Owen Hatherley returns to discuss his New Left Review article on the Welsh guitar band, the Manic Street Preachers. We talked about the particular appeal the group seemed to hold for working class kids from non-metropolitan backgrounds in the 1990s, and about the forbearance and occasional embarrassment that is the lot of fans who've followed their work in the subsequent decades. We also talked about why such an avowedly left wing and politicised group have shown such little regard for contemporary left movements such as the Corbyn moment in the UK.

Show notes:

Music:

Owen's acceptable Manics playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/53GV8dNKLZlo72Wp3GOdy5?si=e25a5413ece248ed&pt=8393e6591814e26432a7fd35670b2d43

Alex's reluctant Manics playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/55IG8eV1kVH3kwAfEo9Z2y?si=ee8bcba703fc437a&pt=9a1779265389af95dcd44445656ef4c8

Videos:

Faster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0f9qUheits

Faster TOTP performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5PI7k_ZiQ0

You Love Us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgKXBJ2LZKo

A Design for Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ

Enjoyably angry Design for Life TV performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbdsc-YxGB4

4st 7lb acoustic MTV performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXrzttSPlc0

Motorcycle Emptiness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gavcjNniIvk

The Love of Richard Nixon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_G_R_1gMfc

Jackie Collins Existential Question Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYvbtSTamRc

Further Reading:

Owen's New Left Review article

https://newleftreview.es/sidecar/posts/mislaid-plans

Everything (A Book about Manic Street Preachers) by Simon Price

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780753501399/Everything-Book-Manic-Street-Preachers-0753501392/plp

Triptych: Three Studies of Manic Street Preachers’ The Holy Bible by: Daniel Lukes, Larissa Wodtke, Rhian E Jones

https://repeaterbooks.com/product/triptych-three-studies-of-manic-street-preachers-the-holy-bible/