Manics Top 50 Songs Part II

Songs 25 - 1

This is all laid out on paper, I've shuffled the order and crossed things out. I'm trying to invent new numbers that mean I can squeeze songs up the running order.  The only thing I'm certain of is my number one.

25

Facing Page: Top Left

This shows how hard this is. This was number four for a while.

24

If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

All those horrid little Britpop kids bought this and then we told them it was about the Spanish Civil War. Cue blank stares and sighs.  The video's a bit weird though.

23

Suicide is Painless (Theme From M.A.S.H)

22

Yes

At last, more from The Holy Bible.

21

Born A Girl

20

This Joke Sport Severed

This is getting serious now.

19

The Love Of Richard Nixon

 Yay! More Lifeblood....no YOU shut up. 

18

Everything Must Go

A song of cleansing and renewal, acknowledging the past yet trying to lighten the load.  We've all got baggage, if only we could all deal with it like this.

17

You Stole The Sun from My Heart

This is like the Twin Peaks of songs, happy go lucky on the surface before a chorus of darkness and turmoil within touching distance.

16

This Is The Day

A cover version of a song I'd never heard.  Standard Manics behaviour.  There is so much optimism in this song.

15

Postcards From A Young Man

Is that...is that Tim Roth? Yes, yes it is.  The second of three booming tracks to open an album.

14

Solitude Sometime Is

A song that's carried me through some hard times.

13

Masses Against The Classes

Noam Chomsky welcomes in the new millennium and the song is deleted on release day. Still got to number one. It was number one between Westlife and Britney Spears. Says it all really.

12

Motown Junk

Deliberately provocative and still sounds as good today as it did then.

11

La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)

From the overproduced beast that was Gold Against The Soul this huge song is holding up the top ten. 

10

P.C.P.

A perfect example of Richey's love of words and playing with them and our own connotations.

9

Golden Platitudes

 A recent masterpiece and probably the most gentle sounding song in my top ten.

8

Roses In The Hospital

OK, the 'Minic Street Preachers' overlay made me laugh.  Highly personal and with glorious (if a bit too obvious) nods to The Clash, I love this song.

7

This Is Yesterday

If only I'd put this alongside Everything Must Go for juxtaposition.

6

Motorcycle Emptiness

This is really low down, sorry. So many see this as the quintessential Manics song but it's not. It's a song that evolved and was clipped and polished to the glorious version included on Generation Terrorists

5

Stay Beautiful

The odd Beetlejuice video and the sheer bravado of the band that scared the producers into cutting out the swearing make this near perfect.  Radiohead swore on Creep but I think a radio edit and an album version of this would be diminishing.

4

No Surface All Feeling

This needs to be listened to as the sun sets.

3

Judge Yr'self

This was for Judge Dredd?  I'm not sure Stallone would've got it.  Quite how this has been so neglected I don't know.

2

Faster

The distillation of Richey in crystalline perfection. It still makes me smile at just how many complaints the BBC received after this.

1

Design For Life

A song that works for everyone. Ignore the idiots who drunkenly shout along to the chorus, another casualty of Britpop, instead cherish this truly anthemic song.

So, there it is. Not too much tinkering but still plenty had to be cut out.

My handwriting isn't all that bad

Manics Top 50 Songs Part I

The countdown part I (50 - 26)

So, encouraged by Twitter and New Chart Riot I sit with a blank piece of paper, some CDs and my fruit based MP3 player. I'm determined not to look at other lists that might sway my judgement. I have a red pen for corrections and we're off.

I get distracted easily

50

Automatik Tecknicolour

I've been listening to a lot of Kraftwerk and Neu! lately so the title of this hidden away song grabbed me.  Possibly the most obscure track I've chosen.

49

RP McMurphy

Hang on, it's not all B sides is it?

48

Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky

Wedged between two huge tracks on Everything Must Go is this delicate piece. It includes a harp. What's not to love?

47

Umbrella (cover)

Yeah, a cover version! Kicks Rihanna in the face.

46

All We Make Is Entertainment

45

Let Robeson Sing

Know Your Enemy isn't my favourite, it's OK, My Guernica comes later.

44

All Is Vanity

43

Damn Dog

A late change of mind saw this come in and boot out a Lifeblood track.

42

Underdogs

41

From Despair To Where

Probably should be higher but this is hard work, this list.

40

Further Away

More from Everything Must Go? Yes, and there's plenty more where this came from.

39

Mausoleum

More than ten songs in before we get to The Holy Bible and the horror and violence being thrust into your face. Excellent.

38

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (cover)

I nearly went with Last Christmas but this is the perfect example of how the Manics can be playful as opposed to political, inaccessible and difficult.

37

Drug Drug Druggy

36

Little Baby Nothing

35

Australia

Kidnapped and made to sell holidays and beer this song still remains brilliant.

34

Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

Hmmm, have I dispensed with the duets already?

33

Revol

Bonkers. Nonsensical. Ridiculous. Marvellous.

32

My Guernica

Another that should really be higher up the list.

31

Jackie Collins Existential Question Time

You see this on a track listing and it raises eyebrows, then you go and question the morality of suburbia.

30

Methadone Pretty

The first line says it all.

29

Love's Sweet Exile

Is this a little Generation Terrorists cul de sac? 

28

You Love Us

27

Kevin Carter

I remember at the O2 gig there were a couple of blokes in the queue for the gents who didn't know who Kevin Carter was.  The Manics always encouraged us to read, to learn, to expand horizons. I felt sorry for those two blokes.

26

Sorrow 16

Maybe the earliest song included in my countdown.