10 Manic Street Preachers Hidden Gem Songs
9. 1985
The opening track from 2004's Lifeblood is reminiscent of The Smashing Pumpkins' 1995 hit, 1979 and sets the band's most disappointing album off to a decent start, as singer James Dean Bradfield and lyricist Nicky Wire find themselves in nostalgia mode (something that became more frequent in their later career). The record's '80s synth pop stylings don't get this good again, which probably explains why it's a forgotten gem.
The song is almost unfussy and so matter-of-fact in its delivery that the usual melodrama of the best Manics tracks is entirely absent. At least until the guitar solo kicks in.
The Pumpkins comparison is particularly appropriate, as this is a song about memory and reminiscence. Wire and Bradfield are remembering their youth with the melancholy one's late-30s can bring about as youth begins to fade and middle-age beckons. Wire has perfected this subject in his later years and this appears to be the start of his preoccupation with the idea of the ageing rock star.