So here they are, the final six charts of the 2021 edition of the Manics Top 50s that arrived on deadline day. First up is one of our artistic entries, lovingly cut and pasted into a suitable format and giving Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll another number 1 in the process. Bag Lady also grabbed its highest placing at number 3, while Generation Terrorists and The Holy Bible shared the spoils in the By Era chart with nine each.
Mr Wobbly From Piccadilly @0xytocinn
By Era
Generation Terrorists 9
Gold Against The Soul 7
The Holy Bible 9
Everything Must Go 5
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 3
Know Your Enemy 6
Lifeblood 3
Send Away The Tigers 3
Journal For Plague Lovers 3
Postcards From A Young Man 0
Rewind The Film 0
Futurology 1
Resistance Is Futile 0
The Ultra Vivid Lament 1
Others 0
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It's another suitably Manics-esque presentation next and fittingly it's Stay Beautiful in the number 1 position, perhaps surprisingly for the first time. It's a chart that's heavily weighted towards the first few albums, with Generation Terrorists (and before) having 14 entries. The Drowners is saved at the last minute from the no-vote list at number 39.
Karen Hayward @DiscoDollie75
1. Stay Beautiful
2. Little Baby Nothing
3. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart
4. Faster
5. PCP
6. Donkeys
7. You Love Us
8. Motorcycle Emptiness
9. Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll
10. From Despair To Where
11. Motown Junk
12. Theme From MASH (Suicide Is Painless)
13. Patrick Bateman
14. Us Against You
15. Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky
16. No Surface All Feeling
17. Mr Carbohydrate
18. Still Snowing In Sapporo
19. Complicated Illusions
20. Sorrow 16
21. Comfort Comes
22. Sculpture Of Man
23. Spectators Of Suicide
24. Slash N' Burn
25. Sleepflower
26. Repeat
27. Can't Take My Eyes Off You
28. Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
29. RP McMurphy
30. Roses In The Hospital
31. Me And Stephen Hawking
32. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
33. This Is Yesterday
34. The Masses Against The Classes
35. Umbrella
36. Rendition
37. Afterending
38. Happy Bored Alone
39. The Drowners
40. A Design For Life
41. Let Robeson Sing
42. Miss Europa Disco Dancer
43. She Is Suffering
44. Europa Geht Durch Mich
45. Strip It Down
46. It's So Easy
47. Too Cold Here
48. I'm Just A Patsy
49. I Live To Fall Asleep
50. Solitude Sometimes Is
By Era
Generation Terrorists 14
Gold Against The Soul 7
The Holy Bible 8
Everything Must Go 5
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 1
Know Your Enemy 2
Lifeblood 2
Send Away The Tigers 2
Journal For Plague Lovers 2
Postcards From A Young Man 0
Rewind The Film 0
Futurology 1
Resistance Is Futile 0
The Ultra Vivid Lament 4
Others 2
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Stay Beautiful waits all this time for a number 1 and then another comes along immediately after the first! With it being my own number 3, of course I approve of such behaviour. Generation Terrorists leads the By Era chart with eight picks, ahead of This Is My Truth with six. And another song is rescued from no-vote oblivion, Rock 'N' Roll Genius sneaking in at number 50 to gain one single point. In Jenni's own words:
Compiling a chart like this is equal parts pure fun, very exciting and a bit intimidating as well. The majority of these choices are the long shadows of the past few years, the zeitgeist of a strange time when I've listened to less music than ever before. Thus I gather these songs must've truly meant something. From complete surprises to never-changing staples from my 25 years of being a fan.
On this list all songs bar one were chosen by pure intuition – I wrote each eligible title on paper, cut them out and sorted each into categories of NO, POSSIBLY and YES. In the end I had 49 YES songs and had to take a very deep dive into POSSIBLY to decide which was the lucky one to make it into the final 50. That, I can tell you, was the most painful part.
From this done and dusted final list you won't find any losers nor winners, but a glittery, bass-heavy journey from glorious hate & failure to triumphant climactic mess of eyeliner & spray-paint.
JENNI VIDGREN @jenvidg
1. Stay Beautiful
2. La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)
3. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
4. Golden Platitudes
5. Little Baby Nothing
6. This Is Yesterday
7. Roses In The Hospital
8. A Song For Departure
9. Complicated Illusions
10. You're Tender And You're Tired
11. Automatik Teknicolour
12. Dylan & Caitlin
13. Of Walking Abortion
14. Motorcycle Emptiness
15. Further Away
16. My Little Empire
17. Motown Junk
18. Builder Of Routines
19. The Secret He Had Missed
20. Nat West - Barclays - Midlands - Lloyds
21. The Left Behind
22. Life Becoming A Landslide
23. Diapause
24. Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll
25. Black Dog On My Shoulder
26. A Design For Life
27. Doors Closing Slowly
28. There By The Grace Of God
29. Wattsville Blues
30. Everything Must Go
31. Born To End
32. Ballad Of The Bangkok Novotel
33. I'm Leaving You For Solitude
34. You Love Us
35. International Blue
36. Mausoleum
37. Mr Carbohydrate
38. Australia
39. ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart
40. 30-Year War
41. Door To The River
42. The View From Stow Hill
43. Still Snowing In Sapporo
44. Us Against You
45. This Sullen Welsh Heart
46. Hold Me Like A Heaven
47. Marlon JD
48. Socialist Serenade
49. Valley Boy
50. Rock 'N' Roll Genius
By Era
Generation Terrorists 8
Gold Against The Soul 4
The Holy Bible 4
Everything Must Go 5
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 6
Know Your Enemy 2
Lifeblood 1
Send Away The Tigers 0
Journal For Plague Lovers 2
Postcards From A Young Man 2
Rewind The Film 3
Futurology 1
Resistance Is Futile 4
The Ultra Vivid Lament 4
Others 4
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Motorcycle Emptiness returns to the top spot in the next chart, in a top 10 where only A Design For Life breaks the stranglehold of the first three albums. The Holy Bible wins the day in the By Era chart, taking eleven of the entries.
Thomas Haywood @tomsky11
By Era
Generation Terrorists 5
Gold Against The Soul 5
The Holy Bible 11
Everything Must Go 5
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 3
Know Your Enemy 4
Lifeblood 3
Send Away The Tigers 1
Journal For Plague Lovers 5
Postcards From A Young Man 0
Rewind The Film 2
Futurology 1
Resistance Is Futile 0
The Ultra Vivid Lament 1
Others 4
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The final contributor from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire came in just before the deadline and A Design For Life led the way, gaining another 50 points at the last moment. With a top 10 full of songs with an eye on the final 50, would these points have guaranteed them all a place though? This Is My Truth just pipped Generation Terrorists in the By Era chart with eight picks to seven.
Peter Swan @peterswan_
1. A Design For Life
2. Motorcycle Emptiness
3. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
4. Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
5. Little Baby Nothing
6. Australia
7. You Stole The Sun From My Heart
8. The Everlasting
9. Prologue To History
10. International Blue
11. Distant Colours
12. The Girl Who Wanted To Be God
13. You Love Us
14. Faster
15. Some Kind Of Nothingness
16. The Masses Against The Classes
17. Black Holes For The Young
18. (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love
19. This Sullen Welsh Heart
20. Everything Must Go
21. 1985
22. Nobody Loved You
23. Rewind The Film
24. Let Robeson Sing
25. Life Becoming A Landslide
26. Tsunami
27. Yes
28. No Surface All Feeling
29. From Despair To Where
30. Ocean Spray
31. Theme From MASH (Suicide Is Painless)
32. La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)
33. Dreaming A City (Hughesovka)
34. Hold Me Like A Heaven
35. Still Snowing In Sapporo
36. This Is Yesterday
37. Further Away
38. Spectators Of Suicide
39. Autumnsong
40. Empty Souls
41. Stay Beautiful
42. Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll
43. Revol
44. Roses In The Hospital
45. Ready For Drowning
46. Show Me The Wonder
47. Afterending
48. Postcards From A Young Man
49. Anthem For A Lost Cause
50. So Why So Sad
By Era
Generation Terrorists 7
Gold Against The Soul 4
The Holy Bible 4
Everything Must Go 6
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 8
Know Your Enemy 3
Lifeblood 2
Send Away The Tigers 2
Journal For Plague Lovers 0
Postcards From A Young Man 3
Rewind The Film 4
Futurology 1
Resistance Is Futile 3
The Ultra Vivid Lament 2
Others 1
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The final chart of this edition of the Manics Top 50s goes to my impromptu train companions out of Llandudno last week, with help from her daughter. Motown Junk was in top spot, and not for the first time, which I can say with confidence without checking the spreadsheet given I also picked it.
There's an intermittent Wire vocal theme to the upper reaches of the chart and I expect it will come as no surprise to learn that 4th place here was Wattsville Blues' highest placing. Antisocialmanifesto at number 7 was successfully removed from the no-vote list at the very last minute.
LiarsHoney @liars_honey
1. Motown Junk
2. Yes
3. Afterending
4. Wattsville Blues
5. William's Last Words
6. Futurology
7. Antisocialmanifesto
8. The Future Has Been Here 4 Ever
9. Ballad Of The Bangkok Novotel
10. Miss Europa Disco Dancer
11. Solitude Sometimes Is
12. Archives Of Pain
13. All Is Vanity
14. The Masses Against The Classes
15. 4st 7lb
16. Little Baby Nothing
17. Motorcycle Emptiness
18. Judge Yr'self
19. Some Kind Of Nothingness
20. Prologue To History
21. Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier
22. We Her Majesty's Prisoners
23. Die In The Summertime
24. Faster
25. Spectators Of Suicide
26. Anthem For A Lost Cause
27. Tsunami
28. Journal For Plague Lovers
29. You're Tender And You're Tired
30. New Art Riot
31. Blank Diary Entry
32. Stay Beautiful
33. Door To The River
34. Donkeys
35. Life Becoming A Landslide
36. Baby Elian
37. Send Away The Tigers
38. Postcards From A Young Man
39. Democracy Coma
40. Golden Platitudes
41. Crucifix Kiss
42. Bag Lady
43. The Secret He Had Missed
44. Autumnsong
45. Repeat
46. No Surface All Feeling
47. Walk Me To The Bridge
48. Mr Carbohydrate
49. Slash N' Burn
50. The Ghost Of Christmas
By Era
Generation Terrorists 11
Gold Against The Soul 2
The Holy Bible 6
Everything Must Go 3
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours 3
Know Your Enemy 4
Lifeblood 1
Send Away The Tigers 2
Journal For Plague Lovers 4
Postcards From A Young Man 4
Rewind The Film 1
Futurology 3
Resistance Is Futile 0
The Ultra Vivid Lament 3
Others 3
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