
I've always thought of it as an "up yours" to the critics..... it's a great anthem cos everyone has a time when they look back and think "despite everything, i made it and no thanks to you"
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 22-10-2007, 11:35
AJC76 AJC76 is offline
Desire on its knees
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Location, Location
Posts: 891
I always saw it as a You Love Us mk II, a kind of call to arms to fans and a two fingered salute to critics. shoving This Is My Truth and to a lesser extent Everything Must Go under the carpet and reaching for something musically less "safe" and lyrically harder and a bit more confrontational.
this feeling was continued with Know Your Enemy, which critics and for some reason most fans seem to despise
__________________
It's a small world. But you wouldn't want to paint it.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 22-10-2007, 13:26
River Boy's Avatar
River Boy River Boy is offline
I live to fall asleep
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,971
I doubt if it means anything, it's their worst ever single. Think they just wanted a single to go with their Millenium gig so threw a few lines together.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 22-10-2007, 14:46
Daniel Daniel is offline
Footprint of history
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Leeds
Age: 38
Posts: 23,376
Quote:
Originally Posted by River Boy View Post
I doubt if it means anything, it's their worst ever single.
oh fucking hell, someone kill me now.
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 22-10-2007, 15:20
user3837
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel View Post
oh fucking hell, someone kill me now.
its not that great, chill out
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 22-10-2007, 15:52
The Gutless Wonder's Avatar
The Gutless Wonder The Gutless Wonder is offline
Bored out of my mind
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: World Headquarters of 'Team JDB' and CoJ
Posts: 42,921
I love Masses. Fab song!
__________________
"Former glam-punk rocker James Dean Bradfield now looks like your friendly, slightly rumpled Welsh uncle who always brings you chocolate when he visits. That's not a bad thing." - Allister Thompson aka The Gateless Gate (Canadian musician)
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 22-10-2007, 16:15
ManicKev's Avatar
ManicKev ManicKev is offline
Doors slowly closing
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Glasgow
Age: 38
Posts: 7,683
"We love the winter, it brings us closer together".

Possibly a theme Nicky developed later on in Winterlovers.

As for the rest of it, on the surface it appears like a political song but doesn't really stand up to in-depth scrutiny.
Maybe the 'Masses' represent people buying their music with the 'Classes' being the music press.
__________________
"I'm just smart enough to know how stupid I am"- Joe Strummer

"If you look after the sport the money will follow you, if you look after the money you'll kill the sport.''
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 05:52.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.