At what point did you realise the Manics were for you?

[Ben]

The turning point for me into "yeah, they're pretty good" to uber-fan was watching a really dodgy video recording of the video for Faster at a friends house. I don't really know why, but I just thought it was incredible. Pretty soon after that I bought 'Everything Live' and was totally hooked. Some really great renditions of songs from that show.

Originally Posted by sculptureofabloke

The Everlasting

I know what you mean, actually. I thought The Everlasting was an amazing single when it came out, and was the first Manics single I ever bought.

[The Gutless Wonder]

September 1998 watching the video for Tolerate on The Chart Show. First time I'd ever seen them and had only heard the orchestral version of Design on the Wales advert. But didn't know it was to do with a band or anything. I think the fact that a month before there had been the Omagh bombing in Ireland just made the song connect with me straight away. My mind was racing for about two weeks after and I knew I had to find out more about this band!

[Deets]

I first fell in love with them in early Feb but the moment I REALISED there's SOMETHING MORE happening in my heart, was when I was downloading NME Big Gig videos. I went like 'What the...?? after 2 weeks I'm filling up my poor computer with the vids of that band. It's the first time I'm doing this! What the hell is going on??'

[MassCommunication]

After a tough year I suddenly started listening to Everything Must Go, which then led to the new album release, and been going on a guided tour of their back catalogue since, I think this new one will always be 'my' album now, a defining point in my life.

[Jackie Collins]

My ex's best mate had just bought THB and was playing it in his room. I asked who the singer was because I'd never heard anyone quite like him. I haven't looked back since. The voice did it for me and still does to this day.

[franny]

Autumnsong did it for me! It encouraged me to buy SATT and I knew they were special when I stayed in bed to listen to SATT a few more times on Christmas Day and kept my family waiting rather than doing the whole christmas thing.

[Son of Stopped]

I remember liking Motorcycle Emptiness and seeing one of them interviewed in my sister's Smash Hits.
I wasn't a fan when Richey vanished, but I remember reading about it and when I asked a friend who had a few singles being told "Fuck off. Good on him. Leave him alone."
But it was PCP which I thought was the best thing I'd ever heard. And then I heard the single at a friends house and couldn't get past the slow intro!
"This isn't the song I liked?"
Then I got into THB. And that started me off.
It does feel weird how new fans can get all their albums in one go. There was a lot of enjoyment playing and playing them over until the next one came out.
But then I did that with Pink Floyd... only I had The Division Bell to look forward to () instead of PFAYM, whatever they do next etc.

[Dean V]

Originally Posted by sculptureofabloke

The Everlasting

One of the best songs the Manics have ever created, so utterly beautiful.

Anyway, for me it was due to my sister being a Manics head and forcing them on me from the age of 6. First I heard Everything Must Go, then Generation Terrorists, then the Holy Bible and the Manics are a band who've been with me the majority of my life. I criticise them a lot but I don't half love them really.

[Isola]

I got interested in the bands music when my stepdad played This Is My Truth... on the stereo at home when it came out. I liked some songs and got them from the CD. Took some years after that before I got interested in the band itself, what made me interested was mainly due to their earlier sound and more in-your-face attitude, still one of the main reason I love this band.

[hummingbird]

ermmmm i was quite transfixed by james singing last christmas on TFI friday in 1996 or 7 ..remember thinking *ooh you can really sing boy*

[cherrybomb]

In my youth I used to frequent a pub called The Coach and Six which in the 70s had been a notorious biker pub. It had since become rather more respectable but it still held a metal night every Thursday and the place was always packed. One of the regulars was a young lad called Rick Stavely who was stick thin with a dyed black feather cut, John Lennon specs and tons of eyeliner. We all took the piss out of him-no man wore make up in Batley! Looking back though he was cool as fuck, far cooler than me anyway. One night he bought in a few 12 inches for the dj to play, among them Motown Junk and You Love Us and when they were played I just fell in love. Bought GT when it first came out and loved it, and every album ever since. Rick was killed a year or so later at the traffic lights near the Coach by a hit and run driver who was never caught and the Coach itself is now a dentist surgery. But that for me is where it all began.

[amay]

I used to adore YLAINE and play it on repeat when it came out,but I only really became a fan late last year when I decided to watch the You Love Us video on Youtube and then I realised they weren't the 3 piece dad band I thought they were...and it all started from there. I don't think I will ever forget the first time I heard Motorcycle Emptiness and being astounded at it,however cheesy that sounds

[The White Stripe]

Aged 17. As soon as I heard Little Baby Nothing on Virgin radio for the first time I was hooked. Went straight out and bought it the next day and never looked back. Over half my life later I am still as excited listening to PFAYM as I was then.

[Slashed&Burnt]

April 1996, (aged 15) I went to my local record shop and bought "A Design for Life" on tape (I didn't get a CD player til Christmas that year!). As with a lot of music, I bought it because I liked the tune. I was aware of the MSP before this, but had never bought any of their stuff.

Anyway, having listened to this, I became hooked. I didn't really think that much about the lyrics and themes in the song at that point. It was only about the time of TIMTTMY (and the first time I saw them live in Dec 98) that I became more interested in the "old" manics, and bought the first three albums in pretty quick sucession. In a way I'm quite glad I only got into them at that stage, as the first three albums wouldn't have meant as much to me as a 12-14 year old as they did when I was 18/19.

[sculptureofabloke]

Originally Posted by BradfieldsLoveChild

I know what you mean, actually. I thought The Everlasting was an amazing single when it came out, and was the first Manics single I ever bought.

Yeah, I was aware of em from A Design For Life up to that point. Thought that was great but for some reason never knew who it was till I got the album. I remember seeing the video of Tolerate as an MTV "exclusive" and thinking it was great. I was just getting into buying albums at the time, and an album was about two weeks paper round money so I didn't feel like buying one on the strength of one song, so Everlasting was the official converter...