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March 28, 2024, 10:26:42 PM

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Does anyone actually think "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" is a good album titl

Started by Johnny Textface, March 13, 2021, 01:06:42 AM

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Oz Oz Alice

Put me down as a Lifeblood booster as well: it's just a beautiful sounding record. Reminds me of the Blue Nile of all people in parts.

checkoutgirl

Any sign of icehaven? I seem to remember her doing a post about being at a Manic's gig as a teenager and sitting with her back to the support acts, in protest against them for having the audacity to not be the Manic Street Preachers. They did seem to generate that kind of fanaticism at times. I remember a lad from round our way singing stuff off Everything Must Go in the pub one night. Don't remember him singing anything in the pub before or since.

I always liked that tune about Elvis on Blackpool beach.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Jockice on March 15, 2021, 08:26:40 AM
Iron Maiden's Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter. Another one timed to come out when nobody but their devoted fans would buy singles.
I was thinking Tubeway Army getting to the top with "Are 'Friends' Electric?" is a strange one - can't put it down to fanbase (no previous hits) but a moody synth-tune without a proper chorus sang by a weirdo android wannabe got to #1.

And of course the Sex Pistols should had a chart topper too - but the man wouldn't allow it (allegedly).

markburgle

Quote from: Jockice on March 14, 2021, 11:13:58 AM
I like the verses. I think it's a rare case of them taking the piss out of themselves. I remember reading a piece about it in Socialist Worker calling it 'a call to arms against capitalism' or suchlike. It's not anything of the sort and I could be wrong but I think that's the point.

I thought the verses were just defensive putdowns against their detractors? "Success is an ugly word / Especially in your tiny world" - or is that aimed at themselves?

I always thought they were quite ready with the self-deprecation, but maybe not on the records themselves. Next Jet to Leave Moscow is another good example though - "So you played in Cuba did you like it brother? / I bet you felt proud you silly little fucker"

Jockice

Quote from: markburgle on March 15, 2021, 10:41:51 AM
I thought the verses were just defensive putdowns against their detractors? "Success is an ugly word / Especially in your tiny world" - or is that aimed at themselves?

I always thought they were quite ready with the self-deprecation, but maybe not on the records themselves. Next Jet to Leave Moscow is another good example though - "So you played in Cuba did you like it brother? / I bet you felt proud you silly little fucker"

I'm convinced that the SWP reviewer had never actually heard the record. Not that any other reviewer has ever done anything like that. Ever,

Shaky

Quote from: markburgle on March 15, 2021, 10:41:51 AM
I thought the verses were just defensive putdowns against their detractors? "Success is an ugly word / Especially in your tiny world" - or is that aimed at themselves?

Yeah, seems to me the lyrics were sincerely aimed at those who accused them of selling out and changing their sound too much. I seem to recall that might have been around the time Wire seriously thought about leaving the band, too.

See also Masses b-side "Close My Eyes," which is about Nicky being knackered from dealing with fans and touring.

Pauline Walnuts

You know, I having checked, I can think of a lot better album tities.

willbo

I went on holiday with a friend and his family when "this is my truth" had just come out, and he played it constantly. I found it a bit boring, to be honest, I wasn't really in a headspace to be listening to gentle stuff life that. I wanted us to play noisy rock like Idlewild, Feeder, Ash, Placebo etc. The memory of hearing those songs over and over has always stayed with me though. There was just something interesting about seeing him sniffle while mumbling along to "born a girl" and the rest.

idunnosomename

Quote from: Jockice on March 15, 2021, 08:26:40 AM
Iron Maiden's Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter. Another one timed to come out when nobody but their devoted fans would buy singles.
I think Rod Smallwood came up with that wheeze, and not sure if anyone other than the manics replicated it (though maybe some tried and failed?). a lot of post Christmas No. 1s are pretty established or highly promoted new artists who would've got a number one anyway. and I dont really buy the theory "no one buys singles the week after Christmas" (but that is the stated reason why they put it out then) because you know, Christmas money and record vouchers?

about the only other weird post-xmas one I can find in the 90s is Chocolate Salty Balls, but that actually came out way before Christmas so I think it must've been a bit of a fluke.

also Daughter was actually No. 1 for two weeks, and Masses was only available for like one week and was a non-album track so they were really gunning for that first 2000 no. 1.

willbo

I always thought "bring your daughter" was a weird one as it's not really that representative of their sound. It was a (maiden singer) Bruce Dickinson solo track for a "Freddy" film before it ended up as a Maiden song, and it does sound more like his solo band. Like more hard rock than Maiden metal.

what about that Rage Against the Machine thing one year?

idunnosomename

that was actually an effort to stop Cowell's X-Factor song getting the Christmas No. 1, as it basically took it over for the 00s.

Jockice

Quote from: idunnosomename on March 17, 2021, 05:35:02 PM
I think Rod Smallwood came up with that wheeze.

I distinctly remember I was in the bath when I heard the chart rundown that evening. I thought it was hilarious. The single topping the charts that is, not my shrivelled little now. I'm not a Maiden, or metal in general, fan (I liked Sanctuary though. Because it had the same riff as Jilted John*) but fair play to them.

(Both Dickinson and Graham Fellows went to the secondary school just off the top of my road. As did Paul Heaton. And did I ever mention that my girlfriend's parents used to be friends with Dickinson's folks when they both lived in one of Sheffield's posher suburbs? Well, I have now.)

danwho9

Does anyone actually think 'disco dancing with the rapists' is a great piece of songwriting?

Quote from: idunnosomename on March 17, 2021, 05:35:02 PM
I think Rod Smallwood came up with that wheeze, and not sure if anyone other than the manics replicated it (though maybe some tried and failed?). a lot of post Christmas No. 1s are pretty established or highly promoted new artists who would've got a number one anyway. and I dont really buy the theory "no one buys singles the week after Christmas" (but that is the stated reason why they put it out then) because you know, Christmas money and record vouchers?

about the only other weird post-xmas one I can find in the 90s is Chocolate Salty Balls, but that actually came out way before Christmas so I think it must've been a bit of a fluke.

also Daughter was actually No. 1 for two weeks, and Masses was only available for like one week and was a non-album track so they were really gunning for that first 2000 no. 1.

My recollection from the 90s/very early 00s is that January was always good for odd number ones and surprise hits.

Just eyeballing a list

1991 follows up Maiden with Enigma and Queen
1995 - Rednex
1996 - Bablylon Zoo
1997 - Tori Amos, White Town
1999 mentioned but you also have the Offspring at the end of the month. The number 2 that week was terrorvision and Gay Dad were at number 10.
2001 - Limp Bizkit

willbo

that Offspring/terrorvision time was what first got me into music in a big way. I really miss those days. I was listening to a nice mix of noisy indie rock (Idlewild/Garbage/Placebo type stuff), American punk, metal and industrial, like Rob Zombie, Korn, Deftones type stuff, UK rock stuff like Therapy, Manics, Wildhearts were still going, hip hop was just getting big with people I knew thanks to Eminem etc. I feel like it was a perfect pinpoint time for rock that was never the same since.

idunnosomename

should really do a weird no 1s thread.

I just think Maiden getting no. 3 with Can I Play With Madness prompted Rod to gun for a no. 1 with the next album, despite it being piss-weak. well it's ok for what it is. no other album like it by any band, for what it's worth

amazed how CD singles kept selling into the 00s. what the fuck did you do with the things. useless.

willbo

I think I was surprised to read a few years back that Bjork's Oh So Quiet was NOT number one that Christmas? I remember it being on tv every 5 minutes

It was in the Top 10 for over a month, similar with Everything bt the Girl's missing - that was in the Top 10 from October to the end of January. Wonderwall's that era as well, in the Top 10 for weeks.

Going down the rabbit hole and seen that Whole Lotta Love by Goldbug is at #3 the week Babylon Zoo are at #1.

That was one I definitely wanted to know what the whole Goldbug album was going to sound like :/


rue the polywhirl

Steering this back on topic, I think 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' is a great album title and I like that it looks like the thread title runs out of character space trying to fit it in.

rue the polywhirl

If Manics release another record this year, do you think they will appeal to Ricky Gervais' twitter to try and nudge it to number 1? Considering their last two records stalled at number 2.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I used to own This is My Truth... and quite liked it. Then I went through a bit of a punk phase and (with the help of a few backlash articles in music mags) decided that it was a load of soft rock sell out dreck, so my best friend and I wrote punky slogans over my copy and then smashed it up. Over two decades later, I naturally look back at my teenage self with embarrassment, although I've never felt compelled to re-evaluate the album.

The Manics are also notable within my own musical history for being the first CD I ever owned (Everything Must Go) and the first single (The Masses Against the Classes). I still like Masses, but I did just buy it because of the one week only non-album track gimmickry. As it happened, I never got any of their subsequent albums anyway. Generation Terrorists is the only one I still listen to these days - which makes the whole sell out thing seem even more pretentious, since that album isn't exactly white hot polemic itself, for the most part.

McFlymo

I loved EMG, I was 16 when it came out. Previously I'd heard bits of their earlier stuff at house parties and was intrigued by how fanatical people were about them. I didn't understand any of the politics about them, just that they had attitude and good rock tunes. I just love JDB's voice and most of EMG is excellent.

When "If you tolerate this..." came out and started being played on TV and radio constantly, I got right fucked off with it. I hated that song. Hated the dreariness of that and The Everlasting. Hated the videos. Just boring, mopey bollocks. So I've never sat through the entirety of TIMTTMY album and I've only caught bits and pieces of them since.

I'm prepared to give them another chance!

Spiteface

If you think the singles from the album are dreary, chances are you won't like the rest of the album.

For an album that was as big as it was at the time (sold more than EMG), it's certainly no party album.

Tokyo van Ramming


willbo

Kerrang gave TIMYTMY 5 Ks at the time, put it in their albums of the year, and said "of all the rock bands out there right now, none could make a record as beautiful as this". About a decade later, they did a retrospective where they retconned it down to 3 Ks and decided it was sounding a little more bland now.

non capisco

At the time it was the album that put me right off Manic Street Preachers and I never really jumped back on the train afterwards. My memory is that they'd nailed the yearning, anthemic stuff on 'Everything Must Go' and 'TIMTTMY' sounded like an attempt to carry on with that sense of grace under emotional fire that its predecessor captured, but this time the defiance was replaced by weariness. The first Manics album that sounded like they had nothing they wanted to say, coming off the back of two albums where the need to communicate varying forms of acute emotional distress were startling in their urgency. I'd loved 'The Holy Bible' and 'EMG' so much I found it hard to admit to myself at first how bored and boring they sounded ('Tsunami' aside, still love that one). Also, that cover when they're standing about looking beatific (James) or bored (Nicky Wire and Paul Merton) in the middle of a desert was some 'Joshua Tree' bullshit.

All that's with the caveat that I haven't listened to that album since it came out and I haven't ever really listened to any of their stuff since. Occasionally a song of theirs will come up on shuffle and I'll be taken aback by what an amazing guitarist and vocalist JDB is so maybe I should do some late period Manics investigating. The last 'new' tune of theirs I heard was 'Jackie Collins Existential Question Time' which flippin slams.

PaulTMA

Like Blur's 13 it came out in the wake of OK Computer being the "best album ever" and I think that contributed to the dreariness

Spiteface

Quote from: non capisco on March 25, 2021, 12:07:15 PM
At the time it was the album that put me right off Manic Street Preachers and I never really jumped back on the train afterwards. My memory is that they'd nailed the yearning, anthemic stuff on 'Everything Must Go' and 'TIMTTMY' sounded like an attempt to carry on with that sense of grace under emotional fire that its predecessor captured, but this time the defiance was replaced by weariness. The first Manics album that sounded like they had nothing they wanted to say, coming off the back of two albums where the need to communicate varying forms of acute emotional distress were startling in their urgency. I'd loved 'The Holy Bible' and 'EMG' so much I found it hard to admit to myself at first how bored and boring they sounded ('Tsunami' aside, still love that one). Also, that cover when they're standing about looking beatific (James) or bored (Nicky Wire and Paul Merton) in the middle of a desert was some 'Joshua Tree' bullshit.

All that's with the caveat that I haven't listened to that album since it came out and I haven't ever really listened to any of their stuff since. Occasionally a song of theirs will come up on shuffle and I'll be taken aback by what an amazing guitarist and vocalist JDB is so maybe I should do some late period Manics investigating.

Futurology is the best of the late-period Manics stuff. Really deserved a proper tour, that one.

Avoid Postcards From a Young Man.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Tokyo van Ramming on March 24, 2021, 11:49:01 PM
Lighthouse Family years, look at the cover
Quote from: non capisco on March 25, 2021, 12:07:15 PM
Also, that cover when they're standing about looking beatific (James) or bored (Nicky Wire and Paul Merton) in the middle of a desert was some 'Joshua Tree' bullshit.