It's been more than 30 years since rock music was still important and had great relevance. Artists were not pop bunnies who sang with computer voices, but stars with guitars, poets, explainers of the world.
We are looking back in a series of articles. Today we have to hear "The Holy Bible" by the Manic Street Preachers.
When the Manic Street Preachers went on stage 30 years ago, there were still four of them; guitarist Richey Edwards didn't change until a little later. The Welsh were still a quartet when they swept through the music scene back then: guitarist James Dean Bradfield and his colleagues also dismantled guitars, microphones and stage equipment at the end of concerts.
Orgies of destruction by one of the island trio, which actually wanted to break up after the first record "Generation Terrorists". It was nothing more than a final respiration exercise on the corpse of the old specter of rock'n'roll, but it was impressive: The third Manics album was called "The Holy Bible" and it was brutal, hard, dark and without illusions.
The band, who had debuted three years earlier with the fantastic "Generation Terrorists" CD, showed that they preferred punk over grunge. As with the pre-release single "Faster", this time the manic street preachers forego all fashionable frills on the long player, which is as usual perfectly conceived.
Driven by two guitars, bass and drums, singer James Dean Bradfield takes on right-wing tendencies, the church and the pop business in a straightforward manner and without taking anyone into account.
A must buy back then. A classic today.
Janes Dean Bradfield today... still alive.