Manic Street Preachers

Manic Street Preachers are a rock band formed in 1986 in Blackwood, Wales and consisting of James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar), Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and Sean Moore (drums, percussion). They are often colloquially known as "The Manics." After the release of their first single, "Suicide Alley", Richey Edwards joined the band as co-lyricist and rhythm guitarist. The band proclaimed their debut album Generation Terrorists would be the "greatest rock album ever" and hoped to sell sixteen million copies around the world, "from Bangkok to Senegal", after which they would split up. Despite the album's failure to meet this level of success, the band carried on with their career.

The group later became a trio when Edwards disappeared on 1 February 1995. Bradfield, Moore and Wire went on to gain critical and commercial success. The band have released twelve albums and three compilations, Forever Delayed, Lipstick Traces (A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers) and National Treasures – The Complete Singles. Their early combination of androgynous glam imagery, critical social lyrics about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" and a furious rock sound gained them a loyal following over the years and assured them a cult status. The band's later albums retained a leftist politicisation and intellectual lyrical style while adopting a broader alternative rock sound. To date, they have sold more than 10 million albums worldwide.

Motorcycle Emptiness

"Motorcycle Emptiness" ( sample ) is a single by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 1 June 1992, through Columbia Records. It was the fifth single to be released from their debut album, Generation Terrorists.

Content

The track is slower paced than most others on the album. Its lyrics are inspired by S.E. Hinton's book Rumble Fish, about biker gang culture. The lyrics have been interpreted by the band as an attack on the hollowness of the consumer lifestyle offered by capitalism, describing how society expects young people to conform.

The song was derived from the early Manic Street Preachers songs "Go, Buzz Baby, Go" (with which it shares the chord structure and the phrase "Motorcycle Emptiness" late in the song over the verse chords) and "Behave Yourself Baby", a rough demo with a similar structure, that has the lines "All we want from you is the skin you live within", similar to "All we want from you are the kicks you've given us" in this song.

Manic

Manic may refer to:

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See also

Preacher

A preacher usually identifies a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people, although one can also preach components of any worldview or philosophy. In some traditions a "preacher" is largely synonymous with "evangelist" (the more ancient definition, based on the Greek words underlying the English Bible). Preaching is not limited to religious views, but it extends to moral and social world-views as well.

The word "preach" (from the New Testament Greek κηρύσσω, "to proclaim") usually refers to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, i.e. evangelism. Most modern Christians (especially Protestants) also define preaching as a monologue delivered by clergy, normally to laity, that educates the listeners on additional areas of theology more relevant for someone who is already a Christian.

History

Preachers are common throughout most cultures. They can take the form of a Christian minister on a Sunday morning, or an Islamic Imam. A Muslim preacher in general is referred to as a Da'ee, while those giving sermons on a Friday afternoon are described as a khatib.

Street

A street is a public thoroughfare (usually paved) in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.

Originally the word "street" simply meant a paved road (Latin: "via strata"). The word "street" is still sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for "road", for example in connection with the ancient Watling Street, but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road's main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction. Examples of streets include pedestrian streets, alleys, and city-centre streets too crowded for road vehicles to pass. Conversely, highways and motorways are types of roads, but few would refer to them as streets.