The Holy Bible
| The Holy Bible | ||||
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| Studio album by Manic Street Preachers | ||||
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Publication |
1994 |
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| Label (s) | Epic Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
13 |
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running time |
56 min 17 s |
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| occupation |
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Steve Brown |
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Studio (s) |
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The Holy Bible is the third album by the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers . It was released in August 1994. Although it was a flop at time of writing, it is now considered classics of alternative rock , mainly due to the extremely dark and disturbing atmosphere of the work. It is the last album recorded by the band with Richey James Edwards .
meaning
The Holy Bible is still considered the band's most untapped work to this day. It is characterized above all by the unconventional melodies , the fragile mood and the extremely dark lyrics, which were written almost exclusively by the mentally ill lyricist Edwards. The title The Holy Bible (in German "The Holy Bible") shows the bitter sarcasm that accompanies some of the songs. Edwards explains the reason for this title by saying that just as the Bible used to contain the truths of their time, The Holy Bible also contains the truths of today. The album is about taboo subjects like misanthropy , depression and self-harm , even if the meaning of the lyrics is very difficult to make out with some songs. Almost every song on the album begins with a spoken sample from films, documentaries, or interviews. Although the disc made it to number 6 on the UK charts, it was an economic flop. To date, it is the band's worst-selling album, which is mainly due to the non-mass-market content and the atypical advance single Faster / PCP . Even so, the album received full acclaim from critics (especially in the UK). The Q Magazine chose it to number 67 of the best albums of all time. The band (who strongly sympathize with the left wing ) was criticized for their guerrilla- esque appearance at concerts and in the music videos for Faster , Revol and She Is Suffering .
Track list
All lyrics were written by Richey James Edwards and Nicky Wire, the music by James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore, unless otherwise noted.
- Yes - 4:59
- Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart - 3:39 (T: Wire)
- Of Walking Abortion - 4:01
- She Is Suffering - 4:43
- Archives of Pain - 5:29
- Revol - 3:04
- 4st 7lb - 5:05 (T: Edwards)
- Mausoleum - 4:12
- Faster - 3:55
- This Is Yesterday - 3:58 (T: Wire)
- Die in the Summertime - 3:05 (T: Edwards)
- The Intense Humming Of Evil - 6:12
- PCP - 3:55
Notes on individual songs
Yes
Yes is musically one of the fastest and catchiest songs on the album. The lyrics are - in contrast to the music - one of the darkest on the CD. In the text the life of the narrator is compared with the work of a prostitute . James Dean Bradfield said in an interview that it was almost impossible to write the right music for such a text.
Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallappart
This is one of the few songs on The Holy Bible whose lyrics are entirely written by Nicky Wire. It's a more classic Preachers song as it takes up the political themes of their debut Generation Terrorists . The text is above all a criticism of racism and the zeitgeist in the USA . The music is attributed to the genre of post-punk .
Of walking abortion
The song is about the theory of the extreme feminist Valerie Solanas , who describes that the male sex is inferior because it lacks certain chromosomes that only the female sex has . Men are thereby " walking abortions ". The song is also known for some indecipherable lines like "So wash your car in your X baseball shoes" ( washing your car with your X-baseball shoes ).
She is suffering
She Is Suffering was released as the third - and last before Edwards' disappearance - single on the album. The text is highly metaphorical . The music was often associated with the then very popular grunge music, especially that of Nirvana . The band rejects this comparison.
Archives of Pain
One of the most controversial pieces on the LP is Archives of Pain . The song has been censored in some countries due to its extreme content . The text is written in an extremely bitter, sarcastic tone and addresses the death penalty and some of the murders of the time, such as those by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady . Archetypal is the line “Sterilize rapists, all I preach is extinction” ( Sterilize rapists , all I preach is extermination ).
Revol
Revol - short for revolution and lover read backwards - is a relatively simple rock song influenced by the band's communist ideas. It deals with the failed love life of political personalities and culminates in the sentence " Living space , culture war , get out!"
4st 7lb
4 stone and 7 pounds (about 28 kilograms ) is about the progressive anorexia nervosa from which Edwards suffered. The song is one of the darkest on the album. It is written in the style of a diary in which the main character describes the progressive disease. The beginning of the song is quite loud, while the second half ends rather calmly and melodically. The song is particularly controversial because of the line “I wanna be so skinny that I rot from view, I want to walk in the snow and not leave a footprint” ( I want to be so wiry that I disappear from view, I want to walking in the snow and not leaving a mark ).
mausoleum
This is also one of the darkest songs on the CD. It reflects a Endzeitstimmung resist, especially in the chorus ( "No birds, no birds, the sky is swollen black" ( No birds, no birds, the sky is black swollen )). The song also achieved a certain cult status with the quote "I wanted to rub the human face in its own vomit and force it to look in the mirror" ( I wanted to scrub the human face in its own vomit and force it to look in the mirror see ).
Faster
Faster is the most famous song on the CD. It was released as the first single and reached number 16 on the UK charts. It is the only song on the album that made it onto the best of Forever Delayed . The band's appearance on Top of the Pops is legendary , when Bradfield wore an IRA- typical balaclava . The BBC's then-editor said the broadcaster had never had so many complaints about an appearance.
This is yesterday
Possibly the brightest, most optimistic song on the CD. Significantly, it was written exclusively by Nicky Wire and is a ballad similar to the songs on the following album Everything Must Go . The band (excluding Edwards) later said that this song was a good change of pace on The Holy Bible .
The in the Summertime
Die in the Summertime is the darkest and most psychotic song on the CD. It - written exclusively by Edwards - is about the self-destruction he commits and the desire to die. The song was put on the index in some countries in Asia due to its extreme content . After the disappearance of the lyricist, the lines were "Scratch my leg with a rusty nail, sadly it heals" ( crack my leg with a rusty nail, sadly it heals ) and "I want to die, the summertime in the, I want to die “ ( I want to die, die in summer, I want to die! ) Controversial.
The Intense Humming of Evil
This song contains many influences from military marching music . The text is about the Holocaust , described in a stream of consciousness- like style. The song surprised some fans of the explicitly left-wing band, because it does not demonize the atrocities of National Socialism , but simply describes it.
PCP
PCP is, like Ifwhiteamerica ... , a fairly simple punk song with political lyrics that are mainly directed against the Republican Party . Sean Moore explained in an interview that with Yes and PCP, two musically easily digestible songs were added to the beginning and the end of the album to close the circle.
Web links
- The Holy Bible at Allmusic (English)