I am one lucky nut.  Got a guy that cooks for me and refills my wine without hesitation. Takes me to places that I have only dreamt of seeing some day and makes me laugh. Then, he dares to get us tickets to a show by “some band”.  

Of course, as a music lover (not an expert), I ask who they are.  He says the name and it rings a very distant bell, but not quite sure why it is so familiar.  It is quite scary how easily we can forget what was once the essence of ones existence as a fourteen or fifteen year-old: Manic Street Preachers!

Otherwise known as “The Manics” by their fans.  Now, those of you born after a certain year in the 80’s and/or not having lived in Britain, might not know who these guys are.  To me, they were absolutely pure and brilliant genius when I was fifteen or so years old.  Yes, this can quite age me but as I’ve grown older and hopefully wiser, I have come to realize that we never grow old, just better like the wine that keeps on reappearing in my emptyish glass.  

So, going back to the times of yesteryear where my only worry was not seeing my platonic love across the hallway as we waited for the bell to ring that would start our school day, I have here a very narrow snippet of the main names and songs that shaped those very lovely and awkward years for me.

The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get by 

Vegas by 

“The Great Escape” by

“A Different Class” by

The Day We Caught The Train and The Circle by

Of course, I also was into the classic favorite American bands from the time (i.e. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Weezer, Soundgarden, etc…) but the ones above have never ceased to seduce my world and tastes.  

Going back to The Manics, I must confess that the two songs that I most adored and still do are Everything Must Go and A Design For Life, which, from what I have heard from fans in Glasgow, will be played during the show along with other classics from the band and their new CD Journal For Plague Lovers in its entirety! The album’s cover has amassed some degree of controversy due to the uninformed interpretation by some of its critics.

According to a BBC article by G. Rogers and L. O’Doherty “Singer James Dean Bradfield called the situation “utterly bizarre”“

I suppose it is up to the audience to take it as they will.  I, for one, think it’s beautiful stuff. 

Now, I will most likely submerge myself in The Manics’ music for the remaining week so that I can sing along with them while basking in the bloody brilliance of their music with my wonderful guy!

A lucky girl I am indeed.