Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers (also informally referred to as the Manics ) are a Welsh rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. Since 1995, the band has been a three-piece of Nicky Wire (bass) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (vocals/guitar) and Sean Moore (drums). They form a key part of the 1990s Welsh Cool Cymru cultural movement. The band's early releases were in a punk vein, eventually broadening to a wider alternative rock sound. Their early combination of androgynous glam imagery and lyrics about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" gained them a loyal following.

As a four-piece with Richey Edwards (guitar), the band's first charting single was "Motown Junk" in 1991, followed by their first two albums, Generation Terrorists in 1992 and Gold Against the Soul in 1993. 1994's The Holy Bible was the last album with Edwards, who disappeared in February 1995 and was legally presumed deceased in 2008. After a six-month hiatus, and with the blessing of Edwards' family, the remaining members chose to continue, achieving commercial success with the first post-Edwards album, 1996's Everything Must Go, which reached No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart. The follow-up album, 1998's This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, reached No. 1.

The Manics have headlined festivals including Glastonbury, T in the Park, V Festival and Reading, winning eleven NME Awards, eight Q Awards and four BRIT Awards. They were nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1996 and 1999, and have had one nomination for the MTV Europe Music Awards. The band have sold more than ten million albums worldwide. All of their studio albums have made the UK Top 20, with This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours and The Ultra Vivid Lament (2021) both reaching No. 1. From 1991 to 2010, they had 34 consecutive Top 40 singles in the UK, including Top 10 hits with "Theme from M.A.S.H (Suicide Is Painless)" (1992), "A Design for Life", "Everything Must Go", "Kevin Carter", "Australia" (all 1996), their first No. 1 single "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" (1998), "You Stole the Sun from My Heart" (1999), their second No. 1 single "The Masses Against the Classes" (2000), "So Why So Sad", "Found That Soul" (both 2001), "There by the Grace of God" (2002), "The Love of Richard Nixon" (2004), "Empty Souls" (2005), "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" and "Autumnsong" (both 2007).

Released in 2025, Critical Thinking is Manic Street Preachers' latest album. On Eirewave you'll hear 10 of their songs, from Motorcycle Emptiness (1992) all the way to Complicated Illusions (2021), and we played A Design for Life today. The next chance to see them live is on 21 October 2026 at 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin.