Everything Must Go

Much better than expected. A bit rougher in some songs but ultimately fun.

It’s a fine pretty generic 90s album. I didn’t hear greatness here. The second half was catchier for sure. Just a regular 3 spot here.

The disappearance of Richey Edwards in 1994 casts a very long shadow over this album. I get the feeling that the band wanted to turn this up to 11 and throw everything into it, but the result sounds a bit bombastic and, well, preachy at times. It really is very loud and worthy, but the quieter track Small Black Flowers that Grow in the Sky (written by Edwards) shows what the album might have been if he was still present.

It's good britpop I guess? OK to listen too, but not really my cup of tea. For a band of the genre the music is not too pompous and stays pleasant but I won't go back to it.

Nothing offensive. Nothing interesting. Might as well be Muzak.

Best wel leuk

58% (3)

Not sure why I enjoy this band as much as I do. Good stuff.

Sometimes I forgot to be listening. Which isn’t a great sign. This was ok. Just nothing to grab onto and hold my attention.

Nothing really stood out, but it wasn't a bad listen. Somewhere between a 3 and a 4.

I enjoyed the first Manic Street Preachers album I got doing this, and I liked this one, too. It's good, it'll go in my album rotation, and I'm glad to have found it.

Not bad! Clean, enjoyable enough, but nothing crazy. There were smalls bits of creativity that I enjoyed.

..

I don’t really know why there has to be more than 1 Manic Street Preachers album (The Holy Bible) on this list but this was OK. I liked the use of strings. In general I don’t really like the Manic Street Preachers much though.

Favorite song: Elvis Impersonator

Not into this at all. This guys voice sucks, the songs are weak. Nope.

Totally fine mid-90's rock. I didn't understand why The Holy Bible was included in this list and I don't understand this inclusion either. But it's fine!

I should listen to this again. But I don't think I will. Brit pop rarely works for me as it is. And this album doesn't add much to the conversation on first glance. If I was really into Brit Pop, this would be a cool deep cut and may be underrated. But, no, this is just another brick in the wall of brit pop. And that's not a very pretty wall to begin with.

sorry manic street preachers i wasn't familiar with your game!! i really wish i could do half star ratings cause this is definitely a 3.5 for me. not particularly groundbreaking but very listenable. faves: kevin carter, interiors

It's not a bad album at all! I do think it went on too long, but that could've been solved by having something more interesting going on with the instrumentation + melodies. Some songs like Australia really tested my nerves. But I do enjoy a good amount of the lyrics, especially the first track- but it really did start feeling like a full hour of commercial rock with frequently interesting lyrics, and I can't fuck with that, sorry :( A high three stars!

I can hear Oasis influence. Good stuff.

Had never heard of this group. They got some quality late 90s alternative sounds and they can definitely jam at times. This was enjoyable.

Never heard of these guys. Really enjoyed

Interesting. Good.

Had their album 'The Holy Bible' before and enjoyed it a lot, seemed like a good addition to the list. This one I don't really see the reason for the inclusion. It's a solid album of pop/indie-rock, the singles especially are all great. I also was a big fan of the closing track, the guitars were a bit thicker and it felt closer to a shoegaze song than anything else here. Overall it's just fine though, don't think it needs to be here but i wasn't mad about hearing it.

Thanks to Sporcle music quizzes, this will always be a prime focus of mine, and luckily for me there’s not much of a reason to be upset about that!

Australia is a great song. This album altogether was not too bad of a listen!

Feels like music written explicitly for the band to be playing during the prom scene of 90s coming-of-age movie. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Props for the intro to The Girl Who Wanted to Be God, for giving Willem de Kooning a shoutout, and the guitar in No Surface All Feeling.

Good in a vacuum and has good variety, but suffers when compared to some of the other Britpop on this list. Better than “A Northern Soul”, not as good as “Definitely Maybe”. But enjoyable nonetheless.

Thoughts before listening: These guys are a pretty big deal to a lot of music fans, but I don't really know anything about them. 90s British alt rock I think but not from the Britpop or Madchester scenes. I am not sure what to expect. Review: Okay so reading up on thesa guys, they started as a rebellion against the popular British alt rock bands of the time with a sound that leaned closer to punk rock and metal. However, after their guitarist/songwriter mysteriously disappeared, they regrouped and released this album which showed a move toward more accessible alt rock. I kind of remember that story from when I was a kid, but these guys were never huge in the US. Anyway, this is okay. I don't recognize any of this despite being VERY into alternative music in 1996, and that includes the hit "A Design for Life". I feel like a lot of mid-90s British bands ended up on MTV and college radio, but even these guys' big song didn't cross my path. The album is full of catchy rock music that sounds like a lot of other 90s bands, but there's definitely nothing groundbreaking here. I like the horns in "Kevin Carter" which is probably my 2nd favorite song. 3-stars

Correcto.

Average 90's alt BS. Of its time, nothing stands out and forgettable.

This felt like such background music I don't know if I can really feel like I heard any of it. May have missed something but not sure why this is on the list.

The mix is bad for the first 5 tracks. Track 6 sounds better. The lead vocals are worthless. The final track is slightly better than most. This album doesn't need to be on this list. Sounded a bit better on a car stereo than headphones.

More forgettable Brit pop. How does this band have 2 records on this list?

Ok album, only listened once. 3/5 for now because I didn’t have time to give it a second listen

Better than I expected it to be. Not great to me, but it's better than the other one on this list.

I have not heard of this band before. It wasn’t my typical style of music but I did enjoy listening. My least favourite track was Elvis Impersonator and my favorite was Enola/Alone. I will listen again!

Mid alt-rock. Not even distinguishable as a brit-pop imo

Pretty average album. Nothing really interesting on here. 2/5 Won’t listen again

I'm just a sucker for britpop, what can i say

"Everything Must Go" by Manic Street Preachers marks a significant moment in the band's career, representing a departure from their earlier, more aggressive sound towards a more melodic and introspective approach. Released in 1996, following the disappearance of band member Richey Edwards, the album is deeply reflective and carries a sense of loss and renewal. Tracks like "A Design for Life," "Everything Must Go," and "Kevin Carter" are poignant and heartfelt, with lyrics that touch on themes of identity, politics, and personal struggles. The album's production is polished, showcasing the band's musical maturity and growth. Overall, "Everything Must Go" is a powerful and emotionally resonant album that solidified Manic Street Preachers' place in the alternative rock landscape.

I just had an MSP album not too long ago, which I gave 1 star. I was not looking forward to this. It didn’t grate the way other album did, but I really didn’t enjoy it. Blegh.

Honestly sounded like background music. If i was in a boutique clothing store in london or in a pub in london and it was on i would be like awh! cool! but i didnt save any of the songs and they sounded pretty old corny and dated

Overall felt like another typical British rock album. Not bad, but nothing I’d necessarily seek out. Australia was the song that stood out.

The top-rated review of this album complains about the abundance of Britpop on this list—"shitty Britpop," as they put it—and, I mean... I'unno. I'm OK with it. More than OK with it, really. Turns out I'm real down for Britpop, even outside of the big two of blur and Oasis. I'd put this below blur, though. Just considering the albums my group has gotten, anyway. But I'd still put it above The Verve, so...

Just a energetic hell of a ride. Some of the best britpop of the 90s.

That’s a 3.5 that I’m really begrudgingly rounding up to a 4. I think the first half of this album fires on all cylinders; great variance in the production, some fun soundscapes, good lyrics, great vocals, and it’s all really fun stuff through Track 7. Tracks 8, 9, 10, and 11 all blend together in a way that really, really slows down the pace of the album for me. They’re all guitar-heavy songs that sound great to listen to, but they all sound the same to me, and the lyrics just weren’t as good to justify having such a similar sound. You can literally tell they lost steam. Track 12 was pretty nice, though. You just can’t have that much of an album feel like filler though; if this had been the first 7 tracks, it would probably be a really nice 5. It just kinda sticks around too long for its own good, and drags itself down in the process. I don’t want to give this a 4, but I also just can’t in good faith give this a 3 knowing the quality of those first 7 tracks, so, uh… yeah, I guess it’s a 4, but just know I’m stuck at a hard 3.5.

3+1

I think this was the first like proper "album" I owned, on cassette, in 1996. I subsequently got into the Manics in a big way, then found them a bit depressing and trite. My declining interest was nailed when I had a very drunk and absolutely hilarious conversation with Elbow's Guy Garvey about them at Glastonbury 2013. I won't repeat what he said, but it was not complementary to the Manics. So yeah, a bit of a strange one to revisit. I can totally see why it gave the band some well-deserved time in the spotlight, replacing the macabre, almost lo-fi production of "The Holy Bible" with a confident Britpop sheen. But this is also its weakest element; the extra layer of strings always feels unnecessary and waters down the songs, especially the title track. "Girl Who Wanted To Be God" is the strongest track here, it's perfectly placed in the album's ebbs and flows.

classic

Good

Nice album, kind of a more powerful Britpop Cool vocalist, sounds like he’d fit right in with a symphonic epic prog metal type of band

The most average garage band I’ve never heard. Is this band a friend of the curators of this 1001 list?

Pretty good album classic alt rock feel

Offensively uninspired and boring. The musical equivalent of iceberg lettuce, no dressing.

Popular Brit bands that I've never heard of as a Yank intrigue me. This is fully good music. Classic 90's rock, could have been Oasis or Coldplay if gotten any US radio time.

I've never been able to get into the Manic Street Preachers, and I was hoping sitting down and listening to this record would finally be the moment they click, but it just didn't happen. I can't help but find them a bit dull and bland. Nothing on thie record really jumped out to me. It's enjoyable, but not something I feel like coming back to.

Save me from mediocre britpop hell

Rock solid as far as alternative rock goes and vastly better than the majority of britpop. A nice album. Not one that I'm likely to revisit, but I did enjoy it.

Definite 5 before I even hear a note - possibly the best and most consistent album by one of my all time favourite bands. After listening - six stars! I absolutely love this album, there's barely a note out of place, and it comes as close as anything to having no songs I would ever consider skipping. Flawless. could only have been better if richey had been around to see the success they had with (partly) his lyrics

the singer's voice takes some getting used to. interesting backstory about one of them disappearing before this album was made. Enola/Alone is a good song.

I'll stick with Radiohead, thanks.

This is like a crappy version of a 90s movie soundtrack. It's nothing. Actually nothing.

All the songs sounded the same to me!!

Good album, bored me slightly

Seemed pretty bland to me. Not sure what promotes it to level of being on the list

Not my jam at all and I like Brit Pop

this is one of the better britpop albums, in my opinion, but that may be because i have recently heard a number of britpop albums that sounded very much the same. manic street preachers made this album worth it! i heard more of a modern sound, perhaps because i'm reminded of arcade fire? 1996 isn't that long ago, but it doesn't quite sound like it's from that year. one aspect that has the MSP stand out is their lyrics. something about them feels different and clever in comparison to other britpop, which seems so boring and straight forward in comparison.

Considering the Britpop mediocrity on this project, I was expecting worse. This album suffers from what a lot of Britpop suffers from -- most songs are just guitar forward and ultimately blend together. That said, this album in general was pleasantly different sounding than a lot of the Britpop on this project. All in all, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, either. But I did like it.

When this came out I was shocked by how commercial it sounded after The Holy Bible. Now it sounds more like the Manics than what came before.

sold out

Honestly, really quite boring. Nothing wrong with it as such, and I should like this sort of thing. But it's bland as fuck.

This was bland for me. Felt like 45 minutes of the same song.

One of the greatest albums from one of the greatest bands ever!

I'm struggling to see what makes this album notable as it seems pretty bland to me. But I guess that's a lot of British pop culture. For me, it's just okay.

Excelente

fav song on the album is probably "interiors (song for willem de kooning)" elvis impersonator: blackpool pier design for life kevin carter everything must go removables australia interiors (song for willem de kooning) further away

Für mich schöner Alternative Rock und eine Hörempfehlung. Vielleicht bin ich da ein wenig Mainstream, aber mir gefällt es.

Sad songs and a sad story for the band! Guitarist just disappearing. The album reminded me a lot of like early 00s music

Good album but not sure I would listen to it again

Great pop rock album!

3.5/5 overall enjoyed it. But kinda sad vibes

Like the sound, a little pedestrian. Title cut and A Design for Life are the best songs. There aren’t any songs that you would want to skip or can’t listen to, so that’s a plus. Couldn’t figure out Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky… (2.9*s)

W̶a̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶W̶e̶e̶z̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶a̶l̶l̶e̶l̶ ̶d̶i̶m̶e̶n̶s̶i̶o̶n̶.̶ Warm and poppy, jokes aside. "Everything Must Go" is pretentious but not overly bearing. Great string arrangements too. I especially adore "A Design For Life" and the title track. I'll probably return to the Maniac Street Preachers in the future. Edit (07•30•2025): Thanks to 1001 Albums, I am now a Manics fan. Waiting patiently for "The Holy Bible" to be generated! I knew 1001 Albums had something in it! >:)

Good God. I know that in the U.K. they eat mushy green peas and beans on toast for every meal and watch "comedians" being droll and witty while pretending to play a game show for entertainment, but do they really not have any concept of "bland"? This music is bland. It is as bland as the album cover and the pictures of the people who made this shitty album. This is the aural equivalent of mushy green peas.

Hidden Star Attack- Tolles Brit-pop Album mit tollen Klängen der 90er. Es mach Spaß es zu hören und ist angenehme Mischung aus Petshop Boy, the Cure und REM. Kaum Schwachstellen aber dafür einige Highlights. “Design for Life”, “Australia” und mein Favorit “Small Black Flowers That Grow in The Sky” 😊

Bro finally. This is my genre. I would have ate this shit up in high school. I can’t believe I had never heard of this band before, so I did a bunch of research. Fascinating. I wanted to listen to some music from when Richey Edwards was still in the band, and let me tell you, it’s way better than this one. Luckily, it’s on the list. 😉

A Design for Life certainly caught my attention on the first listen. Not being famaliar with this band I wasn't really sure what to expect but the songs certainly grew on me on the second listen. 3 for now but could probably be a 4 with a few more listens.

Looking back, I scored "The Holy Bible", the other Manics album on the list, as a 3. Not sure whether that was overly critical? Although if I'm quibbling, I'd have picked "Gold Against the Soul" for the with-Richey album, and "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" for the without-Richey one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This is solid enough, and I have a dash of nostalgia for the singles and was never over exposed to them, so yeah, good, enjoyed the revisit! Fave track - "A Design For Life" I reckon - soaring strings work well there!

Ok, but not for me. 2 stars

Distinctly 90's alt rock. Was a pretty solid album overall, would listen again.

Everything must go? Yuup especially this old shitty album.

Never heard of them. Not bad.

Ég var mjög svag fyrir næstu plötu á eftir þessari, en hafði aldrei hlustað á þessa í gegn fyrr. Fyrsta hlustun þrjár stjörnur. Næsta hlustun rúmar þrjár. Þið sjáið hvert þetta stefnir. Þetta er tíundi tugurinn sem ég sakna.

A pretty good rock album. Inoffensive, enjoyable, and easy to move on from. Highlights: Enola / Alone, Everything Must Go, No Surface All Feeling

What’s with all the Welsh bands? Is this a Welsh list? This shit is terrible.

B- Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier 3 A Design For Life 4 Kevin Carter 4 Enola/Alone 3 Everything Must Go 4 Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky 3 The Girl Who Wanted To Be God 3 Removables 3 Australia 3 Interiors (Song For Willem De Kooning) 3 Further Away 3 No Surface All Feeling 3 This was a pleasant surprise.

Okay. Not really my thing.

Hard to get involved with this album. No thanks.

Maybe nostalgia talking but this is One of my all time favourites. This was my first MSP album and I've played it to death. Hearing it again reminds me just how great it was. Perfect mix of melody, atmosphere and aggression across the whole album. I could never click with the holy bible and I feel like they went a bit soft after TIMTTMY, so this for me is peak manics and a SUPERB album

This is what happens when you judge an album by the band's name. I thought for a long time this was christian rock. Boy was I wrong.

This was not a great album, no lie.

New to the band in general. Much better than expected. I'll need to revisit this one.

Favourite tracks: a design for life; everything must go

na

Pure stereotype. Everything I disliked about 90s rock--bland, whiney, screechy. Kinda can't believe I made it to the end.

Damn, I really liked this album. Never listened to them before.

This was a pretty good album. Didn’t leave any impression on me, but I did save The Girl who wanted to be god.

Our second from this group, and it's exactly as non-descript as the first. A couple decent songs, the music isn't even bad, it's just so bland and, at album's length, boring. Are these really albums we must hear before we die, or are they albums we might not want to sit through lest we die? Favorite tracks: No Surface All Feeling, Small Black Flowers. Album art: Not a bad way to include photos of the bandmates, and actually it's a similar triptych style to the other album we got, though that featured three large, foreboding bodies. I like that these pics are on a little shelf, that's cool. Color is nice, text box isn't bad either. 2.5/5

Verges on the bland but considering the circumstances it's impressive and has some interesting ideas and good songs. I would revisit even if the soaring choruses tend to wear on.

kutalbum

A perfect way to triumph after tragedy

Favourite songs: Australia, Enola/Alone, Kevin Carter, No Surface All Feeling, Interiors (Song For Willem de Kooning), The Girl Who Wanted to Be God, Removables, Further Away Least favourite songs: Small Black Flowers that Grow in the Sky 4/5

что-то в этом есть, надо продолжить

Nothing special

very good album, brings back memories of being 19 and chatting with a MSP obsessive, but slightly disturbed young lady from the isle of wight on MSN who used to send me completely unsolicited pictures of her in her knickers, was all fun and games until she sent me a picture of ENOLA scrawled on one arm and ALONE on the other bare disguising the cut marks on her arms from self harm. five stars

Fine. Nothing more, nothing less

Unbelievably boring. Why do I know this bands name?

Really good but kinda forgettable. Loved it but it didn’t grab me.

Enjoyed it. Listened to the extended anniversary version. Never heard of them before.

didnt finish

J’ai rarement entendu un groupe se donner autant de mal pour un résultat aussi inoffensif. Je ne sais pas si c’est la voix du chanteur, pas très agréable, toujours à la limite de la justesse mais qui tente de sonner rugueux et énervé, si ce sont les chansons assez mal écrites je trouve dans leur structure avec des montées qui tombent à plat, des phrases bateaux répétées comme des slogans, l’empilement de guitares et de synthés sans grande inspiration… Ce groupe est une énigme : je ne l’ai jamais croisé que dans ce genre de liste. Jamais personne ne s’en est réclamé, jamais vu en concert nulle part, jamais entendu à la radio. Est-on seulement sûrs qu’il existe réellement? Bref, je les aurais probablement oublié demain, comme je l’ai déjà d’ailleurs oublié auparavant parce que ce n’est pas la première fois que je tente d’écouter ce groupe.

This felt very caught up in the 90's and I didn't hate it but I also didn't like it. Some good horns and melodicals in the backgrounds but not really vibing with the singer's voice. I don't need it, farewell.

Pretty standard 90s alternative with some nice orchestral additions. I liked it but it doesn't standout for me in this genre like GooGoo Dolls or Better Than Ezra does. No real impact and doesn't make me want to explore more of their albums.

Couple of decent songs in the middle but nothing special. OK background music but nothing memorable by the end of it. Never heard of Manic Street Preachers but I'm typically a fan of 90's britpop stuff. 2.5 stars

Middling alt rock

Everything Must Go is an enjoyable listen, I'm one of those people who knows the Manics' big songs but not their albums or bigger body of work, so this was an enlightening listen, and they tick the boxes I want from most music in that it's loud and sung with feeling and passion and some fucking oomph. Might sound like a low bar to clear but many fail to; not JDB, that's for sure. I already knew ADFL, the title track, and Australia, and pretty much everything else on there was good except for Small Black Flowers, so this gets a good 4 from me.

This is class. I think I prefer the title track to A Design For Life, but they and Australia are all classics that I knew already. There's a real depth of quality throughout the album, don't think there's a really bad song on there (although it fades a bit between Everything Must Go and Australia). Then the closer is great too. 4/5, lovely stuff.

2.5

I feel like I should have liked this one, but didn’t.

This is both good and bad, but the music was comfortable enough that I tuned it out. Didn’t pay attention but made for good thinking music.

Unremarkable

Solid album. Glad this band is on the list.

Bien, un poco cansinos.

It’s somewhere between a 3 and a 4. A very weird Elvis themed miserable Blackpool start going into an absolute banger really threw me for a loop. The rest of the album sat somewhere in the middle, although I liked Australia a lot. Would listen again.

Pretty bland 90s indie rock

Need to listen again

2,5

S'alright I suppose. Design For Life was the standout, though I knew it already. I don't think I'll be going back for a repeat listen.

Honestly, got more impressed by this album the further it got on. The guitars, basswork and keyboards especially is pretty great! I do find the singing a bit annoying, good at times, but grating in the other songs. Standout tracks: Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier, A Design For Life, Enola / Alone, Everything Must Go, The Girl Who Wanted To Be God, Australia, Further Away, No Surface All Feeling, 8 out of 10

i fell asleep when listening to this

Interesting. Must revisit.

first listen i like it

Not my thing!

I can tell this is a good album but for some reason I’m just not a fan of the sound of the singers voice. It’s not that it’s bad, but more that it’s not for me. I know there’s albums I find to be 5/5 albums that other people would say the same thing for. Unfortunately as good as I could tell this album is, I just couldn’t enjoy it.

This was rather unpleasant

3/5

I've never heard of the Manic Street Preachers, but there was something rather familiar sounding about it anyway. It was really easy to get into. I enjoyed it.

Not familiar withe the band, but enjoyed playing this.

I don't mind Brit-rock/Brit-pop, not at all, quite the opposite and this seems like a one fine example to me. Solid 3.5/5 but after a bit shitty run I had I'm willing to push this to 4.

Highlights - a design for life is so good, Enola alone, the orchestration of everything must go is great. Further away. Honestly there isn’t a song on this album I don’t like, it was all amazing, Didn’t like - nothing not to like, loved it all. Overall - I hadn’t heard much msp apart from the singles, I really like this album and absolutely will listen again. I like his voice. Sad I didn’t know about this album as a teenager because I was super into stereophonics and the influence is clear.

Kann man sich anhören.

Good album of Britpop. Definitely would listen to more of The Manics if I could. 4.4/5 Fav: “Enola/Alone” Least Fav: “Kevin Carter”

Good Rock album. Nothing outstanding though

I like this record, but it's far from essential. Like a lot of CD era albums, it's longer than it should have been. It sounds very 1990s. More American than most of their Brit pop colleagues. Reminds me of the Posies. Or maybe the Posies sound more British than other American bands. Favorite song: A Design For Life.

Not bad. Happy and interesting.

ok and?

Kinda liked it, kinda didn't. At times, it felt like I should be enjoying it more, but I just wasn't.

Yep

Long time favourite

LOVED revisiting this!!

REALLY GOOD???

Solid British alt-rock. I doubt I’m going to come back to listen to it again, but if somebody else put it on I wouldn’t be upset about it.

My first time ever listening to Manic Street Preachers. Definitely one of those bands prominent in my music blind spot. First impression is that it's nothing groundbreaking, but it is quite good at what it does. A handful of standout tunes, and the rest are perfectly fine. No dislikes in the bunch. Preach on, brothers!

My second favorite MSP album after The Holy Bible. The backstory is that their guitarist had disappeared during the lead-up to this album, so the rest of the band was dealing with the loss behind his likely death. The album has a lot of pretty melodies and thoughtful lyrics. I never get tired of listening to this album.

Not bad, I have to say I never knew that Manic was a Welsh band. It was nice to hear out of the blue, “A Design for Life” a song that I really do enjoy but had no idea it was a MSP song.

Typical of its ilk. Pleasant enough, just nothing special. Not my thing. 2

This really was one of my favourite albums of its time so have listened to this a lot in my life. So the 5 rating was a pretty impulsive response to seeing it appear on this list today. With the gift of time to be able to listen again properly, it was great to revisit it and see whether I had my nostalgic head on when throwing out a 5. But it still sounds great! As well as the big anthems such as Design for Life, it has some really enjoyable quirky and non conventional little tracks like Kevin Carter and some lovely little bop along pop songs too. Much more commercially accessible than their previous more punky offerings and some wonderful melancholy obviously shaped by the tragedy they had to go through. Great song writing and musical compositions. Everything delivered with emotion. Still a 5 rated album all day long.

Apparently, MSP sought out Mike Hedges, who has been responsible for some of the finest music ever made to produce this album. Surely nothing can go wrong? Luckily for all involved, nothing does. At the time of release, they had never really been a band I got overly excited about. After what seems an eternity, revisiting this on a decent set up in my music room, it sounds bloody good for what it is - a good comercial indie rock blaster. Even the album tracks are quality. Maybe they benefitted by the shock departure of Ritchie Edwards, who either did jump of a bridge or became an ice cream seller in Aberystwyth - who knows? This is getting difficult again in grading, it gets a high 3

3 - It feels a tad odd starting with this one rather than Holy Bible, but this is just how things shook out. That second song really is the best one, but everything else is fine. I don't have a ton to say about it. I hope I like Holy Bible more.

So overrated

It was good. Not really into them, but I can appreciate the album. Times like this, I wish you could give half stars because I would bump this one up.

Some different rock genres going on in this album. I preferred the more alternative tracks, but overall the album never really grabbed my attention. Sounds like a standard mid-90's rock/alternative album.

I absolutely piggin' hate the Manics. Hugely overrated, massively egotistical nationalist wankers.

I like Brit-Pop and I had never heard an album by the Manic Street Preachers. Initially, I'm not sure what is so important about this album, as it sounds like the typical Brit-Pop that I tend to enjoy. So a pleasant listen and I will check out more of their albums.

Liked it a lot

Really good

Didnt enjoy that much

Liked this album when it came out the first one without richey

Surprised I hadn’t heard of this band. Pretty solid alt rock, added a few songs to playlists, however middle of album felt unmemorable at times. 3.8/5.

I like the band name. I think I'm still traumatized by the Oasis album a few days ago. There's so much stuff on this list from the UK late 70s through mid 90s where it's just not very good. This isn't as bad as some of it, but it's not exactly making any real progress, either. It's not like these guys are reinventing popular music, and this album isn't essential by a long stretch.

Everything Must Go is my style of music. 90s guitar rock. However it’s very unspectacular 90s guitar rock. 6.2/10

Bien, un poco cansinos.

It was far from the quality I found in the "Holy Bible" that I got some months ago on the list, but still an honest indie rock album that was enjoyable.

I enjoyed this. I hadn’t heard it. It was really solid

This was a fun listen. Good, solid rock music the whole way through.

Ill be ok never hearing any of these again.

I have mixed feelings towards Manic Street Preachers. I find some of their songs utterly brilliant, yet most of their albums are an effort at grinding water. This album is no exception.

I haven't listened to the Manics for a while....shame on me! I loved this, thank you for giving me the nudge to listen again.

I lived in England for a year, at the tail end of the nineties. I remember pubs, vinegar crisps, errands at Sainsburys, buses that were never on time, Channel 4, pupils wearing uniforms, tea breaks, lasses wearing VERY short skirts when it was damn chilly out there, pub quizz nights, pints, and even more pints... Good memories overall. And I remember how every young people interested in music was a fan of the Manic Street Preachers. Except that the album everyone was listening to was *This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours*, the one AFTER *Everything Must Go*. And even decades later it's still the one that Brits seem to return to the most, according to Spotify. So retrospectively, that earlier album feels very much like a first step towards the band's real pop hits, and not like the hits themselves. It is a transitory record after Richard Hawley's disappearance, and the beginning of MSP mark II. As such it feels very much like a debut LP, even if it's not. Not that *Everythin Must Go* is a bad album per se. It might even be better than the overlong "This Is My Truth Tell me Yours*, actually. A more energetic rock sound, lots of earworms, a distinctive taste for interesting melodies and chord progressions, clean, simple and yet dynamic production values that aged pretty well, and a nice studio performance overall. Just like many Manic Street Preachers albums, a couple of songs sound a little samey on side 2. But apart from that, it's quite great. Erring on the side of caution, I won't include *Everything Must Go* *right away* in my own selection, just in case it takes the place of an album that's even greater. But I hope there's room for it in the end. Because well, *everything* can't go in, I guess. Number of albums left to review: 369 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 285 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 150 (including this one) Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 203

Ei aivan lähtenyt. Jotain koukkuja olisin kaivannut lisää. 2,5 olis hyvä, mutta kolmoseen ei taivu. 2/5

Eipä ole tää bändi auennut koskaan. On tässä pari ihan kivaa biisiä, mutta levyllistä ei oikein kanna. Aika bulkkia verrattuna Oasis/Pulp/Suede -gangiin.

Joo eipä tämäkään ilmeinen britti-indien helmi sen isommin osunut, ei vaan mitenkään järin kiinnostavaa tätä nykyä. 2/5

Quite nice but nothing special

A far better album than I remember it. Very different to The Holy Bible which I loved but still a great listen in its own right.

Bops: A Design for Life Everything Must Go

Fairly bland music. Almost sounds like someone took the Foo Fighters and made them sound a lot less interesting. I can hear some early hints of the golden 2000’s pop-punk of my teenage years. Two stars.

After the first two songs I thought this one was going to be rough but the album really picked up from there. It had a modern sounds and I really enjoyed it.

Still not a huge britpop fan. Some tracks were nice others just pop

Rather bland.

This album has some great tracks - Design for Life being a 90's classic. However, the backend of it is so tedious and uninspired. I find the strong tracks are really strong, but the weak tracks feel like poor Hole, Nirvana, Grunge inspired tracks that don't pass as sincere, or conflict with the actual nature of the band - a relatively middle of the road pop act. I thought I might like this album more these days, having bought - and been dissappointed by it - back in the day. I guess it is still not form me.

I did enjoy this, but it was a bit mid

Favorite tracks: Kevin Carter, Removables, Further Away Ultimately, maybe not my thing

This was a new one for me - didn't know anything about MSP - which makes this more fun haha I really enjoyed it. A post-grunge alt-pop rock banger if you ask me.

An well made album for sure, but not really extraordinary in my opinion. I struggle to see why it is on this list as it doesn't feel like it provides anything outside of generic sounding pop noise. It doesn't really do much for me and feels like the music you'd hear in the background of an episode of One Tree Hill or Dawson's Creek. It sounds quite utterly replaceable with the other 200 pop artists that were prevalent during this period. With this being said, it fits this 90's pop rock vibe. But I do not feel like it does anything special. I also don't like this genre, almost at all... so there's that. Fave Songs: A Design For Life Enola/Alone Australia

Une très belle intervention des Manic Street Preachers venus décastoriser le générateur, qui en avait grandement besoin.

Je ne me souviens plus de cet album et la j'ai lancé un Nuzlocke de Pokemon Emeraude docn autant vous dire que j'ai d'autres chats à fouetter.

I just could not get into this album. I couldn't even listen to the entire thing. Maybe I'll try another day. 1/5

It's no holy Bible but it's pretty cool

Very 90s

Not for me.

This is a prototypical rock album of its era with two outstanding characteristics. The first is the quality and depth of lyricism of each track. Each song has clear theming or has a clear message and I would say that they are relatively well expanded on. One example of this is "A Design For Life" which is about the injustices faced by blue collar workers and the disparity in power between workers and employers. They also were able to make very emotionally moving tracks alongside these more message focused song. One track that I would say exemplifies this was "Further Away" which is a beautifully written track with two potential meetings: the first being a reflection on the relationships built between the band members throughout their time together which was almost certainly inspired by the pain of losing their rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards who disappeared a little over a year before the albums release and the second meaning being a very sweet love song about how hard being away from a partner makes your life. I think pretty much every song features similarly quality writing. The second aspect that stood out about this album was the guitarwork. On most of the songs on the album the guitar was the outstanding aspect that drew me into the songs. I don't think they were particularly groundbreaking but there was something about how the riffs were played that really made them stand out. The percussions and extra instrumentation was also good don't get me wrong but there was something about the guitar that really pulled me in. That being said there is not really a bad song on this album but I would say this album does at times feel kinda similar to other rock bands of the era outside of those two characteristics and I could see many bands having done the parts of this that I did not identify as above average (this criticism is more for the first half of the album the latter half is more distinguishable). Despite this it was a really good album from start to finish. My favorite tracks were "Further Away", "No Surface All Feeling", "Kevin Carter", "Enola/Alone", "Everything Must Go" and "Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky". 9/10

Wel grappig album met redelijk wat muziek die ik gewoon zou kunnen luisteren. 3.5

The title track alone is probably 5⭐️ There are so many other tracks on this album that are equally strong (All Surface No Feeling being the other song that I feel has really stood the test of time)

just... not a fan

It’s a classic! An absolutely brilliant album with no duff tunes on it at all! Truly excellent! Were they better after Richey? Open to discussion and a vehement one at that but I believe so.

squeezed cat vocals forced me to abandon within a few seconds of the first track.

I didn't feel strongly about this album either way, felt like background noise to me, it did not do anything special. Not memorable at all for me. My favorite track was "The Girl Who Wanted to Be God".

Good album, not for me.

Dripping with unwanted 90s alternative nostalgia.

Just average

It's not my type of music

Nowhere near the level of the Holy Bible or Generation Terrorists. It was the beginning of the post-Richie poppier sound but still with a few very Richie-esque tracks like Kevin Carter. RIP

I enjoyed this as much as any other britpop

forgettable but ok

I don't know what I'm missing lately. Not a big fan of this. Sounds like relatively basic pop/rock 2.2

Love the manics and one of their best albums.

Very mixed feelings about this album. The Manics went pop, and it was enjoyable for a time but I don't think they released anything of interest to me after this apart from The Masses Against the Classes. A Design for Life was everywhere. I mean it was everywhere. The radio, TV, the nightclubs, shops. I've probably heard that more times than Common People. The title track not far behind. Ah yes, when every indie song had to have strings! After the masterpiece of the Holy Bible this ultimately was a disappointing turn, but you can hardly blame them for retreating from the harsh honesty and bleakness of their best works after the shock of Richey disappearing. His songs are probably my favourites here, honourable mentions to Wire's Elvis Impersonator, No Surface, and Pop Manics' shining star in my eyes, Australia. Ebola Alone is alright but I find the lyrics a bit cringe now. Crack for teenage me though of course, and that's the target audience. Sludgy britpop production doesn't help in places either, but most of this is still good, the only true duffer is Further Away.

I'm not keen - too manic, too preachy.

I hate the singer's voice. Show stopper, next album.

started pretty boring, but the second half had some good songs

Straight forward rock and roll. Pretty boring.

wowzers consider me surprised this was awesome sauce!

Who the fuck is Kevin Carter? All the songs sound the same to me. Not really a fan.

Very boring inoffensive rock. How'd these guys get a record deal? Guitarist apparently disappeared. Probably for the better.

I don't remember anything from this album

Ahh 1996. The year of the Macarena, everybodies favorite dance craze. Damn what a year... Oh yeah, also TWA Flight 800 had a fuel tank explode killing everyone on board, they cloned a sheep, and Richard Jewell took the blame for Eric Rudolph tryin to blow up the summer Olympics in Atlanta. Just minor stuff though, coulda happened any year ya know? Notable tracks include: Kevin Carter Enola / Alone Small Black Flowers that Grow in the Sky Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning) No Surface All Feeling Never got the hype for "A Design for Life" but whatever. Pretty good album.

Waaaay Overproduced relative to Holy Bible

This list has wayyy too much 90s britpop. Once you listen to about 10 britpop records, they all begin to mesh together in terms of sound. One thing I did like about this record was the vocals.

Grand

At first this was doing nothing for me but it grew on me over a couple of listens. Classic 90s britpop but the lyrics are dark, funny at times, and interesting. In reading more about the album and learning it was a memorial of sorts, I could hear that it has a serious edge. I could definitely listen to this again, although I don't know that it would become a favorite. Definitely one that I am glad I heard. 4/5

Besides maybe when I got dummy, I don’t think I’ve ever been as drawn in by a vocalist as I have by this guy on this list. He struck the perfect balance between yelling and emotion and range and it’s great. The first half of this album is excellent, especially Enola/alone, and I enjoyed the second half too. Overall, non British UK music delivers another a banger of an album that I hadn’t ever heard of before.

Low 3. Average at best.

Sound like Jellyfish to me, another creative band that blended multiple styles and had a spoken poetry singing style. I certainly enjoy the style here, but the music doesn’t click. The voice is kind of all over the place, the guitar riffs are pretty good. I think the 90s got a little carried away with GRAND sound and covered up the weaker parts of the song with a string orchestra.

An enjoyable slice of the '90s Britpop scene. At the time I preferred Stereophonics, but in recent years I've come around to the fact that the Manics are the better band. This album is solid throughout and has a few standout tracks. Nothing to take it to a 5 star rating, but definitely worth a 4.

Ca sonnait un peu average rock au depart mais la qualité de leurs chansons se sont progressivement améliorées progressivement. Mérite une deuxième écoute

This has all the makings for something I’d like but it did not blend.

pretty great, love that voice, lyrics are great. australia is the hi-light for me. not every song stands out but ya. reliable record.

MSP were my favourite band as a teen and this was the first album of theirs I heard. While it's good, I think it was the start of the end of them being an interesting and surprising band. Holy bible is obviously the masterpiece but the first two were more interesting than this. This one sounded the beginning of the arena rock anthemic middle of the road era. This is my truth took that way further and they've mostly stayed in that space. And made a lot of money doing so tbf 7/10 but I've prob added a point for nostalgia

Something explodes forth from the band after the loss of Richey, pulsating with grief but maybe also hope. Anthemic and epic, this album is a thrill to listen to and sing along to. And if you can understand James’s singing, there’s a lot of thought, intelligence and polemic within what is damn near stadium rock but stadium rock for the outsider, the weirdo, the displaced.

I hadn't heard these guys before, what a discovery! Good album.

I had one album of theirs and thought it was alright. This was not. I found nothing about this to be compelling or noteworthy. This is another baffling inclusion.

Great 90's sound, very Maddening Crowd

Great album, I knew them from one song before but this record is an amazing listen, good for walks in nature, working on code, or vibing. Very energetic.

Doesn't grab me

Solid but a bit the same throughout. Some standout tunes though.

This is a fairly solid album, the band is tight and focused. I enjoyed the couple of slower tracks, as well as the couple of louder, meatier ones. Everything in between, which was most of it, was somewhat forgettable. Won't go into rotation, as there's not much that will draw me back, and there are similar albums from this period id much rather go back to. Another one where I can't understand how it makes the list, but it's an alright album. Strong 2.5 Fav track: small flowers that grow in the sky

I can totally see the appeal here - anthemic tunes, lots of juice in the vocal delivery and playing, just divergent enough from mass market pop rock to feel unique. All that said, it still felt a bit lame for the most part? Modern sensibilities maybe. Two and a half. Fave track: Enola/Alone

One of the more boring albums we’ve had so far. Again, it’s records like that this start to give me a better image of the person who wrote this list, and how plain their taste in music is. In what world do I have to listen to this before I die? Fine vocals, bland mixing, underwritten lyrics. Not one that landed for me. One and a half. Fave track: Further Away

This was an alright album however I find that the sound relied a significant amount on repetition.

Another meh album. It wasn't bad but just boring. So, so boring. Maybe I hated it more because this week has been constant boring British bands from the 80s and 90s. They all start to sound the same.

Bien, un poco cansinos.

If 90s British guitar bands were Premier League football teams, Manic Street Preachers would be Crystal Palace. Decidedly mid-table, and I wouldn’t want to watch them every week, but respect the way they go about things. They’re solid enough, if a bit predictable and uninspiring at times, but capable of great results on their day. Much of this album is them on ‘their day’. Well, Design for Life certainly is, at any rate. It still sounds huge, and stirring, and important. The Manics do ‘epic’ well. The album could probably have leaned into those orchestral flourishes more often, but there are quite a few big guitar-filled choruses which achieve a similar effect. The subjects they write about are usually interesting, too - even if some of the more verbose lines seem like they’re crammed in with little regard for how well they scan within the context of a pop song. And there’s a subtle melancholia in a lot of the songs which sounds like the band trying to move on after Richey Edwards’ disappearance, and I find that quite moving. All in all, a strong 3.5 / 4.

Not bad to work out to

This was ok, pretty forgettable though. Nothing really stood out to me. 2/5

not loving it at the top...yeah I think I have to give up after song 2. Not my style.

It’s impossible to go wrong with Th Preachers. I think this was the first major work without Ritchie. You can tell, not this absence (because I think he was more than present, like a spectrum, during production and recording) but the pseudo mourning throughout the album. I love this record!

не то что я ожидал но возможно что я заслуживал

3.5

Thought I'd enjoy this more than I actually did. I like a lot of Manics songs, but a whole album is a bit too much for me. Kevin Carter and A Design For Life are brilliant, however.

mun betra en ég óttaðist. ekki frá því að þetta fái annan snúning. 3,5.

Sometimes when I listen to British bands from this period, I get why they never took off in the States. For instance, it's more surprising to me that Blur had a hit single here than if they never had and I love Blur, but they're probably too British for non-Anglophile Americans. I haven't spent a lot of time listening to the Manic Street Preachers (can I call them The Manics without sounding pretentious?) who I sometimes mix up with The Boo Radleys for some reason but musically this doesn't sound to far off from Smashing Pumpkins from around the same time, less whiny, I guess. I guess I'm just wondering why some American A&R guy didn't get these guys on U.S. alternative radio or American MTV, I think they could have been big here. Maybe I don't really know what I'm talking about. Also, am I a jerk for referring to a Welsh band as British? If so, I'm sorry.

Manic Street Preachers is one of those bands for me, where they've made some incredibly catchy and memorable tunes, but I just find myself immensely bored every time I listen to their records.

In high school I lied about loving Manic Street Preachers in order to engage in a conversation with a girl I liked. And while loving turned out to be a bit too extreme, I sure turned out to really like them a lot.

The offspring, Oasis, Nirvana, Stone temple pilots, Pearl jam, Radiohead, Foo fighters. Es un resumen de la época jaja

Me habría gustado mucho en la adolescencia.

No I don't like it. Not one bit. Instrumentation was basic and the vocals were actually horrible.

If you need an explanation...

I was the exact same person before and after listening to this album. It neither offends me or impresses me.

idk достаточно ровно так чтоо ??

3.5 - A much Britpoppier record, a sort of "Baby Bends", compared to "The Holy Bible" released two years earlier. Though I personally disliked HB, it's definitely the more interesting record if far less listenable. "Small Black Flowers..." is a standout, with its gorgeous interplay of acoustic guitar and harp.

This is the Manic's I know and love, beautiful sad rock music.

Was just ok. Sounded like generic rock. 6/10.

Mycket bra!

I listened to this while cleaning the house and it was fantastic background music that also held my attention

I like the sound of this album a lot and want to listen again soon!

Encontré pasajes copados, pero no llegué a entender por donde venía

Great sounding album that doesn't really let up. Solid 3.5 for me here as I go 4stars. This is like the smashing pumpkins if they were British, and not 'iconicly' talented....

This was a banger, start to finish. I loved this one, vibes off the charts.

interesting upbeat britpop. catchy. rocks out when it wants to, but slows it down when appropriate. was pleasantly surprised. highlights: “elvis impersonator: blackpool pier”, “removables”, “australia”.

This was really good. Erica liked it a lot. This was super solid and I'll add it to my playlists.

While I liked this when I listened, I don’t remember anything about it now. It’s good, I guess, but not as good as hearing about the band member that went missing right before this album came out. Now that was intriguing.

This sounded like like Oasis and Garbage had a baby. Very 90s indie rock feel to it. Kind of dragged on after a bit.

Cool to immediately get the next Manic Street Preachers album on this list after “The Holy Bible.” Apparently their lyricist tragically disappeared between the two albums and they sound like a different band on “Everything Must Go.” It’s much brighter and more pop-focused guitar rock in the vein of Oasis. I’m not as drawn to this album as the previous one but it’s still good.

Very ambitious sound. Glad I listened to this one through headphones because there was a lot of fun little nuances in the production and overall the quality was really top notch. Composition-wise there were a lot of solid songs with some memorable moments but I kind of felt like it could have used some more hooks to balance out the ambition. I often find that the best bands that center around this sort of epic sound usually have nice hooky choruses to keep the songs memorable. This could have used more of that I think as big epic ambitious compositions sometimes need to get reined in. The track "Design for Life" is probably my favorite. Really solid track and I love how the guitars go heavy metal. "Everything Must Go" is a great one too, with its galloping guitars and strings that fly over the top. One downside here is that there's so many elements in the production that the strings are really EQ'd to death and end up sounding pretty thin. The balance though is that they are heard and that is really the result you want. "Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky" was a nice respite following the previous tracks high energy. It was just a liiiitttle bit too stereotypically proggy for me to really love though. The arpeggiated acoustic guitars playing some dark 7th chords and chromatic walk down parts in the chorus are just kind of overdone for my ears. To be fair this album came out in 1996 though. "The Girl who Wanted to be God" was a cool track. More epic ambition and this felt like I was listening to Bono's little brother's band trying to write a U2 song. 3/5 but close to a 4. I enjoyed it a lot. Listened to it while flying from Brindisi, Italy, to Rome on a short one hour flight.

Two great singles, two fine singles and solid album tracks. At times the curse of the rock plodder strikes, and it's not aged that well.

I tried but just couldn't get into it

I've never heard any of these songs or of this band, and this album came out right in the middle of my prime popular music listening (high school). I'm sure it was influential or ground breaking in some way, but it just seemed like mediocre music from the 90s

I think I would have enjoyed this when it came out but it's nothing special now