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The world is full of refugees - they're just like you and just like me - I hope we can all come to this realization and stop the rise of fascism and xenophobia. I hope the Manics continue to inspire and challenge. Best live band ever
I don’t know where I’d be without you.
When I was brought into this world every child had mam and dad however, I was raised by my mam who was single at the time. As time went on patterns emerge knowing I would be different being a diagnosed Asperger's in the Rhondda Valley. Didn't know about it until age appropriate . Music by Manic Street Preachers helped me a lot with my life and so did 90s Britpop. Better born different than the same otherwise life has no meaning. Different and proud.
WE CAN'T TOLERATE 1939 AGAIN
I grew up in the 90's (USA). Love the alternative rock genre. Love finding new music. Somehow your amazing band slipped through the cracks for me. I am rocking my way through your discography as we speak (Holy Bible, Everything Must Go...holy shit some amazing music, and now I'm on Send Away the Tigers). I wanted to look you guys up and just send some love your way. I wish you continued success and hope to see you in concert one day.
A song about Fascism. I remember the 80's dark times of riots on the streets, racism at football grounds, skin heads and the national front. I thought we were over all that and the world was a better place. I fear that we have taken a step backwards. Brexit, Trump Wars and climate change . I still hope our children can still live and flourish in a free and safe world. We must not tolerate this !
If you are in a minority of one the truth is still the truth. My truth is I love Jesus and the Manics.
Experts jargon-filled arguments, Hide their real intent, Despite their persuasive powers, We chose to believe some and disbelieve others. Sensationalism is the new norm, As they entertain rather than inform. Manipulating the truth in front of our eyes, You must sacrifice a pawn if you chose to trust the lies. If it‘s in the papers I guess it must be true, Newspeak to us is a dubious virtue.
Empty rhetoric is filling our brain, Illegible writing once again, Abundance of breaking news, Leaves us dazed and confused. Put a spin on Nostradamus, Like false prophets doom or promise, The future remains obscure, The writings still stun and lure. If it‘s in the papers I guess it must be true, Newspeak to us is a dubious virtue.
Thanks for all the amazing times that we have seen you play this - always makes the crowd explode.
I was in year 6 when this album came out, I spent my summer holidays with this whole album on repeat on my little cassette Walkman no matter how long it took to rewind!! That summer my uncle got married in Italy and my grandparents drove us all there from Rochdale in a big red mini bus. I listened to this album in Paris, Switzerland - wherever we went I had this album with me! Looking back its a defining album of my childhood years that I never get tired of even at 32!!
Ready for drowning epic ballad builds up like a crescendo
Make World Better, Make Yourself Better, And You Be Happy
I’ve listened to many bands from Queen to Metallica but The Manics have a special place in my heart, the lyrics in all of their songs are so meaningful, I love The Everlasting because every line is so relatable for many people, the bass and beat is on point! I don’t think this song could have been made any better, it’s perfect.
This amazing song reminds me of my amazing brother Tony William's. We love the Manics. We have travelled all over the country to see them. TONY-my main man and best friend. Memories of rocking at the front of the stage. Love you all so so much! BRING ON HALIFAX! Victoria and Tony xx
My wife loves me
I was 10 and Dad bought it for me on CD on the old mail order 'Britannia' music catalogue (surely that's not still around?). I love every track but would pick this. A beautiful song about the importance of your own experience of life. I think it offers hope that you might be able to sort things out after all. "As good as it can get" - I remember Nicky saying once he was satisfied with a few hours happiness a week. Manics are still the most sincere music I've ever heard and changed my life.
Queens Hall, Bradford, Thursday, March 26, 1992
Found out the manics were supporting the killers on there uk tour and they are playing at middlesbrough riverside stadium gutted i missed out on tickets the truth is it wasnt about seeing the killers there good there first album was class but it was all about seeing the manics in my home town just gutted suppose I could stand outside the stadium but it ain't the same as seeing them on stage
I was in a cover band and we used to play this song. It got me into Manics a bit late, but what a powerful back catalogue! I soon discovered.
Generation Terrorists was my first album. An emotional and informed rollercoaster. Ever since the Manics have provided melodic intensity and the ability to create music for all my moods. In both highs and lows I turn to a Manics album. I go to see the Manics every time they're in Scotland and I always leave like I've been in heaven. One of Britain's greatest bands. This is My Truth is my go to album. The soundtrack to my teenage development. Luckily I'm introspective and intelligent.
After a bad desease i learned what is important in life. Love your family, ski, ride your bicicle, eat what is good for your body, listen to rock music.
I am not intending to knock Nick out of his job. Just hope that these words give you some impulse and perhaps nudge you to release another album soon. Wishing you a harmonic, healthy and happy 2020
The past doesn‘t change for anyone But time has been kind to us. We ruffle our coloured feathers And build empires on sweat and blood Of the stolid faces and silent voices. Your future is fueled by despair Is this the end of your time? If all life is a journey Set sails and fall off the horizon, We are haunted by the ghosts of the sunken souls. We fly too high on borrowed wings But we cannot stay, The fortune wheel is spinning away, Lies of comfort from the great white hope.
Just a great great tune set to an interesting story and of course a brilliant lyric.
This song keeps me alive, stops me from killing myself. It gives me hope that one day Richey may be found and that maybe I will find myself too
About not feeling a lot at all, but breathing it
I just really like the song I can't really explain why. At first I didn't like it but it's grown on me a lot ?
The best band in the Universe
The song that introduced me to the Manics via a Q magazine sampler. Throw in a free CD of TIMTTMY from a friend who worked at Sony and we were off on a journey that has now lasted 20+ years.
Cherry blossom tree/ at least you were free/nobody loved you like me. Powerful words, delivered with great music. Taken solace when I've lost friendships. Separated from relationships. Struggled with myself. So, thank you.
If You Tolerate This... paints a picture of a distopian future and serves as a warning for what is to come. That future is now. We can no longer tolerate injustice.
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Bordel Lines - As Putas de Negro Data: 311.57.107.57.87.53.411.57.111.47.63.53/43.53.411.57/23.73.13.77.511.53.73 96.12.62.12.42.110.106.12.76.102.210.110/1010.110.106.12/810.310.710.32.16.110.310 00011111111111000001111111000000000011111110000011111110000000011111110000011100001111111111100000111111101111111111100001111111000000111000001110000111000001110000111111111110000011111110011100000001110111000000011111110000011111111111000001110000000111 000000000111111011000000110110000110111111111100
I chose this image as I feel it reflects the way I interact with people. If they only see my briefly, then I am beautiful and everyone wants to be around me, after a week or so though, the petals fall away and I become ordinary and people who were so interested in me a few days ago walk right by.
I was hopelessly in love with someone who just couldn't give it back. We used to share music all the time - to sort of give a little glimpse of our private worlds. I shared a lot of your music. You might say I died for this girl. But in the end, I'm happy to be where I am now. My life is much fuller, and while I might not always be as saintly as I'd like to be, and it really sucks we couldn't work out our differences, I feel like a new man - I replaced the things I despised! Thank you guys.
Even now, 5 years since you passed, you still have my sun
There are songs that you wish you've written them - or that they were wrote for you. My teenage years were basically made of feeling always like I was "second best" and accompanied by some sort of sometimes soothing, sometimes numbing melancholy. Yet I was extremely pleased with who I felt I was deep inside and with the way I saw things. So it was like it made sense that both "sides" coexisted.This song captures my feelings and sensations of that time so well. Like many Manics songs do!
At a time of turmoil, uncertainty and hurt, this track gave me something to sing and shout about, a way to express my emotions and cleanse my soul. Thank you for everything you have brought me and countless others.
been knowing msp for a while, and always loved this song it really touched me somehow. i can remember the first time i listened to it. i was lying in bed and listening to music, then this song came up. and it was something that awakened me in a way, it felt like i had been needing something and i just found it. amazing
When I discovered this album, I was 15 and I was hopelessly in love with a girl. I knew she didn't feel the same and that was all in vain. I was terribly upset and on the verge of depression. And the lyrics "You stole the sun from my heart" and the general tender and sad mood of the album were precisely reflecting my inside. And my truth is - I wish I could return to those times when everything was simpler, brighter and inspiring. Thank you Manics for all you are doing.
Shed your skins of hatred shed your skins of colours, shed your blind sight , shed your posh, shed the shed you thrive in... when love calls , fondle in its ways of pure immunity, see with eyes within,then share an ounce of its radiation.. touch of love... everywhere you seep into.. don't master the politicians... master yourself .. do it yourself ... don't point at another... your will your power your little empire...
My daughter was born on 1 September 1998 while this album was playing. She was an amazing person.
This song reminds me of our holidays in Wales with our children. The freedom and beauty that you feel from being outdoors and close to nature and the sea and mountains. It also makes me think of our own mortality and how precious, transient and beautiful life is. Just to be honest, natural and beautiful in thought, word and deed is the key to a happy life! ?
My Little Empire got me over my both my parents passing (they passed very close in time to each other). The whole album (indeed the entire MSP album catalogue to that point) became my sanctuary from a dark place in my soul. James seemed to be talking to me, and I just felt a connection to the music, and the band, that I've never had with any band before or since. Thank you MSP, forever a fan. You guys are 4 REAL.
I never followed my heart,spoken to Stuart,did the gigs,too much input from others trying to influence me.Telling me what's right or wrong &in the end my life turned out to be a very painful,depressing one with heartache,mental bullying, physical abuse &eventually, disability.Whatever lies ahead,my passion for song writing & my heart are gonna come first(only myself to blame if it all goes tits up now!)Btw,current SO was in school with the Manics,lets hope the Welsh treat me right! Stay Alive
There’s something going wrong in this world.there’s too much violence and lack of respect for everything.we have the right to teach our children to build a better world for their future.so then they will live in a better place and we will be sure and proud that we made a good job as parents.that’s what my parents have done with me.it all happened naturally and so it has to be for everyone of you out there.peace.
It was around the release of This Is My Truth that I first truly discovered MSP, and was inspired to pick up a bass and start to play along to the music. The album brought the band to my attention, and through watching the following gigs on TV I was then taken back to Motown Junk, You Love Us and such like, and then went into the early albums. I have seen the band 13 times, and picked up bass, guitar and drums in the intervening years, always self-teaching by playing along to Manics songs.
MY FRIEND IS MYSELF.
You deserved better
This album was the very first I reviewed as an 18 year old. I wrote it in my school text book to kill time during a particularly dull chemistry lesson. It's likely I got the meaning of the songs all wrong, but what struck me was how direct and brutally honest the lyrics were. My Little Empire allowed me a safe space to be unhappy but also helped me realise that much of what I was feeling was a self made construct and that I too was tired of being tired, done with being dumb.
This is my first album of Manics! i found it at TowerRecords(Japan) in 90s. ♪Nobody loves you was Sony MD walkman’s CM song. i listend♪TSUNAMI at FujiRockFestival 2014 , I remembered the earthquake and started crying.But this is my truth〜is great & beautiful album!!
This is my first album of Manics! i found it at TowerRecords(Japan) in 90s. ♪Nobody loves you was Sony MD walkman's CM song! i listend♪TSUNAMI at FujiRockFestival 2014 , I remembered the earthquake and started crying.But this is my truth〜is great & beautiful album!!
This is my first album of Manics! i found it at TowerRecords(Japan) in 90s. ♪Nobody loves you was Sony MD walkman's CM song! i listend♪TSUNAMI at FujiRockFestival 2014 , I remembered the earthquake and started crying.But this is my truth〜is great & beautiful album!!
Your lyrics.....- 'if you tolerate this' has had a massive resonance in the current climate, here in Manchester.. on the demos over the last few weeks.. I have seen it, hummed its, read it on placards,,,The Tory party, as if it was one party,,, will hold their conference in my city at the end of the month. So wrong. Can we use your lyrics as we berate them for them damage they have done.
I know the truth but it's too late to be real. No time to be strong enough.
My heart is broken.
I understand but can’t accept.
Was an addict for 33 years
I was 15 in 1998. The age you get totally into music. Got besotted by this song. Played the album over and over again. Bought all the Manics albums. Ever since, my family had to listen to it in the car when we went on holidays to Wales. After more than 20 years (gosh I feel old) the song never lost its meaning and its timeless sound.
Back when music meant something, I remember being at high school when this is my truth was released. I spent hours learning and playing if you tolerate this, probably to an unhealthy level. Bands no longer write songs with such context, yet the manics are still doing so and will always be relevant! "Painting is stronger than I am - it makes me do what ever it wants" - Pablo Picasso
Best of times, building my little empire and watching it grow.
I'm still scared to discover who I am. I used to be care free and look to the future with hopeful anticipation but now I don't know what to expect and fear wasting what precious time I have left. I feel hiraeth, for a time that never was but need to ground myself in reality and move forward - 'Life can only be understood looking backwards, but must be lived going forwards'
I just wrote a huge essay for this, but then I accidentally deleted my progress. So fuck it. The song is epic and the lyrics are great, touching on the tragic story of the town Capel Ceyln. I know that was vague, but I'm tired and I don't want to rewrite what I just deleted so sod it.
As we grow older and the album gets aged the gap between us and the society gets wider. We intend to connect to each other but in truth we bond less. However the song and the album is still a great instrument to reflect about emotions and the phases of our lives with our beloved ones.
Travel...
The travel.
I live my life.my life i ONLY mine,And ONLY God can jugde me!
Difficult choice but to me this represents those times when people, the world around you, circumstances, work and life have been shit to you but the guitars in this represent fighting through the tough times. Strength, determination and power.
Shit happens stay strong
The world revolves around it, involves around it, controls around it. An everlasting love.
Please come to Poland! <3
I am not aware that you have ever used lyrics from out side the band, but these crude and sketchy lines are for you and I would be immensely honored if they inspired you to a song.
The next lifetime there is a copyright on every thought never to be used again and all we share is a sense of solitude. The next lifetime we will inhale an air of anxiety and existence is defined by the free spirit of intoxication. The next lifetime has great inventions for us in store and individuality is cloned to conformity to blend into an alien world.
In this life time when worlds break apart and ideologies are set aside to surf on the wave of complacency. In this lifetime when media rules the thought and knowledge is detained by the algorithm of the global machinery. In this lifetime when eyes turn blind and darkness comforts our minds in a cocoon of consciousness.
Wales Valley boy family together stronger soundtrack of my lifetime design for life international blue
I've been on a trip to Portugal, when "If you tolerate this..." was released as a single and when I first heard it on the radio. It instantly blew me away. Just one week before I fell in love with a girl who today is my wonderful and beloved wife. So despite the truly depressing background of the song, it will always remind me of my one and only, everlasting truth.
The Manics have taught me so much. They have educated me. And about so much more than school ever did. This is the reason why I will always love these brilliant intelligent men. So I will send them as much love as it is possible for someone to send to their all time favourite band. You really are genius. Thank you for the music.
Remembering that I am worth more than a thief of my heart and life. I deserve better than someone who steals my light. Sometimes that person is myself, so this serves as a reminder that I deserve the sun.
James Dean's voice is always amazing, but when I hear this song I'm so moved everytime. I cannot put my finger on what exactly it is, for me, the voice, the music and the sentiment are simply perfection. As with all the manics songs they provide a message and have importance, and this song represents the many ways we as adults shape our children's perspectives on life and themselves, and how crucial it is to get this right, for individuals, society and the planet. The future is everything.
This is my truth main body text, to go on the photo.
This has the purest lyric of all time that is my personal favourite on the streets tonight an old man plays, with newspaper cuttings of his glory days. "
This is the truth
I'm someone who has anxiety and depression. I've always struggled with who I am and I've always had strong feelings of self doubt. The MSP have helped me to become a less stressed person, in relation to my feelings. Their music is amazing, their lyrics have helped me through hardships and they inspire me to write. Their fanbase is also kind and welcoming. I can't thank the Manics enough for creating such an amazing band. Please, continue to create music.
we dont understand whats happening, the masses manipulated sleep walking to totalitarianism blind popularism sheep that want to feel a part of a lie, dead sheep, nothing nothing no future you live you die you buy a house have a job in the middle you made it, you live you die no feeling, sheep, my truth I have little on the outside, inside I have it all, I love, I can give love, I can accept love I have no agenda, I am alive I feel, those sheep are not, I scream inside for the sheep to wake
You've been with me since ,1993, through the loss of my dad, a divorce, bullying at work, death of my beloved cat and endless bouts of depression. I often felt you were the only ones to understand. I felt you spoke to me directly. I've cried with you, I've laughed with you and I've visited Wales in the hope of meeting you and finding Richey. You never left me when I was tender and tired. You touch so many hearts, your not just band .
She stole the sun from my heart. But I regained my purpose, my self-belief. Later on, Autumn Song and It’s Not War, Just The End Of Love helped with the healing process. Thanks guys.
The song speaks to me about the fight against fascism, the effort and sacrifice of the international brigade and how we must continue to stand up for decent, working class values. The song also connects me spiritually to my Grandfather who fought with the International Brigade during the Spanish civil war! One for all and all for one
Just so dreamy
Met with my first true love in this year. Both now married to different people but the spark is still there. Never look at something or someone else. Love is for life
Only one PM this century (Blair) has been elected to office through winning a general election; the next is about to be chosen by less than 150,000 tory party members - a party that failed to gain a majoirty and hold power by a sordid alliance bunch of bigots. This is our democracy... a total sham. We must resist, we must rise up we must get rid of this charade. Aaron Banks = the enemy of the poeple.
The open space of black rock sands and the snowdionia mountain range shows there connection with nature and humanity as well as opening the first ever festival 6 at portmerion l
This was the last Manics album of my adolescence - it’s release inspired me to form my first band the very same day - & it feels somewhat of a coming of age for the band as they truly became a part of mainstream culture. While the studio album is an anthemic quasi folk rock record, it’s raw power has been revealed through this commemorative tour. It doesn’t feel like looking back, it feels like a re-awakening of greatnesses.
Only every counts.
The TIMTTMY tour was the first time saw the Manics live, on the 18th December 1998. I was 17. I was going with 2 friends, Claire who got me into them, but the other, our ride, dropped out. So my Mom came with us, not knowing any of their music. That night was the first time I introduced new music to my parents. Until then it had always been the other way around. This was the moment I felt grown, because I had shown them this amazing thing. 20 years later we still go to Manics gigs together.
I miss my brother like hell, and every time I hear this I think of how much I loved him and still do. When you lose someone so close to you it's like a part of you is missing and this song has helped me express I how feel and to make sense of it. "What would I give just for one of your smiles."
30 yrs on.. where did it go? From Crumlin square, you came with me everywhere.
1998...I was 15...growing up with this...best album ever made. Bought 2 new copies because I listened so much the CD’s were badly scratched, my discman couldn’t play them anymore. Please Manics take your tour to THE NETHERLANDS ??
i got out of a really ugly relationship a few months ago. the day after it ended, he went off and shagged his ex - like anyone with an ounce of sensitivity, i was overwhelmingly upset. i spent about two weeks listening to you stole the sun from my heart blasted at full volume. it really helped me move on from that situation. turns out he got an sti from his ex
Life is precious and why do so many try to derail influence and guide you in their way, Be yourself be true to yourself live as you want too
There are dimensions beyond sight, we feel them when we stand in our truth, and something of them stands with us when we do giving us the courage we need to act . From this place the deceptions of the world fall away and we see the true beauty of what is possible. ¡{~º~}¡ I am so glad you brought this song into the world, every time I really sit and listen to it I cry.
Hard hitting lyrics that still ring true to this day. In our world now it is a great opportunity to look back on this and see how things nearly went to shit in the past and how we can know that our children wont be 'next'.
Losing my Dad to suicide hit me like the ‘Shanghai Maglev’.You know someone so well, but do not know the path they are truly taking, there’s no consoling yourself,questions keep creeping in.I did not need consoling! Frustration ,loneliness,anger,loss,hurt ....I wasn’t functioning.I wasn’t working..Overpowering all ‘I’m Not Working’ said to me,we are always broken but acceptance is empowering. "I have to change to stay the same”- Willem de Kooning
This is my song that my Dad associated to me when I was born as it was playing on the radio back on the Sunday in 1999. Making this album almost the exact same age as me as I turn 20 this year.
Still teaching and hoping for more empathy and compassion in our world
I fight a battle with my own black dog daily; he rears his head and kicks me when I'm at my lowest. It's a fight I fear one day I'll lose, but until then I turn up this track, put my headphones on and find solace in knowing that so many others carry the same burden, and relate to this song in the same way I do. There is peace in knowing you aren't alone. X
Every guy I've met I've taken to see the manics.....alone again....sad..gonna miss the gigs
WE ARE ALL THE SAME !
Black Dog gave me an understanding, a way in which to deal with depression. The very first time I heard it, it resonated with what I was feeling at the time. Stunningly beautiful
I first saw the manics in Southend, Richey, James, Nicky and Sean, the sight of Nicky in a dress was confirmation that this was ‘my band’. I always knew I was different, I fought the gender dysphoria that was eating me from the inside out ,until I could fight no more and it engulfed me. Washed away in a tsunami of my own truths. Now I listen to postcards from a young man, and know that mine will never be written or posted again. (Well not by him)
'The Everlasting' is probably my favourite song by MSP, even though 'Truth' wasn't my first MSP album (that was 'EMG'). It's a profoundly sad song, but at the same time it's just so beautifully played and recorded, you can't help but be uplifted by it. A true juxtaposition in a song.
Growing up in a small American town with severe depression and anxiety -coupled with thoughts and feelings that were largely divergent from the little world around me- left me feeling like there was something deeply broken inside of me. Somehow this song spoke to that part of me all those years ago, in a way that other songs didn't. I would put it on when I wanted those feelings to be made concrete; made real by someone else who just knew how to describe the indescribable.
New beginnings.
One day I decided to forgive the men who sexually abused me. Not because it's OK, but to distance me from the pain and feelings of guilt and to protect and comfort the teenage boy in me. I am now a husband and a father and strive every day to be the best father and husband in the world.
I'd never heard the term before, but it so sums it up, and I use it to tell people when I'm feeling low so I don't have to explain, it's so simple,can't under estimate the effect for me on my life. All from a song. Gracias
Enjoy every minute of your life
Discovered this masterpiece in early 2000's on Musicmatch Jukebox. Manics have been my favourite band of all times, their music has helped me through in some very rough times in live. 'Tsunami Tsunami keep washing over me' :)
I'd been a Manics fan since 1991 - when I was 14. I'd taken serious stick during my schooldays for liking them when everyone else was into shit rave music. By the time Truth was released, the same folk who'd ripped the piss out of me for liking the Manics now loved them. Some 'hardcore' Manic fans didn't like the new-found popularity. I loved it. My favourite song from TIMTTMY is Tsunami...James singing "In Between, In Between, In Between, In Between" still sends shivers down my spine.
98/99 were difficult years. Age 20 and surrounded by deaths of friends and loss of family. An introvert, I withdrew, saving emotional energy where I could. This album and this song especially helped me learn where I was. I get uncomfortable with past memories when I hear it now but the response I had then, in a way I felt understood and that prevented me from feeling isolated. This record is a key document about how I learned about me.
wish i was born a girl sometimes when i do think of him my sweet sweet boy just chewing up the moment now
I'm always drawn back to the first (more positive) verse of this song after it ends. It's sung softly, allowing for thoughts to flow freely without interruption while the guitar coaxes trapped emotions to the surface. All of the joys of life I currently don't have; family, friends, love, support, a career plan, purpose... I'll find them. It's difficult but I'll build my own little empire from scratch.
Nobody Loved You is poetic, beautiful and Cherry blossomic. It represents the sincerity and calmness of a person unloved by all, or as the writer Wire puts it "nobody loved you". I remember hearing the opening guitar riff and loving the song immediately, even more so with the falling cherry blossom tree leaves which gave the song a natural connotation while feeling like a ballad mourning the loss of a friend.
The Manics brought about something new, something I’d never seen a group do. Lines like: “I've got to stop smiling It gives the wrong impression I love you all the same” Undoubtedly had a prominent effect on me. I found that even though I don’t have handfuls of people to open up to just having this honest and true reflection of not being at your best and hiding from those surrounding you or being honest with yourself is something I can hold onto.
The tune sounds beautiful and sad at the same time. The ending blows my mind!
when I listen to Be Natural I feel an uplifting joy, melancholy, and as if I am in a vast expanse of space. If you can imagine standing on that beach and taking it all in, the insignificance of us, the massiveness of our universe, then that is what takes over me when I hear this song.
The song Born a girl was so true to my personal situation it really hit home ???
I had been a bullied girl for 10 years. At first, kids insulted me, due to being fat and wearing glasses at elementary school, neither psychologists could help me to get through it. i usually said my mom that I was ill or not feeling well as I didn't want t get up to go to that hell. This got worse in secondary (beats up, insults...), even they pursued me outside school. This situation, made me become a bit mistrustful to people. Kids never give up and fight if you're suffering from bullying.
Born with the wrong body, I try my best but sometimes it feels I'll always be a mess of a man. Too short, too high pitched, too curvy, too pretty. If I had been born a girl inside then things would be easier. Then I saw Nicky sing, and realised maybe I can be a pretty man after all.
For me it's more than a song, I've found myself singing this song from my heart before I understood that something in my life was ending...and something better is on its way. It's magical to me, thank you for your amazing music and words!
Always loved the song for the fact it gives me immense pride in my fellow Welshmen who fought Fascism in Spain, the sad truth with the ugly return of fascist rhetoric means this song will remain relevant. Despite how bleak everything seems it's giving me faith that we can once again fight this evil ideology and bring about a better world for those that will follow us. ¡No pasarán!
'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' has always resonated with me, ever since hearing that first strange, distorted chord. Lyrically, it's up there with The Smiths' 'How Soon Is Now?' for me. Being raised in a working- class, nowhere town in Britain, both bands taught me a lot about myself and the socio- politics of this country. The rising chorus of 'Tolerate' holds a timeless power that belongs to the working people. It's a song that politicians will never understand.
Manic Street Preachers I discovered in 2012, the first song I heard was "You Stole the Sun from My Heart". I consider them one of the best music groups and James Dean Bradfield as the best singer in the world. I saw them live in Prague 2012 and 2014, I have a lifetime experience. So much elan, feeling, truth ... Thank you very much for everything!
I'm from Russia and I feel that my country is on on the verge of civil war. People's discontent is growing up every day, but government can only suppress it with brute force and weapons. It's really scary. I know about war only from historical books and dodn't want to experience it in real life. This is the reason why I associate this song with place where I live. Russia needs changes, but changes without casualties and blood.
As a fan from the U.S. this was my first Manics album I bought upon release having been introduced to them by my sister who still lives in the U.K.An amazing album that still has its rightful place in my car CD player and an album I love from start to finish.
I find this song both beautiful and devastatingly poignant, brimming over with an infectious yearning. The feelings it provokes are always totally unresolved when it ends, so every time for 20 years I've had to hit repeat and listen again.
Been a fan for many years, so many songs mean so much, but have a loving memory of this song playing in my car with a my daughter 5 yrs old singing for all her worth too it, happy to say she loves it still as do i
Because surely everyone has a black dog on their shoulder?
Is their best song ever, of their best album ever
From a young teen in early 90's i was a manics fan. it was not 'cool', but it felt like a way out; that there was a world beyond where i lived. i felt a part of something 'else'. when TIMT came out it was a sad victory after all that happened - which mirrored my own experience with alcoholism/other illness.To remain standing, working, living, reinventing, while holding all the damage and trauma that had built up; to go on IS a victory, but with a cost. This song was bittersweet and perfect.
This album sparked something in me, a light that never went out again. Musically, politically, emotionally... I think there is still no other record I put on as often. It made me start playing the bass, it helped me deal with pain - for years it was the compass of a young girl navigating through a life she didn't fully understand.
EMG was my first Manics album but this one solidified them as my favorite band of all time. Every song is a gem and reminds me of a moment in time. JDB's voice breaks your heart and then heals it again at the same time. I got to see them live when they came to Canada to tour this album and it will always hold a special place in my heart.
AS AN AMERICAN FAN, I DIDN'T DISCOVER THE MANICS UNTIL 1997. SO THIS IS MY TRUTH WAS THE FIRST ONE I BOUGHT THE DAY IT WAS RELEASED. I FOUND THE TRUTH AND IT WAS AND STILL IS GLORIOUS.
Sitting on Southerndown beach, as the sun set nearly two weeks ago, contemplating the implications of the biopsy I had earlier that day. I was listening to The Everlasting, with the sound of the incoming tide just audiable in the background. It gave me the inner peace and hope that I really needed then, and continues to do when I listen to the track again. For now, my target is to hear it live at Cardiff castle in June.
I remember rushing to buy the album on release day. I couldn't wait to get home to listen to it. Hearing 'The Everlasting' for the first time made me cry. It was so beautiful and James voice was just perfect. It meant so much to me as a long time fan to have this album after the significance of Everything Must Go. The Manics were still here and remained strong. I still feel those emotions whenever I play the album and will always be proud to call myself a fan.
It is coming. Justice for the 96. YNWA
I first heard This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours as the b-side to a cassette my friend gave me in 1998 (the a-side being Everything Must Go). I instantly knew that this band would be My Band, and their music spoke for me in ways I couldn't possibly hope to myself.
Due to domestic violence I had to leave my house and life behind. The bruises and the trauma heal, but accepting that it changed you as a person is the most difficult. It took time to know and accept the new me. Now I'm at the point that I've built a new life, appreciate it and look at the sunny side. It made me stronger than ever, no longer accept bullshit and know what I want. My new little empire, thanks to accepting the new me I can be happy being sad instead of just sad. I love my life.
There's never been anything quite like If You Tolerate This in terms of the impact on my life that song has had. It's the first Manics song I fell in love with and something that will be beside me until the very end. It remains as melancholic and gorgeous as it first did two decades ago.
I still have no idea why you liked this song so much? This album will always remind me of you!
I bought the album the week my mum and dad told me they were splitting up and my world fell apart aged 17. I remember sitting in the front room and putting the CD on....'The gap that grows between our lives...the gap our parents never had..' then on to '....in the beginning when we were winning'. God it hurt, but I knew I wasnt alone. Whether those lyrics really mirrored my life, it felt they did and my favourite band had my back
You have only got 1 life, make it happy. Make the right decision. Without hurting others, impossible. I want to be happy. Why can't I ? Because I would rather hurt myself . Cruel or selfish . What's life without happiness, it's all I know
This was the record that I made me a MSP fan. Hearing If You Tolerate on the radio in 98 was a revelation, but the album managed to be even bigger. The Everlasting remains one of the few true hymns of my late youth.
Love has no expectations only radiations. Undefined by poets only felt .to refine love is to be love itself. Love is life , radiate love not the tainted kind but the purest one.???
My life changed forever when I saw the video If You Tolerate This (only North American single). I had to find out everything thing I could about this band and I felt like I was the only one in Canada that really appreciated and got this band. Until years later getting to see you in Toronto and being in a room full of folks singing along it was so powerful. This album got me through some very hard times and is truly special especially my Little Empire. Thank you for everything come back to Canada
I fell in love with this song over it's string section and simplicity. One night i was watching the original conan the barbarian muted and jo whiley played the album in full on radio one. This song just swept me away and always helps me to find karma. Iv always wanted to hear it live. I also like the idea of playing it busking in town.
I was about 15 when this album came out. I was suffering physical and mental abuse at home and had nowhere to turn. I resigned myself to ‘shutting down’ and disassociating until I could leave when I turned 18. My music collection at the time got me through so much pain. Just putting my headphones on when I was by myself, I could either forget or feel like someone empathised with me. I’ll always be grateful to you guys for creating something that has touched so many. Thank you.
Such beautiful lyrics from a beautiful song. This is my truth somehow juxtaposed simplicity with complexity and it worked out perfectly. A truly astounding album
The video for If You Tolerate This was premiered on MTV on my 18th birthday. I remember sitting for ages waiting so I could record it on vhs, then replayed it over and over. Ran with the tape to my boyfriend's house to make him watch it too as soon as he was up. I was already a huge Manics fan but the beauty of Tolerate and the fact the video was released on that day made it so much more special. It is one of my favourite songs ever and it still gets me in the gut when the boys play it live.
I genuinely think that this song is as close to perfection as any song can be. How can you say so much with so few words? You can hum it to yourself walking alone and you can shout it out loud on a gig together with thousands of other people with tears pouring down your cheeks. It echoes with my feelings so much, I also feel so young and so vain, I also walked La Ramblas, but not with real intent... It makes me wonder, are there any real heroes left in our egoistic postmodern world?
In 1998 my marriage was over and me and my two little sons were on our own. Each night I listened to "THIS IS MY TRUTH TELL ME YOURS". And it carried me through the dark time.
I have followed the Manics since 1991 and their songs have always meant so much to me. Every time I hear "You're Tender and your Tired" I feel such strong feelings..it means so much to me as my child was very unwell. It reminds me of him and describes how my family felt. Their songs are so real and I thank them for always being open and giving us fans songs that mean something xx
This song reminds me of a dark part of the history of my country,Spain.It makes us look back to the past to understand our present and future better.
This Is My Truth was released when I was in 11 and caught my attention. I have happy memories of listening to If You Tolerate This on a beautiful day when life was simple. Sadly within a year of that I took unwell and started to understand the lyrics more. This album opened me up to music, literature and film I might not have discovered. 20 years on I’ve learned to live with my condition and the Manics words and wisdom have gotten me through some really dark times.
Having learned nothing about the Spanish Civil War in school the line "If I can shoot rabbits/then I can shoot fascists" caught my attention and sent me on a quest to read up on a part of history I knew nothing about. That quote remains one of my favorites.
I saw MSP in Osaka in February 2005. It wasn't long after the tsunami had devastated parts of Southeast Asia. I had spent days trying to track down friends who were in the area. Tsunami is my all-time favourite song, but it was hard to listen to at the time. I went to the show with a dear friend who was a huge fan. We stood huddled in the crowd, and we were speechless with awe until they sang the chorus over another song. We sang along. I'll never forget it.
I was just short of 17 when this was released, a new sixth-former with it all ahead of me. Going into winter 1998 this album was an awakening. It signalled the beginning of a new part of life; an interim period between school and work. The album was poignant and moving, yet somehow bright. The raucous anger and aggression had been replaced with a gentler vibe, but when JDB went for the jugular it was with a purer type of venom in his voice. The Everlasting’s opening line lingers on beautifully
This album is truly a life-defining album for me. Aged 16, it introduced me to the poetry of RS Thomas, which in turn led to my discovery of Welsh writing in English. Although I went to school in Wales, we didn't study this literature. I ended up studying a Masters and a Doctorate in Wales's English language literature at Swansea University, and it's in part thanks to the Manics. I'm lucky to have had the chance to tell Nicky and James this story. Diolch!
July 1998 While celebrating my Honeymoon in Greece I heard "If you tolerate …" on MTV Europe. I instantly fell in love. Upon arriving back in Toronto Canada I researched and discovered all the music I missed and have been a fan ever since. I have been fortunate to have seen the Manics live twice and look forward to a third time. Such powerful messages and thoughtful lyrics. Thank you Manic Street Preachers! All the best!
I remember hearing this song in art class at school and it just hit me in the right place. I didn't care much for school or the reprobates that I shared classes with so this song just resonated with that feeling.
Depression has been my shadow for 30 years. The painted on smile has been wiped off for the last time. Don't criticize me if I don't want to be happy. Why should I be when the world in my head is full of darkness. The world, to my eyes is dark and unforgiving.
I am unhappily married and fell in love with a work colleague. Had 1night with her and we want to be together. My kids keep me here . Sorry jo x
this is my truth helped me figure out myself. when i first listened to "born a girl" something clicked, but the other way around: "and i wish i had been born a [boy]" (i know the song isn't about that, tho)
.....not really. Ask anyone i work with and theyll probably describe me as a haopy go lucky joker, but the truth is its a mask, inside im dying.
I was 18, closeted, depressed. This album saved me, particularly I'm Not Working, which summed up exactly how I felt - petrified for the millionth time, slowly my soul evaporates, no parachutes no dismal clouds, just this fucking space. Nick wrote about depression from an unglamorous perspective with such direct honesty and grace; they gave me strength when I had none, and solace when the pain was overwhelming. They meant the world to me then, and now. I'll always be grateful they were there.
I hate my job & the guilt eats me up inside.
This song is so full of emotion, life, love and sorrow. It reminds me how deep sadness can be when someone you love has left. Cherry blossoms resemble beauty and perfection and remind me how transitory happiness sometimes is.
STILL EPIC. STILL RELEVANT.
It was the second album that I heard from MSP since I live in Mexico and in that moment it was difficult to get it, it was magical to listen to it 1998, it was incredible time and try to understand the perspective of the album, it was fascinating to discover it, after more than 20 years it continues being one of my favorites of life, thank you for creating such an extraordinary album, James, Nicky and Sean, in your memory there is also Richey, with love from Mexico. A faithful fan, Fer Rangel!
He promised my heart was safe with him. He made me brave enough to pick up the pieces of my broken self and trust it in his hands. Fragile. Lost. I thought you had saved me. My hero. But you broke me the most. Now I'm tired of being tired. I've lost faith in all humanity and my existence is lonely. My little empire.
As a kid, I couldn't connect with my sister. I was eaten up with guilt about it. We finally bonded over Manics' music. It gave us something to talk about.
Sadness, fear, regret
From Mr Carbohydrate to Mr Cale. A defiant song on a defiant record by a defiant band. Thank you.
Thank You
This music got me through when I didn't think I could get through. I spent a whole winter, anxious and alone, reading the Beats, listening to Manics, and wandering the city at night. The rhythms of the songs and the routine calmed my mind and when better things came, it turned out I was still around to experience them. Dancing to this song a couple of years later at my first Manics show was a moment of triumph and release.
I grew up in the US and was vaguely aware of MSP but couldn't name or hum a song. Meeting my now-husband in 2009 after moving to the UK, he shared his favourite band that inspired him to play bass (thanks NW). TIMTTMY quickly became my go-to album, as the melancholic chord progressions & lyrics spoke directly to the pain & sadness in my heart. Nobody Loved You just felt like 'my song', though I'm struggling to articulate why in a few short words. "No vendettas, just a cherry blossom tree."
This song always makes me reflect on the love I shared with an old friend who’s no longer here. And whilst hurting deeply, this idea of freedom from the pain they felt, and their beauty of their existence, will always bring a tear of happiness to me. Great song.
When you feel your world come tumbling down, you spend your first Christmas without your kids, you think that nobody and nothing can put into words what you feel...and then you hear it: « You’re tender and you’re tired/you can’t be bothered to decide... ». Such an exquisite, powerful. TRUE song.
C#m>C>G>Em. There you have perfect balance. Sadness. Then liberation. For me, this album walks the line. The major-minor is both ferociously and delicately executed. And the chording and melody majestic and unique to this great band.
3 years ago, I listened this song-that released 1998 when I was born-at first and I realized I also have black dog who sitting on my shoulder. Because I'm living in country where not use English, this word came to me very impressive. The dog is still on my shoulder but I just hope I can control him someday, and believe I will be.
I used to fall asleep listening to this album on cd. This song always reminds me of my brother who was also a big fan. He has since passed so listening to this album with all it’s beautiful songs always brings me joy but also sadness.
I've always felt a mess and a loser.
THANK YOU - ASHLEY
Sometimes you get the best
This track had a lot of radio play in the summer of 1999. I immediately loved it when I first heard it and 20 years on still love listening to it. Nowadays when I hear it I’m filled with both great happiness and melancholy. It was an amazing time in my life and was the year I started university in Wales. ???????
I’ve just lost everything, my wife, my job, my home, all at once, all gone, and I can’t bring myself to tell anyone.
I had better stop smiling. It gives the wrong impression... don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Just be you x
This song accompanied - and made tolerable - a long period of my life where I felt stuck. I had been raised a Mormon and found myself unable to meet the expectations required, or to even believe in what I'd been taught. Instead of leaving, I just felt uncertain, alone, and misunderstood. The song reminds me of that time. It's like an old friend. Eventually - and the Manics played a big role as it was because of them that I began reading books - I was able to leave the religion and go my way.
I’m Not Working is a track I turn to when I’m on a downer. It takes me back to a period of adolescence where I broke away from my fellow peers. It’s partly an immersion of isolation and sadness but it’s so lucid and beautiful that it feels like you are opening a door into another, beautiful world - your world, where nothing can touch you.
For as long as I can remember, the manics have run through my veins. This album has grown with me through decades of listening, and I keep rediscovering myself in it differently as the years pass by. It’s a never-ending story of tragedy, yet somehow bares a glimmer of hope. It is both fragile and tough, in equal measures. A lot like me. A lot like all of us. Thanks for creating something so profound; and thank you Mum for starting this all with a cassette playing to me as a child in 1998 xxx
In a bad place. Happened upon that documentary on channel 4 i think and toward the end those guitar arppegios soundtrack images of the wales countryside (i may have mixed memory here but it is my memory) and i decide to take off on a 300 mile bike ride from sussex to cornwall (my home) and i end up getting my Head together instead of something worse.
"Solitude the one thing that I really miss Guess my life is a compromise" I've suffered from depression a lot in my life as a result of being an overthinker of things, I've always taking these lines to sum up my desire for solitude away from my own thoughts.
I am held hostage by myself. I am trapped by me. I long to be free, with the keys in my hand.
The year this album came out I was in my prime. Killer cheekbones and happy on the outside. There was always a bit of melancholy and sadness lurking in the background in my everyday life though. Some days a blanket of despair would trap me for days. Looking back on this song I can see why it connected with my 1998 younger self so well. It has great lyrics that hit home about the weight of depression. I remember the Truth tour and meeting others that connected to the song in the same way as me.
This Is My Truth is the first Manics album I bought, coming out just as I got to an album-buying age. It was exactly what I needed. Those four tenets of culture, alienation, boredom and despair, beautifully conveyed to a teenager who was struggling with what each of those things would mean for her. Truth informed, educated and soothed me. You can't ask more of an album than that.
I believe when we are in pain, emotionally, spiritually or physically, music can be a bandage to our wounds. It can pick up the pieces of our broken heart. This album gave me hope and inspiration and Nobody Loved You is..Poetry,Dreams & Desire,and painfully beautiful! It came out when I needed,more than ever, to feel hope of a better future and a better life. Thankyou for the comfort,healing and dopamine release your music brings!
I didn't react to a death in the family in the same way as everyone else. I'd never dealt with it before. I thought it meant I was broken. I still react to death differently. But I know I'm not broken. I still feel, I just can't show it like others do. It's lonely, but that's how I cope.
My Manic's album, Black dog on my shoulder was a go to track on this album. Beautifully sad song...
It´s not joyful, not mourning, it´s just there in some way - my life and this song. I´m happy, that it´s there, because it reflects the state I´m in, even though the state may be stagnation most days. And yes btw: I´m quite happy being sad.
I’d asked a girl I really liked out for a date the week the album was released. It was a sunny September day and I’d also just bought my first car. I had a taped copy of the album in the car’s cassette player and just remember sitting at the wheel with the blue sky and her sat next to me as I heard that line in the Everlasting “the world is full of refugees, just like you and just like me”. I felt my whole life open up.
I think the guitar on My Little Empire is beautiful. The music matches the lyric — there’s poise and dignity in its resignation, and its allusions to the domestic. That’s where I was when I was 17 — I accepted that I was happy being sad, and I grew up a little bit.
A great homage to all volunteers that came to my country and fought against fascism. Every time I walk Las Ramblas it comes to my mind. At the same time an universal song that reminds us that fascism is everywhere and if we don't defend freedom it would be lost. More necessary now that when it was released. I also enjoy the music, not only the lyrics. And the voice of James sounds beautiful. An hymn in my youth.
I can't pick a favourite from this album, but Ready for Drowning is definitely one of them. To me it sums up the world today, as we wander off into an Apocalypse of our own creating, not really sure whether it's too late to start waving or not...
I've been depressed for 27 years. 4 years ago inspired by a Manics's video, I flew to Wales and spent some time there, alone; Did the same the following year and the band + the Welsh people saved me from myself. What kept me going on then and now is the hope I'll come back one day and feel loved and embraced, like I did.
A better non conformist world for my children
Reminds me of a love at the time of this album, I gave her the band and my heart. Now it is just me and the band, but this song will always send me back.
A simple slice of evocative pop rock, produced to absolute perfection. The strings, the sound effects, the layers of backing vocals in the outro, they all combine to create a truly magical work of art. The sheer definition of what a number 1 hit ought to be.
My sister and I love the Manics. We recently lost her. When I got the reissue My little empire spoke to me more than it ever had before. It made me realise that other people have felt their world is crumbling. I found comfort to know I wasn’t alone feeling that way.
I done a Jobby in a bin at a recording studio. The smell brought tears to my eyes and I pity the old man who found it and had to pick it out.
"Solitude the one thing that I really miss" really articulates to me the devastation of losing the solace of you own company. You're never alone when you're depressed, there is always something there with you, eating at your soul and taunting you. I have listened to this song so many times when I feel like hell.
When you get stupendously let down by the one person who promised you they never would.
The first radio play of Tolerate took place when I was 14/15 and at school. I was in a science lesson and I snuck under my desk to listen to snippets of it on headphones on my portable radio. It was well worth the risk of getting into trouble!
I want people to like me so desperately that it makes me unwittingly cruel.
T in the Park 1999. 14 years old. 2nd time seeing the band live. Now seen them 25 times.
The song reminds of rolling waves. When I'm overwhelmed, I'm thinking of the line "tsunami tsunami tsunami came washing over me." It's like standing alone on a small hill near the sea. And I saw the tsunami and some how I wish it came over me.
What makes The Manics so special are their ability to create gorgeous melodies with heartbreaking lyrics and this song is a perfect illustration. As a fan, they opened doors via each song to books, films, artists and philosophers. Every song was like going down a rabbit hole & you’d always discover something new. This song was released whilst was doing my mental health nurse training, so apt. I couldn’t stop listening to the album.
It was real. He was never coming back. It wasn't just about him though. I was worried about them all. I also walked away from my father. I ran away from my family and friends. 98 was a year for change. Realisation, truths. I was deeply depressed, but I didn't know that, I didn't understand. I was 17. This song was a beautiful companion to ugly truths, to adolescence, to loneliness. So many years on, so many bridges crossed, still my friend in the darkest of times.
‘I have, I gotta stop smiling It gives the wrong impression and I I love you all the same’ This lyric evokes an image of Nicky’s wide smile whilst on stage surrendering to the love of rock & roll, despite the pain & anguish it caused. Watching MSP at Glastonbury in ‘99 , my memory is being lifted by the crowd, breathless during the chorus that was both an exhilarating and life affirming moment. New Year’s Eve ‘99 with MSP was the perfect way to say goodbye for to the 20th Century!
In the summer of 1999, I was in between my 2nd and 3rd year at Boston University. Up late one night, I saw the video for "If You Tolerate This..." on MTV. Being an American I'd never heard of this band, but I was instantly hooked by that song. I was working a summer internship, location of which was right next to a Newbury Comics store (music store in the Boston area). As soon as I was out the next day I ran to Newbury Comics to buy the CD, and I have been a fan of the Manics since that day.
This song represents what i love from the manics,apart from loving everything,but this song and " small black flowers..." are just two beautiful tears that will never be forgoten as long as they mean everything to someone.There will never be enough words to describe what the manics brought to art and music.
I decided to just move away and try and go just be alone and pursue knowledge.In the modern age in particular, people tend to find you quite strange if you shy away from community or company a lot, but preceding events and losses made that quite hard.The song makes me feel a little less of a weird person and gives me a sense of contentment that its okay to just be quietly there and happy with the little things, instead of either arguing or partying or living an extreme all the time.
The first time I heard 'This Is My Truth...' was on a broken cassette player (remember those?) with one broken speaker. I was needless to say confused by the direction of this new Manics album, but when I took the tape home and listened to it in stereo, the technicolor and beauty of songs like 'I'm Not Working' and 'Black Dog On My Shoulder' forever became the sound of my autumns to follow over the next two decades.
Rejected and told I was disgusting and unlovable by My Mam, I’m felt ashamed and broken, the Manics gave my despair and melancholy beautiful, visceral words. Comfort in my working class armour, safety in my unlovable humiliation. Warmth and justification in my tears. Without the manics I would be nothing, I’m 49, still broken, but...
There’s something unique that runs through every Manics song which has made so many fall in love with them, me included. This song is so brilliant for its brutality and bizzare-ness. What other band could think of a line like “disco dancing with the rapists”? Just a brilliant tune with some gorgeous Indian vibes, encapsulating the gentler side of the Manics
Beautiful defeatist, John Cale
The first Manics album I loved
Isn't easy pick a song and explain what means to me. The thing I mainly recall about TIMT (besides of the amazing videoclips: I used to watch MTV Italia after coming back from school. It was the only "music channel" before internet era), is the concert I've missed in Milan in 1998, because my parents said that I was too young for going. After 20 yrs I still haven't had the chance to see you play live, but everytime Tsunami begins, it washes over me the same old feelings than when I was 17.
Does it matter if you ever really know - what's wrong with you? It sure does. I have recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and every line of this song makes so much more sense now than when I first heard this song in the early 2000s. Feeling out of control of your own life is terrifying. But it's also comforting to know there are people who know what I'm going through.
"This is my truth tell me yours" is the best album and the most beautiful and versatile sentence I have ever heard. These words reflect so many stories and feelings - now and in the future. I've had these words on my sleeve since 2010 and will have them with(in) me forever.
Absolutely love this amazing song, me and my partner at the time used to play this regularly and when someone mentioned that I had similar features to James the lead singer it made it all the more special, we are no longer together but still great friends and this was our song of choice and always will be
Always remember this show and this album because on the way to the show in Sept 98 my car broke down with 3 friends in travelling from Huddersfield, ended up having to be towed home all our moods had turned sad, what made it worse was hearing if you tolerate this on the radio on the way back home in the tow truck thinking we were never gonna get there! Can never thank my dad enough for getting us there in time for support band Mogwai and Amazing Manics gig in a small venue I'll never forget!
As someone for whom happy is boring, and sometimes rare, 'My Little Empire' is a perfect accompaniment when seeking happiness in the foreign country that is the past - be it 1998 or thereabouts.
Sot
If Everything Must Go created images of bright blue skies and blossom trees, then This Is My Truth added wide starry skies and cold nights to this landscape, particularly on Black Dog On My Shoulder. For me it depicts a journey through forest paths under a full moon. And the feeling of having a black dog as a companion is something we all experience, which is what makes this track even more special to me because it shows good can truly come from bad.
In 1998 I was an awkward teenager from a tiny village. Suddenly there was this band who seemed to be singing music for my soul, telling me it was alright to be intelligent, political, angry and vulnerable all at once. Be Natural has the most beautiful instrumentals, so many layers of sound and painfully beautiful lyrics. It’s written and sung from the heart and it shows.
I BOUGHT TRUTH AT '98. THIS WAS MY FIRST CD EVER. I FOLLOW THE MANICS AND THEIR CULTURE UNTIL TODAY!! TOLERATE INSPIRES ME EVERYTIME I LISTEN TO IT! MAKES ME PROUD, GIVES ME STRENGTH, MAKES ME NOT TO STOP FIGHTING! DON'T TOLERATE NOTHING, CHANGE THE WORLD... AND YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE NEXT!!!
I was 18....and I previously saw the manics at knebworth 96 supporting oasis which totally changed my life....Kettering arena was a bit special because it was the first time I could be myself wearing guy liner and glitter and not being judged for the way I look or what I listened to....you stole the sun was a turning point ....
Being fifteen and discovering that not everything is black or white is not easy, and this song is one of those that opens your perspective in so many ways. Beautiful, really beautiful.
This was the first song that woke me up to manic street preachers and the first single I bought which would soon become a life long obsession. How did i live without this band! Tsunami is the best song from this album. Nickys lyrics are at a peak here. Loved the silent twins theme throughout. This song takes back to falling in love with my favourite band for the first time.
All my life I’ve played the sad clown, nobody knows the sadness inside. This is quite simply the most beautiful, delicate song that resonates like no other
Great song back when it released yet in such an uncertain world 20 years on, the lyrics seem more relevant than ever and that is the beauty of the manics work. Timeless song
The title is one that everybody can relate to, we all got someone that stole the sun from our hearts. I have got to stop smiling, it gives the wrong impression is another line that sums up every day for the normal man.
Where it all began. My dad played this in the car when I was about 5 and even then I appreciated it. It holds my favourite life saying, as mentioned in the tiIte. It represents a departure from the testosterone fuelled political polemics of the early 90s but with greater tranquility came the same greatness of sound with the Manics. The Everlasting grows like no other song and for me has nuanced anthemic qualities with the wonderfully unique guitar solo and last chorus. A true masterpiece
I was quite anti-Manics as a 15/16 yr old, to be honest. I guess thier image didn't suit the company I held at that time. I loved Design for Life and that album as a whole but kept it to myself. This album though, took it to another level for me. Great socialistic views and real introspection of issues. Superb piece of work
I don't know exactly what it was I felt when I saw and heard it or what exactly it was that captivated me, when I first came across the band (it was 'You stole the sun from my heart' airing around midnight on MTV) but in hindsight I realize that TIMTTMY enabled or rather forced me in a somewhat radical manner to look at myself in a completely new way, from a new angle. 'Be natural' then gave it a name. For me, being somewhat around 12 or 13, their music was a propellant for my adolescence.
The first time I properly listened to the Manics as a 9 year old kid. Christmas Day 1998 - our parents had bought us a PlayStation to share and we spent much of the day in my older brother’s bedroom playing Actua Soccer, Die Hard Trilogy and Jonah Lomu Rugby with This Is My Truth on loop. I mainly associate this day with The Everlasting as it was the first track that I heard. A simple memory and one I associate with happy times between me and my brother...
I was gutted I missed out on tickets for the Sheffield gig, but my friend managed to get us spares from the student union. The gig was so powerful and uplifting. My Little Empire was my favourite song and I bought the “sick of being sick, tired of being tired, bored of being bored” t-shirt. When I wore it to my next politics lecture, the lecturer paused to point at it and remarked “I hope that isn’t an indictment of my teaching”!
The lads played the Prince Of Wales in St Kilda. Gave it the whole hog mogg ....life changing gig. The Band were loving playing a ‘pub’ gig and it was pure joy for those lucky to witness it. The photo is Mr Wire’s set list given to me from the stage at the conclusion of the gig ?????????
I was a massive manics fan before and I remember the news that a new manics song was out and I kept missing it on the radio and music channels. There was no you tube then so you just had to be at the right place and time to hear it. It felt like the whole world had heard it except me. I remember when I finally got to hear it just blew me away! So melancholic and beautiful. I Must have listened to this song well over 1000 times and it’s never gotten old.
Summer of ‘98. On holiday, walking the coastal path between Saundersfoot & Tenby in the rain, holding a walkman with speakers waiting for the first play on Radio 1 of ‘…Tolerate’. That was the moment things changed. The whole period, the Gigs, the Album was a glorious trail of magical memories that no one but the Manics could encapsulate. A Different, Mature and Wiser band leading me in to adulthood. A time I revisit often on each play.
I was 13 and developing my own tastes in music. The video for If You Tolerate This came on MTV2 and it was nothing like any other music video I'd seen before, it was so haunting. At the time I didn't entirely understand the lyrics but the images stuck with me and made me want to understand what the song was about. After that I went looking for other Manics songs and they quickly became my favourite band. I still feel a sense of pride that my older brothers listen to Manics because of me.
Tolerate was the track that introduced me to the Manics. I bought the single on tape because I couldn’t afford the CD and I played Tolerate and Kevin Carter live on loop all afternoon. My cousins came to our house later that day and I was showing them the Bradfield hop I had seen JDB do on CD UK that morning. Soon enough I was doing the hop round my bedroom with my brother and cousins - reminiscent of a scene from Father Ted. My Mum shouted up as she thought we were coming through the roof.
First album I listened to by them. The rest is history. A band at their introspective best. Song wise has to be ‘If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next.’ Song inspired by The Spanish Civil War and The International Brigades. More relevant now as it was then with the rise of the far right across Europe. We tolerated it and it’s happening now.
Last few years have been difficult and I’ve been visited regularly by the black dog. But I know I’m not the only one and I’ve tried to help others as well as helping myself... and throughout I’ve had the Manics in the background, always there to turn to and take me away for a while. Thank you.
My first email ever was no_water_taste_like_lemonade@*****.com. This explains a lot.
The Manics have always been a brilliant singles band and This Is My Truth produced four huge hits but looking deeper into the album is where the real beauty lies. Black Dog On My Shoulder is an often overlooked classic and You're Tender & You're Tired is up there with their very best. With You're Tender... I've never known exactly what Nicky was writing about and I prefer that way. It has its own special meaning to me and that will never change.
Whilst being aware of the Capel Celyn story behind this beautiful song, for me it sums up the human struggle, the very dichotomy of life itself. The Manics do this so poignantly time and again, never more gorgeously than here. Fascinated by good, destroyed by evil... But we are not ready for drowning. ❤❤❤
I’ve only been introduced to MSP and this album in the past year and it means so much to the person who suggested it to me. It now means so much to me. I think this song is so relevant in regards to how society is ridiculously intolerant now. The lyrics are so raw and honest, putting feelings into words like I would never be able to. You have changed my life so thank you.
I was living in the Canary Islands at the time of release. There was a guy that used to call to the bars selling CDRs of the latest release. I played my bootleg copy endlessly, eventually wearing it out. I bought a legit copy within days of moving home.
I was working in a supermarket at the time when the radio started playing 'Tolerate'. My older colleague stormed out of the warehouse shouting 'Who plays this song? I love it! Who is it?' Obviously I indoctrinated him afterwards.
About 10yrs ago I was very lost. I didn't know where I was going or what I was gonna do. A music aficionado friend of mine made me a mix of songs he thought I should hear and "If You Tolerate This" was the second track. I'm not one for lyrics but the sound of that song touched me very deeply. That song bore feelings of love, and joy, and hope, and sweetness. And everytime I listen to it, it still does.
The second song played (after Everything Must Go) at the first Manics gig I attended- at Glasgow's SECC on 12/12/1998. I was 16 at the time, the Manics were everything to me at the time, and the gig completely blew my young mind. I knew that night that I would be a Manics fan for the rest of my life.
Fascinated by good, destroyed by evil; what is there to believe in?
When I was studying English at uni my thesis was a very difficult thing for me. After having been stuck for a while, I decided to totally change my topic. I suggested to my tutor that I wanted to write about RS Thomas. He thought it was a great idea. Had it not been for the Manics and this album, I probably would never have heard of him. I even wrote a chapter about his influence on popular culture, which of course also includes this album. To this day I am still grateful for the inspiration!
When I was in the junior high school, I often slept over at my best friend's house. At his room there were many cassettes collection, including TIMTTMY, at that time he introduced me to MSP, "stole the sun" was my fav one, after two hits opening song, then it came, I always rewind the tape to repeat it, and my best friend mad at me, because it affected so bad to his beloved tape-deck. At the end of the song, he told the story behind it, it was from Nicky to Richey; wrote beutifully.
My teenage years were a mixture of bullying and being ill. I felt socially outcasted by my peers and isolated because of that. Anxiety and depression became a part of me. Discovering this album in 1998, I felt I’d turned a corner. That there is beauty even in the darkest of times ...
On the day my father passed away we were coming away from the hospital and the everlasting came on the radio. Although deeply unhappy I sat and let the amazing lyrics and music wash over me and it made me realize that my dads suffering was over. Whenever I hear the song I smile and remember happier times with my father
The everlasting was always just Track 1 to me....until having been diagnosed with cancer I became tuned in to every word of songs I heard .The Everlasting became that special song that resonates with me and brings me to tears every time I hear it. I’m now 15 years clear and hope that I have many glorious years still on this earth but when I do ‘bow out’ I want this as my anthem. Thank you Manics for a truly beautiful song xx
No vendettas, just a cherry blossom tree.
My son was 3. The whole album reflected my childhood and my drive to make sure he had a better one than I did. "You Stole The Sun .." epitomised my feelings - the need not to be my mother (incuding her weight), my bond with my son - the only person I've allowed myself to be close to, the fear of failing as a parent, the fear of history repeating, the joy of my child.
This is a deep and very personal truth for me but this album has kept me safe. It is an album I turn to when feeling bad, I've had severe depression on and off since I was a teen, and one particular period of awfulness had me suicidal with it. Due to being very worn and tired physically and mentally I had no strength to fully act on it. Instead with a head full of horrible taunting me to self destruct I instead hid away in bed with this album on. Soothing and comforting. It just fits.
HEARING THE EVERLASTING FOR THE FIRST TIME GAVE ME ABSOLUTE GOOSEBUMPS, IT MADE ME FEEL EMOTIONAL BUT PROUD OF THE BOYS AS ALWAYS FOR PRODUCING YET ANOTHER MASTERPIECE, AN AMAZING ALBUM. THIS BAND MEAN EVERYTHING. THE TOUR WAS INCREDIBLE AND I HAVE SUCH GREAT MEMORIES FROM IT FIRST TIME AROUND AND I AM EXCITED TO EXPERIENCE IT ALL OVER AGAIN. READY FOR DROWNING, JUST TRULY AMAZING. STAY BEAUTIFUL BOYS XXX
when first i heard this song on the radio, i instantly knew that the manics had a new album. So later that afternoon i went to the record store and buy the cassette. but late that day, a good friend of mine also bought it and gave me the tape. i didn't dare to tell him that i already have the new album. that's my truth
This album was my first MSP album and while if you tolerate this was unbelievable, this song resonated with me the most. At 14 in 1998 I did not understand it compared to my years at university in 2002-2006 where I really learnt to think. “Thought about it so many times” just seemed to sum up my life in one line about where I should be and what I wanted to do. I can’t wait to see this live in 2019 and let it take me back to those years.
“If you tolerate this... “. My great grandfather was killed by fascists in Spain Civil War... My grandfather fought there too with the Republic army against fascism and then, when all finished and it won, he was sent to a prisoner of war camp in today’s Morocco, where some where killed. This song will be with me forever, it brings me back all the beautiful and tender memories of my grandpa, who lived (thankfully) until 1992... Spain and the World itself still does not learn about mistakes.
I couldn't pick 1 favourite song on this brilliant album. But having been a casual fan since EMG, it wasn't until I happened to hear Tolerate while on holiday early this year that the Manics hit me like a giant sledgehammer of awesome. 11 months later I'm collecting every single and album, obsessing over every riff, bassline & drum fill, parsing every lyric, & crossing my fingers and toes that I can make it to a concert next year. I tolerated 2018 thanks to this band. <3
This is the album which basically sealed the deal for me! Aged 13 (I'd already discovered the band 2 years prior when they released EMG), I bought the album (with my pocket money) and, that was it, they were officially my favourite band (and still are 20+ years later)! To be honest, choosing a favourite track off this album is like asking me which one of my kids I love the most but, I pick Ready For Drowning. When i hear the organ, it sends shivers down my spine, it is so hauntingly beautiful!
Looking forwards to seeing the band perform this in Cambridge in May! In 1998-1999 I spent a significant amount of time locked in a room with this playing on a loop while I bashed out my BSc. Computer Science dissertation! And I got a First! I put it down to the album ???
I grew up in a family where music wasn't a big thing, it wasn't celebrated or understood to be anything more than a distraction. When I was 13, my best friend made me a mix tape with various indie tunes of the early nineties. One song stood out however above all the distorted guitars and sparkly choruses; A Design For Life. I needed more. IYTT was then released. I purchased it as soon as it was out and rushed home to play it on repeat. Music finally mattered. It always now will.
When I was younger, I was doing a project for school on Tsunamis, searched my dad's collection for a song called Tsunami and found this. First Manics song I ever heard, and probably my favourite to this day. Means a lot to me.
If you tolerate this was the first song that spoke to me deeply both sonically and lyrically, something I had an affinity with, so much so I picked up the guitar that week and haven't put it down in 20 years. This is my truth
This track takes me back to 1998 when I was travelling through the desert states of America. The clear blue sky’s and almost deserted roads allowed me plenty of time to reflect and fondly remember my father who passed away 2 years earlier, a proud Welshman he fought against tryranny and fascism in The Second World War and to this day the song brings a fair few tears to my eyes.
20 years later I’m still happy being sad. Or maybe I’ve just learnt to tolerate it a bit more.
I was 14 years old when my whole life changed after listening to "If you tolerate this"on the radio after school.Suddenly I found a purpose, I started dreaming, I started having goals to be a better person and help as much as possible in this world.I learnt how to be a Human thanks to this band.Books-history-music-Art all came together and created a perfect puzzle that brought me to today.20 years after that day: All the money in the world can't buy my love for this band and their art.
I discovered the Manics around the time of the 10th anniversary of Richey’s disappearance, and sunk myself into their music. YTAYT quickly became one of my favourites; I was 17, and living with undiagnosed autism and anxiety, and untreated ADHD, and I was slipping into depression: low mood, fatigue, poor appetite, no interest in doing things, and I berated myself for feeling so low when I felt I had no good reason to. The song may not have fixed me, but it did help me to feel less alone.
From the next generation of Manics fans, this album is actually just a year shy of my own existence. TIMT is one of my favourite albums EVER!. It is such a timeless meaningful record and completely relevant as it was 20 years ago. I feel it is universally understood; What with the current state of the world and affairs, It's hard not for any individual to find a track that doesn't relate to them. I can't wait to see this played in full in 2019! Thank you for everything, Stay Beautiful xoxo
I first heard this album when in the throes of depression. This song "Ready For Drowning" spoke to me as I could feel the water lapping around my neck, but wasn't ready to go under quite yet. As a bonus, I have always loved the Stevie Smith poem (see my twitter handle) and to have that as the last line was just perfect.
In 1998 I finished my first year of university, played in a band, my family fell apart and I met James and Sean the night before a gig in my home town. After the gig, James had their tour manager look for me to invite me to the after show. Couldn’t quite believe what was happening but I remember sprinting to the venue with 2 friends, James walking in and saying “hey Miki, glad you made it!”. A night I’ll never forget, during a very difficult year which The Manics helped me get through.
When i first heard if you tolerate this it was on the itv chart show on a saturday morning and it was a real stop whatever it is your doing and listen to this moment..it just blew me away. My all time favourite song. For many years after it was a regular on the jukebox in my local. I think the locals got fed up with me playing it, i didnt stop though.
This is my go-to album at night, a fantastic, beautiful piece of music, so many amazing songs, You Stole The Sun is me & my wife's song & had to be played at our wedding, (we have been together 20 years), Tsunami has always been my favourite especially live, i really cant wait to hear tye album played live in full.
Holiday 1999 (August). Austria.There for the total eclipse of the sun. Hire car with CD player. No CD to play. Short trip across border into Hungary. Stop at supermarket for petrol and a browse. Look through meagre selection of CDs on offer. Spot This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. Buy This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. This became the soundtrack for that 2 weeks in Austria/Hungary. Takes me back every time I play it. Thank you for that.
When I was 16 the time I heard if u tolerate this.. Changed my life! Everything about music. I bought the album and listened it for one year non stop. I learned english as a turkish people because of understanding lyrics. 20 years of manics in my life wish my entire life will be with manics..
'If you tolerate this your children will be next' paved the way for 20 years of musical genius, accompanying me through different moments in my life. This song struck me immediately. At the time I was studying to become a Spanish teacher and the references to Spain were a bonus for me.
It was trendy - in 98 - to like EMG, more so THB, but I loved the melodic array of TIMTTMY. I'd moved from somewhere I hated to somewhere I feared. That hate and fear surged and ebbed in the years hence. In the songs, especially Black Dog on My Shoulder, I could hear a geography of loneliness, solitude - and forgiveness too. Listening to this album, part of me grew up, and part of me was lost. But I wouldn't want to change those days, not even now. Not ever.
‘If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next’ was one of the first songs I ever heard and loved. Hauntingly beautiful, dramatic and cathartic. I would play the album on repeat during childhood holidays to Pembrokeshire. The Welsh connection still resonates now; The album has not left my playlist for 26 years and still accompanies me on my travels. Thank you for showing me a world of music that I still live and breathe to this day.
One of my earliest musical Memories was listening to ready for drowning on my bed.. i loved it. I couldn’t tell you why I loved it. It was very instinctive and sounded very welsh. It resonated with me. This album is by far their biggest push for greatness and they succeeded. I loved the manics ever since
I REMEMBER BEING ABOUT 15 AND BECOMING A HUGE HUGE FAN BACK IN 1998 AFTER FIRST HEARING "TOLERATE" ON MTV, THEN BUYING THE ALBUM. I WAS BLOWN AWAY AND BOUGHT THE FIRST FOUR ALBUMS. FINALLY I FELT THERE WAS A BAND THAT SANG ABOUT "ME", MY LIFE AND HOW I FELT. THIS ALBUM REMAINS MY FAVORITE. THIS SONG GETS TO MY HEART EVERY TIME. THE LYRICS ARE JUST PERFECT "REBULD THE VOID THE FLOWERS...." IT GETS ME EVERYTIME.
In 1997 I was a manics fan and was penpalling with my now husband (me is Australia him in the uk) in 1998 I moved back to the uk this album is the 1st album we shared together from scratch and it was the first concert we saw together 21 years later and 15 yrs of marriage we celebrated our milestone with the “resistance is futile “ tour if it wasn’t Martin smith who put me in contact with my husband our lives would of been very different xxxx
It is a source of huge regret that this song still resonates. I remember its' power when I first heard it on the original release. I really hoped it would mean less in the 21st century, however it inspires me to carry on fighting.
Grew up listening to this album a lot (usually through my mum listening to it in the car on the way to school every single day) and it takes me back to a more innocent time in my life, where I hadn’t got a care in the world
I remember the TIMTTMY tour the first time around and I was in my 2nd year at University in London. I went to the Wembley Arena gig with my friend, my cousin and my Mum. It was brilliant as Catatonia supported the Manics too. I have never been a huge fan of this album but there are some good stand out tracks, which sound brilliant live. Looking forward to reliving the experience next year.
1998. 14 yrs old. Ourense: the Blackwood of Spain, no internet, no MTV, but a local tv channel used VIVA videos: it appeared one night, I was totally impressed by the video but knowing few years later my inner TRUTH they were touching with it, the secret key, the connection with me: my two grandparents were "called" to Spanish Civil War & it was always sadly like that: WHAT YOU DON'T SEE OR TALK DOESN'T EXIST ANYMORE. TOLERATE always gives me goose bumps.
Many of the words resonated with me as a young person with mental health problems. A lyric from Tender and Tired supported me through; “it’s not trivial like they think”. That line stuck with me and reassured me it would be ok and I wasn’t just making it up or being a moody teenager, it was real. I found comfort there. 20 years later I work full time in mental health & am a successful artist/activist.
the lyric "my dilemma but not my choice' put exactly into words how I felt after being given life changing news.
When I was in the junior high school, I often slept over at my best friend's house. At his room there was many cassettes collection, including TIMTTMY, at that time he introduced me to MSP, "stole the sun" was my fav one. After 2 hits opening song, then it came, I always rewind the tape to repeat it, and my best friend mad at me, because it affected so bad to his beloved tape-deck. At the end of the song, he told the story behind this song: it's from Nicky to Richey, wrote beautifully.
When I was in the junior high school, I always slept over at my best friend's house. At his room there was TIMTTMY cassette, at that time he introduced me to MSP, "stole the sun" is my favourite one. After 2 hits opening songs then it came in I always rewind the tape to repeat it, and my best friend mad at me, because it affected so bad to his beloved tape-deck. At the end of the song, he told the stories behind this song: it's from Nicky to Richey, wrote beautifully.
There’s a quiet power to this song; it doesn’t punch you in the face with its meaning, but rather, it makes you look in the mirror and relflect and just think. Lyrically it is striking, and I love its relection of the self and the world we create and live in, and musically it is transcendent and symphonic, both of which create a work timeless in meaning, and I’ve never heard a song that does what “The Everlasting” does
Was stunned at the beauty of this song and the power the subsequent video had in portraying its message. How three young men from Wales could resonate the hardship people, including many family members of mine suffered during the Spanish Civil War with a warning of the future if lessons are not learned was nothing short of a triumph.
In Brazil during the 90s, the only way you could have access to good foreign music was via alternative radios or MTV. However, the Manics were never a high rotation band in the charts here, unfortunately. Then once, a friend of mine lent me This Is My Truth... and I instantly fell in love with "You Stole The Sun...". The Manics have been my favorite band ever since, and last year I finally fulfilled the dream of seeing them live - 20 years later. Now I have no dreams left.
Always been intrested in Cofiwch Dryweryn and drowning of Capel Celyn actually spray painted Free Wales Army top of the black rock in Brynmawr Just love this song with all my heart and now the rehearsal version is just so raw adore it
Doing drugs, weed and buckets of wizz, during one summer and this album sound-tracked that long lost summer. Hazy days with friends enjoying the fruits of youth. Before the paranoia kicked in we all bonded over songs from this album...
The first time I heard "ready for drowning" my jaw hit the floor.... 20 years on and it still blows me away with each listen.. it's an absolutely incredible song
I already knew and was a fan of this band. I was in an awful place regarding living accomodation and close family relations as well as being in the middle of doing exams. I remember listening to this album in full alone and it scared me that I resonated so deeply with the lyrics, but in more ways than one it gave me a voice of expression and courage to leave that environment as I finally recognised my self-destruction. This song is the most hard-hitting and its title is enough to understand why.
ソニーのMDウォークマンのCM曲ということで、日本ではこの曲がメインタイトルで日本盤が出たと記憶しています。しかし今回リリースされた20周年記念盤ではPrologue To Historyに差し替えられるという残念な扱い…。歌詞のフレーズやCM曲に使われたこともあり日本人にとっては、このアルバムの曲の中では好きな曲にあげる人も多いのではないでしょうか。
its bout 2010 and i was at cd store that time. i saw this cd displayed on sale box at that store. i buy this cd to get to know what kind o band is it. then when i listened it home, i said to myself WTF? how could this great band and album displayed on sale box at cd store. since then manics change my writin style too gimme a positive effects to write song more than just write but the meaning behind too is a must. well start from that day i discover manics musical from start til now. lon live!!!
This was the soundtrack to my first year at university after leaving home at 18.. The whole album evokes wonderful memories.. “In the beginning, when we were winning” encapsulates the hope I had in the new chapter in my life..
Back in 1999, I was at the university and although I'm open and friendly person, I felt that I'm all alone. One evening, there was a screening of your concert, and I stood there with my mouth open, completely numb. My soul recognised you. Till this day I'm never alone. You-the bend are my soulmates. Life has sense whenever your album comes out. This photo was on my wall for so long. I still have it and I'm 41 now. It said: Hello petals. With your music in my life I created my little empire.
This is the song that stands out for me, made all the more poignant by a trip to Bala a few years later. This era for me was the first time I saw the manics live, supported by Catatonia. Receiving my copy of the album brought all those memories flooding back.
I had been a fan of the band since their debut album. I found GT at the HMV in Toronto amidst a plethora of grunge and glam and took a chance on it. So many years & 3 albums later I was ecstatic to find the If You Tolerate This single at the same store. As with every new release from the lads, I didn't know what to expect from the new single. The melancholic grandeur of the final chorus still raises goosebumps today like it did so many years ago. The lyrics remain timeless and poignant as ever.
I was drawn by the album cover so decided to buy and use as part of my playlist for my upcoming travels to Canada/USA that summer. What followed was an unforgettable summer of self discovery with my best friend at the time, the soundtrack to which was this album. Sadly my best friend was killed in 2010 so this album serves as a reminder of care free days before having to grow up in a post 9/11 world. As the opening track, "The Everlasting" sums up this era perfectly for me.
I was in 8th grade, English class. Out teacher often put MTV on while we worked, and If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next video came on. It completely blew me away and I fell in love with the song, which led me to discover the previous Manics albums and made me into a lifelong fan.
There is no other song like this. Absolutely genius! Perfect song!
In August of 1998 I was living in Sheffield. 'If you tolerate' came up on the TV and I immediately fell in love with that song. I had been a random listener up until that point. After that I bought all the Manics discography and became a fundamental part of my education. I've seen them four times live (Barcelona, New York, Murcia, and Valencia) and hope to see them many more.
Coming out as a girl in my teens was one of the hardest things I have ever done. In the early 2000s, "Born A Girl" gave me a language so I could begin to describe the most incomprehensible feelings. I transitioned a long time ago now. It is strange now to look back on a song that captures such pain and longing when I have moved on to a far happier place, but I am still immensely grateful.
It was a quiet March afternoon... I had already grown up to be a 21 y.o. adult, but still had no idea what to do with my life. I couldn't find any comfort or meaning at all. Maybe, while growing up and trying to fit in, I had forgotten every last thing about myself... And this song just awakened me. It became a revelation, no less. A journey through time and space. I ended up on the verge of the Millenium, when every road seemed to be endless and every breath of fresh air filled me with joy ❤
I remember a kid sitting by the river one spring day, thinking about his friend, who had died of cancer, even though they had promised each other to create a band and write the best song ever. And suddenly there appeared a truly majestic song with gorgeous melody and striking poetry, and everything made sense again, and the kid refused to give up music and found new source of inspiration. Thank you for saving my life!
That year I`ve lost the person very close to me. She was everything to me: my love, my sister, my friend, my inspiration. When I`ve heard "Nobody Loved you" it was like.... It was like every line and every sound were full of my love and my pain. Every time I listen to this song, it's like I'm sending her a little letter, like I'm saying how I remember and love her. This song is an absolute masterpiece. This song is a part of my soul. One of my favourite of all time!!!
My favourite band getting to number one, back when that kind of thing mattered to me.
Always thought there is a magic to MSP's best songs, whch is finding beauty in sadness. This is one of those songs, but with the added twist of the line 'But as people we have a choice /To end the void with all its force', which I love. Also just a gorgeous tune.
I bought the album in 1998 when it was released and lost it in 1999. Bought a new one in 2000 and lost it again in 2008. Months after I bought my third copy that same year, the shop owner brought back the second copy. Still, where had my first copy gone? In 2010 I was at my uncle's house and saw 'This Is My Truth...'. I asked him when he bought it to which he replied: "you gave it to me ten years ago". I could not remember it. Two people are now listening to that album which is nice.
Manics were huge during TIMTTMY era. Seeing them live for the first time when they played in Finland 1999 was a big thing for me. I have kept track of their doings since EMG to this day. There have been ups and downs along the way. But having albums like LB, JFPL and RTF - even the solo albums - every once in a while makes it rewarding. But why did you mess with the tracklisting in SATT and TIMTTMY anniversary editions? And why no DVD for the latter? Still waiting for my copy to arrive...
I first fell in love with the music and the album when it was released in 1998. I saw the tv ad for the album and I had to have it. I also remember the truth of hearing tolerate for the first time too. By far my favourite band
I was 12 going on 13 when this came out. Manics were one of my first bands i fell in love with. Everything must go is still my favourite of theirs. When this came out it was much more chilled and relaxed than previous albums. It took me a while but constant repeats have made it a gorgeous listen. My little empire is an underrated gem. 20 odd years later and im still listening to them religiously. So much so they were my most listened band on Spotify this year! F*cken love you Manic b*stards!
Thank you for writing words that speak so deeply to me. Thank you for writing music that sits so deeply in me. The Manics came to me in the loneliest time of my life, and completed a part of me that helped me push through. I've laughed, cried, smiled, scoffed, fucked, and danced to your music many times. Thank you.
This song was already ten years old by the time I first heard it, but it instantly became my favorite Manics tune. Still pure perfection.
I can relate to this song and it has kept me going through many dark times x
I love you all the same
... I was watching the Chart Show like I always did on the weekend. But this one day a music video came on that completely captivated me. A month before there had been the Omagh bombing and the song along with it's video just resonated with me. For the next few weeks and months I listened to the radio desperately trying to catch this amazing song as I didn't own a CD player at the time. When I did hear it again it just blew me away all over again and I HAD to find out about the band behind it!
The beach pictured has become my go to place since I saw on the album. I am happy and free there and love watching the kids grow. The black dog is forgotten for a while.
Manics are the best band,TIMTTMY is a great album (fav are Ready for drowning,Nobody loved you,Black dog on my shoulders and Tsunami.And together with a few other(Manic) albums,this one basically safed my life! Also they are great teachers and cause of the Manics i have some great friends. Thank you and have a wonderful christmas James,Sean and Nicky xxx
This is my truth about the Manics. They made me dance, laugh, cry and discover that hanging around the library reading was as important as picking up a guitar and rocking out.Getting turned on to great literature, art and music. Finding other fans and sharing experiences. Rediscovering albums long forgotten or discovering ones that were missed out on release. Seen them once in 1998, 2009 and now will see them in 2019. Dear MSP, I love you. Thanks.
This was my first experience of the manics and I've fallen in love with every album of theirs before and after "This Is My Truth...".
Everytime I listen to Nobody Loved You, it makes me remember that being loved by one person for real is more important than the fake love of hundreds.
I remember the album came out when I was living in Canada. It became the soundtrack to my year over there, with Be Natural being the song I played over and over again. It was the perfect companion to the cold winter in the Rocky Mountains. To this day I love the production of the album, the clarity of the instruments, and the amazing vocals. And, in particular, Be Natural, The Everlasting, and Tsunami, sound amazing on the demos.
First time I heard If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next was a warm summer day. I had a summer job delivering fruit and veg. It came on Radio 1 and I pulled the van over for a listen. Wow. Lyrically no band has touched me like the Manics. Thought of the Irish who fought for the Republic. There may have been a tear in my eye by the end. So proud of the guys. Knew it would be a massive hit
A harrowing song referencing the Spanish Civil War whilst being so beautiful and elegant in its melody. For me it is so inspirational for this track to have been a British number 1
Ready for Drowning has the most emotional significance for me, as it got me through a very hard time I went through in University. I ended up getting "Not Ready for Drowning" incorporated into a rose tattoo on my arm. Plus, I always like a good Historical Manics song. <3
Be natural was always a song i would turn to when i would feel down. A song that covered loneliness made me feel like I wasn’t alone . “ keep me safe today and tonight”
Never heard a better manics song in all my years of being a fan. The riffs, the lyrics and the delivery. A phenomenal song and stand out track on a game changing album