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