Everything (A Book about Manic Street Preachers) Book

Aside from the non-eponymous title (the band's name is relegated between parentheses), the striking thing about Everything is the cover, which strangely lacks a photograph of its subject, almost unheard of in the field of popular music biography. Instead displayed are four shirts, which although they personify the Manic Street Preachers' early punk philosophy and ferocious energy, the image is perhaps ironic for a group that has been anything but faceless or nameless throughout its history. Simon Price's debut biography is a well-researched, detailed chronicle of the Manics' smalltown Welsh roots and their rise to fame and easily excels the glossy biography-by-photograph books previously published on the group. Price, a music journalist and self-confessed nail-painter, follows the Manics' early career at the turn of the decade through to the release of their fifth album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours at the end of the 90s. Vividly portraying their struggle for success on their own terms, he takes us through the downbeat period of The Holy Bible (an album featuring such cheery themes as prostitution, self-mutilation and Holocaust death camps) and goes some way to clarifying the mystery surrounding the sudden disappearance of band member Richey Edwards in 1995. He then describes the Manics' difficult decision to continue life as a three-piece and highlights their magnificent 1996 Everything Must Go revival which saw them take their rightful and of course contradictory place among the rock establishment, typified by the acceptance of two Brit Awards in 1997. Written with a perfect blend of fan enthusiasm and journalistic objectivity, Price eloquently explains the Manics' appeal but is also quick to point out the band's faults and hypocrisies such as deriding "corporate rock" while at times wholeheartedly embracing it (albeit with Nicky Wire's audacious disclaimer "we reserve the right to contradict ourselves"). The biography also contains 10 analytical essays, a comprehensive discography, a list of fan Web sites and some classic photos (including the infamous shot of Richey's mutilated arm). The Manic Street Preachers may not be the spark that ignites the revolution but compared to the mediocre debris that fills much of the pop world, they blaze with dignity. Everything is a very real account of their life and achievements. --Robert BrookesRead More