Manics Top 50s - 27th March 2015

After a short break without chart activity (presumably you're all beavering away like me!), the top 50s return today with a new contributor.  Another victory for our winning song last time around, but will it fight off all rivals for its crown this time?

I'm especially pleased to see one song pick up its first vote, which was one of the biggest surprises to me so far, and when I say it picked up its first vote I mean in the singular so you'll know which one I mean (hmm I Wonder...)!!  We're almost into April now, but that still means two whole months to register your vote....for some of us it may take that long to decide!

Lee Morgan @LeeM_007

1. Faster

2. Yes

3. A Design For Life

4. Peeled Apples

5. Mausoleum

6. Revol

7. Life Becoming a Landslide

8. Comfort Comes

9. She is Suffering

10. Empty Souls

11. Marlon JD

12. Europa Geht Durch Mich

13. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

14. PCP

15. 4st 7lb

16. Motorcycle Emptiness

17. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

18. Sculpture of Man

19. Prologue to History

20. From Despair to Where

21. Everything Must Go

22. Too Cold Here

23. Sleepflower

24. Patrick Bateman

25. Us Against You

26. Drug Drug Druggy

27. Mr Carbohydrate

28. Dead Passive

29. Dead Trees and Traffic Islands

30. Intravenous Agnostic

31. Little Baby Nothing

32. Condemned to Rock n Roll

33. Methadone Pretty

34. Stay Beautiful

35. Dead Yankee Drawl

36. Crucifix Kiss

37. No Surface All Feeling

38. Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier

39. Ready For Drowning

40. Found That Soul

41. Dead Martyrs

42. Freedom of Speech Won't Feed My Children

43. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time

44. Your Love Alone is Not Enough

45. Underdogs

46. Bag Lady

47. Rendition

48. Walk Me to the Bridge

49. (It's Not War) Just the End of Love

50. Show Me the Wonder

By Era

Generation Terrorists 7

Gold Against the Soul 8

The Holy Bible 9

Everything Must Go 7

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 3

Know Your Enemy 4

Lifeblood 1

Send Away the Tigers 3

Journal for Plague Lovers 4

Postcards From a Young Man 1

Rewind the Film 1

Futurology 2

Others 0

Manics Top 50s - 21st March 2015

Today's chart has a very classic look to it in the top placings, featuring some of the songs that did so well last time around, but is also notable for containing quite a large contingent from 'This is my Truth...' comparatively speaking.  The last three albums fare less well, without a single entry between them.

A little update on my own progress in my marathon run through ordering the whole 307-strong catalogue of eligible songs.  All albums have now been ordered as well as each set of B-sides corresponding to each album.  Now the simple task of playing them off against each other, my least favourites first, to work out the overall running order.  Watch this space!

Carl Hershberger (via email)

1. Faster

2. Motorcycle Emptiness

3. Yes

4. A Design for Life

5. 4st 7lb

6. Little Baby Nothing

7. You're Tender and You're Tired

8. Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky

9. Marlon JD

10. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

11. Archives of Pain

12. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

13. Stay Beautiful

14. This is Yesterday

15. Your Love Alone is Not Enough

16. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time

17. Enola/Alone

18. I'm Not Working

19. Sleepflower

20. You Love Us

21. The Masses Against the Classes

22. Roses in the Hospital

23. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart

24. Journal for Plague Lovers

25. From Despair to Where

26. Of Walking Abortion

27. The Everlasting

28. She Bathed Herself in a Bath of Bleach

29. Mausoleum 

30. 1985

31. Ready For Drowning

32. Judge Yr'self

33. The Girl Who Wanted to be God

34. Virginia State Epileptic Colony 

35. PCP

36. To Repel Ghosts

37. Methadone Pretty

38. Life Becoming a Landslide

39. Suicide is Painless (Theme from MASH)

40. Motown Junk

41. Slash N' Burn

42. Black Dog on My Shoulder

43. Be Natural 

44. William's Last Words

45. Donkeys

46. Prologue to History

47. Found That Soul

48. Born to End

49. The Intense Humming of Evil

50. Nobody Loved You

By Era

Generation Terrorists 9

Gold Against the Soul 6

The Holy Bible 11

Everything Must Go 4

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 9

Know Your Enemy 1

Lifeblood 2

Send Away the Tigers 1

Journal for Plague Lovers 6

Postcards From a Young Man 0

Rewind the Film 0

Futurology 0

Others 1

Manics Top 50s - 20th March 2015

A returning contributor from last time today and since then his top two have switched places to give us another new name on top spot.  And I have to admit a bit of an underdog, if you'll excuse the pun.

As I score the charts I make sure I don't total them up until the very end but I am noticing some patterns in the early charts which suggest some changes in the pecking order.  And while there are very few no vote songs left in the album tracks there is one particularly high profile song that has appeared in none of the 15 charts so far (I suspect I may change that though when it's my turn).

We've nearly been going a month now, so 15 charts is a decent return but with lots of previous participants to come hopefully we'll pick up the pace and start bearing down on the last total of 62 charts.  Spread the word!

John O'Callaghan @OCJonnyoc

1. Removables

2. Faster

3. Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky

4. Me and Stephen Hawking

5. Comfort Comes

6. PCP

7. This Is Yesterday

8. Stay Beautiful

9. Little Baby Nothing

10. Motown Junk

11. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

12. Virginia State Epileptic Colony

13. Sculpture Of Man

14. Die In The Summertime

15. Sepia

16. Mr Carbohydrate

17. Roses In The Hospital

18. Dead Trees and Traffic Islands

19. Between The Clock And The Bed

20. Further Away

21. The Second Great Depression

22. Kevin Carter

23. Repeat

24. Empty Souls

25. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

26. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart

27. Anthem For a Lost Cause

28. Archives Of Pain

29. Valley Boy

30. Sleepflower

31. Motorcycle Emptiness

32. You Love Us

33. Black Dog On My Shoulder

34. Baby Elian

35. Donkeys

36. Prologue To History

37. Imperial Bodybags

38. Emily

39. Send Away The Tigers

40. Theme From MASH (Suicide Is Painless)

41. This Joke Sport Severed

42. All We Make Is Entertainment

43. The Next Jet To Leave Moscow

44. Condemned To Rock n Roll

45. Tsunami

46. Slash N' Burn

47. Symphony Of Tourette

48. Peeled Apples

49. A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun

50. (I Miss the) Tokyo Skyline

By Era

Generation Terrorists 9

Gold Against the Soul 6

The Holy Bible 7

Everything Must Go 7

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 4

Know Your Enemy 1

Lifeblood 2

Send Away the Tigers 4

Journal for Plague Lovers 4

Postcards From a Young Man 2

Rewind the Film 2

Futurology 2

Others 0

Manics Top 50s - 14th March 2015

While writing up today's chart and comparing with yesterday's it struck me that both are quite different in their favourites and that's the beauty of the Manics back catalogue.  With yesterday's chart having a large contingent from the Holy Bible and Journal for Plague Lovers, it leaned towards the more lo-fi elements of their history in places.

Today, in the upper echelons at least, we have a selection from some of their, shall we say, shinier, more melodic songs.  Having said that it's another chart that is quite evenly split across the eras and sees another song get its first number one placing.  I forgot to mention yesterday that we now have 5 albums that have at least one vote for all of their songs, others are very close to completing the full set.  With a fair way to go we've definitely had some diverse charts so far, so keep them coming!!

George @EuropeanMe

1. Door To The River

2. A Song For Departure

3. The Everlasting

4. Motorcycle Emptiness

5. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

6. Donkeys

7. Dreaming A City (Hughesovka)

8. This Joke Sport Severed

9. A Design For Life

10. Black Dog On My Shoulder

11. 1985

12. Tsunami

13. Some Kind Of Nothingness

14. La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)

15. Black Square

16. The Love Of Richard Nixon

17. Little Baby Nothing

18. To Repel Ghosts

19. A Secret Society

20. 30-Year War

21. Futurology

22. 4 Ever Delayed

23. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

24. Solitude Sometimes Is

25. This Is Yesterday

26. Rewind The Film

27. Imperial Bodybags

28. Bag Lady

29. Methadone Pretty

30. Revol

31. Fearless Punk Ballad

32. Walk Me To The Bridge

33. Misguided Missile

34. The Girl Who Wanted To Be God

35. I Think I Found It

36. Running Out Of Fantasy

37. Let's Go To War

38. Hazelton Avenue

39. Born To End

40. Of Walking Abortion

41. 3 Ways To See Despair

42. No Surface All Feeling

43. Spectators Of Suicide

44. Yourself

45. Peeled Apples

46. Archives Of Pain

47. Life Becoming A Landslide

48. 4st 7lb

49. Crucifix Kiss

50. Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children

By Era

Generation Terrorists 6

Gold Against the Soul 4

The Holy Bible 5

Everything Must Go 3

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 4

Know Your Enemy 1

Lifeblood 5

Send Away the Tigers 3

Journal for Plague Lovers 3

Postcards From a Young Man 3

Rewind the Film 4

Futurology 6

Others 3

Manics Top 50s - 12th March 2015

Today's chart is another of the more artistic contributions and very very Manics, with a clear emphasis on a few favourite albums, so I'll just pass the blog over to Richard to say his piece.  The only thing I will say is that for the more eagle-eyed reader Go Buzz Baby Go's votes count towards Motorcycle Emptiness in the final chart.

Richard En @at_hq_with

"I'm Richard En, and I'm a music writer for Space Ship News, themusic.com.au, and GodIsInTheTVZine.co.uk specialising in local reviews, interviews, punk, garage, off-centre and queer, as well as a musician c.o. The Heavenly Creatures and local artist, and poet, and photographer, and fiction writer, and etc etc etc, based in Perth, Western Australia.  This is my fourth year as a Manics obsessive and collector - I came to it pretty late in life at 21yo.  My favourite records should be more than bloody evident.

Be pure, be vigilant, behave. R. x"

Richard En Top 50

By Era

Generation Terrorists 12

Gold Against the Soul 2

The Holy Bible 14

Everything Must Go 3

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 2

Know Your Enemy 4

Lifeblood 0

Send Away the Tigers 0

Journal for Plague Lovers 11

Postcards From a Young Man 0

Rewind the Film 1

Futurology 0

Others 1

Manics Top 50s - 8th March 2015

Today's chart comes from, well, my mother.  What can I say, I'm a bad influence.  She also insisted her chart was in purple.  That perennial low-scorer in the 'By Era' charts, Lifeblood, gets its day in the sun here with seven songs making the cut.  If you're also a Lifeblood fan and want to see it get a bit more recognition here, what are you waiting for?!  It managed to get one song into the final 50 last time, will it go one better or disappear without a trace?  There are still weeks ahead of us to determine which way it will go......

Jennifer - Mother of @Pyfbrown

"My favourite track of all time for the Manics is Motorcycle Emptiness and I would always vote for this as my 1st track in any chart for the Manics. I voted for my 50 favourite tracks last time, and this time have changed it somewhat. I've listened to recent albums of the Manics, owned by @Pyf brown, and have liked some of these tracks, and therefore entered them in my top 50 favourites. Though my favourite album has got to be Gold Against The Soul."

Jennifer Top 50

1. Motorcycle Emptiness

2. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

3. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

4. 1985

5. Gold Against the Soul

6. The Girl Who Wanted to be God

7. Faster

8. Enola/Alone

9. From Despair to Where

10. Suicide is Painless (Theme From MASH)

11. Sleepflower

12. (It's Not War) Just the End of Love

13. Postcards From a Young Man

14. Tsunami

15. The Everlasting

16. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

17. Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky

18. Little Baby Nothing

19. Nat West - Barclays - Midlands - Lloyds

20. Dead Trees and Traffic Islands

21. Empty Souls

22. Kevin Carter

23. Black Dog on my Shoulder

24. The Love of Richard Nixon

25. A Design For Life

26. Life Becoming a Landslide

27. Drug Drug Druggy

28. There By the Grace of God

29. The Second Great Depression

30. Yourself

31. Be Natural

32. Australia

33. Autumnsong

34. Always - Never

35. A Song For Departure

36. Glasnost

37. Hibernation

38. You Stole the Sun From my Heart

39. 4 Ever Delayed

40. Send Away the Tigers

41. I Live to Fall Asleep

42. Firefight

43. She is Suffering

44. Anthem For a Lost Cause

45. Dreaming a City (Hughesovka)

46. Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning)

47. Nostalgic Pushead

48. Between the Clock and the Bed

49. Walk Me to the Bridge

50. So Why So Sad

By Era

Generation Terrorists 4

Gold Against the Soul 9

The Holy Bible 2

Everything Must Go 8

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 6

Know Your Enemy 1

Lifeblood 7

Send Away the Tigers 4

Journal for Plague Lovers 0

Postcards From a Young Man 2

Rewind the Film 1

Futurology 3

Others 3

Manics Top 50s - 6th March 2015

It seems unlikely that we'll get one of the Manics to submit a chart, although we do live in hope.  So how about the next best thing?  A Manics tribute band of course!!  From South Wales, you can find out more information about A Design For Live at http://www.adesignforlive.com/ or their Twitter page below and they're currently gigging so go and see them if you're anywhere near, it's probably the best chance you'll get to hear these songs played up close and personal!!

A DESIGN FOR LIVE @adesignforlive

"I’m Jarrad Owens, and I take to the stage as Richey with ‘A Design for Live’. I’ve been a Manics fan since I was very young, without wanting to sound too clichéd the band are the soundtrack to my life as they were the first band I really took ownership. They’ve had a constant presence on my stereo, walkman and ipod over the years and I’ve listened to them on everything from vinyl to mp3. The top 50 was a difficult task to undertake; the band have an incredibly diverse and strong back catalogue, there are so many b-sides that are single quality and so many amazing obscurities. Naturally there are a few easy choices; favourites that have memories attached and songs that I remember having an incredibly influential effect on me - but to quote Nicky “it’ll probably change in an hours time, but this is where we are now”. So here is my Manics top 50 of the moment!"

A DESIGN FOR LIVE Top 50

1. Condemned to Rock 'N' Roll

2. Motorcycle Emptiness

3. Motown Junk

4. Suicide Alley

5. Faster

6. The Masses Against the Classes

7. A Design for Life

8. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

9. Slash N' Burn

10. Stay Beautiful

11. Roses in the Hospital

12. Revol

13. This Is Yesterday

14. Let Robeson Sing

15. PCP

16. Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky

17. No Surface All Feeling

18. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

19. Australia

20. Ocean Spray

21. My Little Empire

22. Enola/Alone

23. Me And Stephen Hawking

24. Sleepflower

25. Kevin Carter

26. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

27. Judge Y’rself

28. Drug Drug Druggy

29. Underdogs

30. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time

31. Imperial Bodybags

32. Peeled Apples

33. Found That Soul

34. Life Becoming a Landslide

35. She Bathed Herself in a Bath of Bleach

36. Patrick Bateman

37. Starlover

38. Comfort Comes

39. Bored Out of My Mind

40. Democracy Coma

41. Mr Carbohydrate

42. Sculpture of Man

43. We Her Majesty's Prisoners

44. I’m Just A Patsy

45. Valley Boy

46. Donkeys

47. Hanging On

48. Sepia

49. Socialist Serenade

50. Picturesque

By Era

Generation Terrorists 10

Gold Against the Soul 8

The Holy Bible 6

Everything Must Go 9

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 4

Know Your Enemy 3

Lifeblood 0

Send Away the Tigers 4

Journal for Plague Lovers 4

Postcards From a Young Man 0

Rewind the Film 0

Futurology 0

Others 2

Manics Top 50s - 5th March 2015

A solitary chart today which was revealed yesterday and it's from someone who missed out last time but has often expressed an interest in taking part when we go again......and here we are!!!  I must say I was surprised at her namesake song only making number 32, but like many of the entries so far it is spread quite evenly across the albums, with a song from every era making an appearance.

While we only have one chart today we did manage to get a top 1 from a musician in the shape of Martin Carr from the Boo Radleys no less!!!  He wasn't able to compile a full chart but did tell our Manics blog buddy JamGaw that Motorcycle Emptiness would always be his number 1.  Thanks to JamGaw for this and for his continuous support in trying to find new participants.

In our hunt for where the votes are going, a couple of albums are now only one song away from joining the four that already have at least one vote for all of their songs.  With the weekend now upon us we may get another flurry of charts, as with last week, maybe one of these albums will step up to the elite group.....over to you.

Nostalgic Pushead @NostalgicPus

By Era

Generation Terrorists 5

Gold Against the Soul 8

The Holy Bible 4

Everything Must Go 3

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 5

Know Your Enemy 5

Lifeblood 2

Send Away the Tigers 4

Journal for Plague Lovers 4

Postcards From a Young Man 1

Rewind the Film 3

Futurology 4

Others 2

Manics Top 50s - 3rd March 2015

Today's chart is another from the Forever Delayed community, last time round I only actually posted there after the voting was over so it's great to see some fresh entries to hopefully increase the overall numbers.  And (spoiler alert!!) this chart strikes me as having a top 10 that probably won't be a million miles away from a rearranged version of my own!!  It doesn't spoil that much though, all of the charts from last time are still easily viewable through the index, so whether it's the 2013 or 2015 edition you can comb through and find someone that's pretty close to your own choices (or a long way away!).

As with last time I'm stopping myself from checking along the way which songs are out in front, so even though everyone can get some insight into which songs keep turning up over and over I'll only know the final chart when voting closes.

Geranium Terrorists (user of Forever Delayed forum)

1. Motorcycle Emptiness

2. Motown Junk

3. You Love Us

4. Faster

5. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

6. A Design For Life

7. This Is Yesterday

8. Of Walking Abortion

9. Stay Beautiful

10. From Despair To Where

11. Intravenous Agnostic

12. PCP

13. New Art Riot

14. 1985

15. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

16. Spectators of Suicide

17. We Her Majesty’s Prisoners

18. William’s Last Words

19. The Masses Against The Classes

20. Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky

21. Revol

22. Builder Of Routines

23. To Repel Ghosts

24. Dead Martyrs

25. Patrick Bateman

26. Tsunami

27. Dreaming A City (Hughesovka)

28. Roses In The Hospital

29. Found That Soul

30. Bag Lady

31. Condemned To Rock ‘n’ Roll

32. Australia

33. This Sullen Welsh Heart

34. The Convalescent

35. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart

36. Prologue To History

37. Cardiff Afterlife

38. No Surface All Feeling

39. The Everlasting

40. Red Rubber

41. Ready For Drowning

42. The Girl Who Wanted To Be God

43. Crucifix Kiss

44. Sleepflower

45. Misguided Missile

46. The Next Jet To Leave Moscow

47. Donkeys

48. You’re Tender And You’re Tired

49. Dead Yankee Drawl

50. A Song For Departure

By Era

Generation Terrorists 10

Gold Against the Soul 6

The Holy Bible 6

Everything Must Go 5

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 6

Know Your Enemy 4

Lifeblood 4

Send Away the Tigers 0

Journal for Plague Lovers 2

Postcards From a Young Man 1

Rewind the Film 2

Futurology 3

Others 1

Manics Top 50s - 2nd March 2015

Today's charts are actually from yesterday but with the entries coming thick and fast I thought I'd spread them out so people's entries don't get lost.  As I type this I already have one waiting in the wings for tomorrow!!

Our first chart is our first artistic entry, very Manics - handwritten with a backdrop of leopard print!!  Your entry can be submitted in whichever way you choose so hopefully we'll get a few more creative charts along the way!!

Our second entry is another of those that comes across pretty evenly across the eras, only a couple of albums being slightly less favoured but still getting at least one vote.  As the time progresses I'll throw a few random facts out and today's is that even after only 8 charts, four of the albums have at least one vote for every single song so far.  I'll be keeping a close eye on the others to see if we can tick any more off along the way!!!

Molly @4ever_delayed

By Era

Generation Terrorists 9

Gold Against the Soul 8

The Holy Bible 6

Everything Must Go 3

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 5

Know Your Enemy 0

Lifeblood 3

Send Away the Tigers 2

Journal for Plague Lovers 3

Postcards From a Young Man 4

Rewind the Film 2

Futurology 3

Others 2

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Jason Coulter @AnOilyStage (aka MoMoney MoJunk on Forever Delayed)

1. Found That Soul

2. A Design For Life

3. Faster

4. This is Yesterday

5. Roses in the Hospital

6. Yes

7. 1985

8. Postcards From a Young Man

9. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

10. Stay Beautiful

11. Marlon JD

12. PCP

13. Motorcycle Emptiness

14. Life Becoming a Landslide

15. Peeled Apples

16. Doors Closing Slowly

17. No Surface All Feeling

18. Europa Geht Durch Mich

19. Motown Junk

20. Black Square

21. Let Robeson Sing

22. 30 Year War

23. Condemned to Rock n Roll

24. Running out of Fantasy

25. Send Away The Tigers

26. Door to the River

27. Solitude Sometimes Is

28. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart

29. Primitive Painters

30. Little Baby Nothing

31. Rewind the Film

32. Donkeys

33. Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning)

34. Welcome to the Dead Zone

35. Your Love Alone is Not Enough

36. The Convalescent

37. Revol

38. Everything Must Go

39. As Holy As The Soil (That Buries Your Skin)

40. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

41. The Masses Against The Classes

42. Enola/Alone

43. Of Walking Abortion

44. Futurology

45. Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children

46. This Sullen Welsh Heart

47. Masking Tape

48. A Song for Departure

49. Antarctic

50. This is The Day

By Era

Generation Terrorists 5

Gold Against the Soul 4

The Holy Bible 7

Everything Must Go 5

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 1

Know Your Enemy 5

Lifeblood 4

Send Away the Tigers 3

Journal for Plague Lovers 4

Postcards From a Young Man 1

Rewind the Film 5

Futurology 3

Others 3

Manics Top 50s - 1st March 2015

Today, a week after the first announcement, we have the first multi-chart day.  In fact our first contributor here was the first to submit a chart, like most Manics fans the chance to write about your favourite band proved too good a chance to pass up and so here we have in full the chart with intro.

After the initial charts leaned more towards the earlier albums, today we see some later selections pushing their way in, no doubt there will be much jostling for position over the coming weeks as champions for every one of the albums have their say.  Don't see your favourite here?  You know what to do!

Matthew Smith @MatthewLALH

"I've been aware of the Manics for ages, ever since hearing Design For Life on the radio for the first time. Even for a young lad, it's hard not to be affected by that song. When I started to delve a bit deeper, I was fascinated by how much there was to explore. I loved the audacity and the androgyny of You Love Us and Motown Junk, and the utter genius of Motorcycle Emptiness. I loved the way they looked, the way they casually referenced Camus and Kerouac, and how fucking great a guitarist James is. But then I discovered the Holy Bible and it really did change everything. It was exciting, full of angst and defiantly bleak. Perfect for an 18 year old. Faster was always going to be at the top of my list just because of how far my jaw dropped when I heard "I know I believe in nothing but it is my nothing." To put it simply, they're the most consistently brilliant (and, between 1991 and 1994 at least, the coolest) British band of all time. Long live the Manics."

Matthew Smith Top 50

1. Faster

2. Motown Junk

3. Australia

4. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart

5. You Love Us

6. PCP

7. Motorcycle Emptiness

8. A Design For Life

9. 4st 7lb

10. Yes

11. Little Baby Nothing

12. Spectators Of Suicide

13. From Despair To Where

14. Stay Beautiful 

15. Strip It Down

16. Postcards From A Young Man

17. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time

18. Enola/Alone

19. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

20. Bored Out Of My Mind

21. Journal For Plague Lovers

22. She Bathed Herself In A Bath Of Bleach

23. Die In The Summertime

24. La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)

25. Everything Must Go

26. Walk Me To The Bridge

27. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

28. Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky

29. No Surface All Feeling

30. New Art Riot

31. The Masses Against The Classes

32. Mausoleum

33. Life Becoming A Landslide

34. Donkeys

35. Revol

36. Comfort Comes

37. Kevin Carter

38. You Stole The Sun From My Heart

39. This Is Yesterday

40. Marlon JD

41. Archives Of Pain

42. Sculpture Of Man

43. (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love

44. Removables

45. Roses In The Hospital

46. Found That Soul

47. Methadone Pretty

48. Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier

49. 1985

50. NatWest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds

By Era

Generation Terrorists 11

Gold Against the Soul 6

The Holy Bible 11

Everything Must Go 9

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 2

Know Your Enemy 1

Lifeblood 1

Send Away the Tigers 1

Journal for Plague Lovers 4

Postcards From a Young Man 2

Rewind the Film 0

Futurology 1

Others 1

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Gabriel Rutherford @the_epic_llama

"When I heard about the Manics top 50 chart, I knew there was going to be a lot of indecision. I had jumped at the chance to do a top 50 and to write the piece you’re reading now, but it was decidedly tougher than I expected. I thought I had a set top 20 easily. Then, on re-listening, I thought “Hold on. That’s not quite as good as I thought” or “Oh god, that has to be higher than that”.  

As I’m sure we all know, the Manics have a pretty damn extensive back catalogue and one that requires a massive amount of browsing. Opinions are often very split on some albums or songs (we’re looking at you, Lifeblood) and almost completely unified on others.  My personal top 50 will probably incite some debate, mostly due to the inclusion of a Rewind the Film song and the lack of Generation Terrorists songs. While I do love GT, I feel it’s stronger as an album than a bunch of separated songs. Even talking over the chart with my dad raised a debate about the inclusion of Be Natural and Sorrow 16. 

Manics fans do have very strong opinions on their favourite album or song. However, what I found hardest was picking numbers 50-20. Because very, very few Manics songs are bad songs. The hard part was differentiating between the good songs that would make maybe 50-40 and the ones that would make the top 30.  

There are some songs that nearly made the top 50, but missed out by a few places. So getting honourable mentions are: 

Spectators of Suicide, Found That Soul, Imperial Bodybags, Roses in the Hospital, Drug Drug Druggy, Marlon J.D, The Love of Richard Nixon and Donkeys.

So, with that said, this is my top 50 Manic Street Preachers songs ever."

Gabriel Rutherford’s Top 50 Manics songs

1. Motorcycle Emptiness

2. A Design for Life

3. Faster

4. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

5. You Love Us

6. Archives of Pain

7. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

8. From Despair to Where

9. 4st 7lb

10. Motown Junk

11. Mausoleum

12. No Surface All Feeling

13. Revol

14. PCP

15. Sleepflower

16. Yes

17. Tsunami

18. Kevin Carter

19. Of Walking Abortion

20. Stay Beautiful

21. Europa Geht Durch Mich

22. Enola/Alone

23. Die in the Summertime

24. Australia

25. Everything Must Go

26. Autumnsong

27. She is Suffering

28. Repeat

29. Yourself

30. The Intense Humming of Evil

31. Let Robeson Sing

32. Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky

33. Ocean Spray

34. This Sullen Welsh Heart

35. Journal For Plague Lovers

36. Removables

37. Your Love Alone is Not Enough

38. Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier

39. All Is Vanity

40. Strip it Down

41. Be Natural

42. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart

43. Suicide is Painless (Theme from MASH)

44. Further Away

45. Black Dog on my Shoulder

46. Nostalgic Pushead

47. My Little Empire

48. Sorrow 16

49. Slash N' Burn

50. Walk Me to the Bridge

By Era

Generation Terrorists 9

Gold Against the Soul 5

The Holy Bible 12

Everything Must Go 10

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 5

Know Your Enemy 2

Lifeblood 0

Send Away the Tigers 2

Journal for Plague Lovers 2

Postcards From a Young Man 0

Rewind the Film 1

Futurology 2

Others 0

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Gracie (user of Forever Delayed forum)

1. Slash N' Burn

2. Sorrow 16

3. PCP

4. Motown Junk

5. Prologue to History

6. Stay Beautiful

7. You Love Us

8. Faster

9. Motorcycle Emptiness 

10. Been A Son

11. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

12. Peeled Apples

13. Donkeys

14. Journal For Plague Lovers

15. Futurology 

16. Australia 

17. Epicentre 

18. Roses in the Hospital

19. Of Walking Abortion 

20. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart

21. Patrick Bateman

22. Facing Page: Top Left

23. Another Invented Disease 

24. Revol

25. From Despair To Where

26. Mausoleum 

27. Let Robeson Sing

28. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time

29. A Design For Life

30. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

31. Sleepflower

32. The Masses Against The Classes

33. This Joke Sport Severed 

34. Tsunami

35. A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun

36. Divine Youth

37. Miss Europa Disco Dancer

38. No Surface All Feeling 

39. All Is Vanity

40. Antisocialmanifesto 

41. William’s Last Words

42. Further Away

43. The Girl Who Wanted to be God

44. Some Kind of Nothingness 

45. Pretension/Repulsion 

46. Sex, Power, Love and Money

47. Doors Closing Slowly 

48. The Next Jet To Leave Moscow

49. Dead Martyrs 

50. There by the Grace of God

By Era

Generation Terrorists 7

Gold Against the Soul 6

The Holy Bible 6

Everything Must Go 5

This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours 2

Know Your Enemy 4

Lifeblood 0

Send Away the Tigers 1

Journal for Plague Lovers 9

Postcards From a Young Man 2

Rewind the Film 0

Futurology 5

Others 3