| Generation Terrorists | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 10 February 1992 | |||
| Recorded | July–December 1991 | |||
| Studio | Black Barn Studios inLondon, England | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 73:00 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Steve Brown,The Bomb Squad(track 8) | |||
| Manic Street Preachers chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Generation Terrorists | ||||
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Generation Terrorists is the debut studio album by Welshalternative rock bandManic Street Preachers, released on 10 February 1992 byColumbia Records.
On the back of significant media attention and a "disproportionately high press profile" generated by the band's previously released single "Motown Junk" from 1991,[1]Generation Terrorists was long-awaited by critics[2] thanks to the members' proclamation that their debut would be the "greatest rock album ever"[3] and sell around sixteen million copies around the world, "fromBangkok toSenegal".[4] Recorded between July and December 1991 and released in February 1992, the album did not meet these sales figures but it was nonetheless ultimately certifiedGold in the United Kingdom[5] and also charted within the Top 100 inJapan.[6]
Generation Terrorists was recorded bytracking (the band recording each instrument separately rather than playing it as a live band and then adding the overdubs later) over a period of twenty-three weeks at Blackbarn Studios, nearGuildford, England.
Producer Steve Brown decided not to use live drums on the album, and so most of the drum tracks were recorded with adrum machine, which was programmed by the band's drummerSean Moore.[7]
Describing the album's musical style,the Quietus opined "It had to sound passé, it had to be overdone; if you're trying to bulldoze the shiny edifice of western pop culture, you can't do it tastefully or with subtlety, can you? [...]Generation Terrorists intentionally overplays its hand, overeggs its pudding and spunks its load at every turn".[8] andPitchfork writer Joe Tangari wrote thatGeneration Terrorists "walked a weird line between agit-punk,cock rock, romantic melodicism and glam, and was so obviously patterned afterthe Clash'sLondon Calling that it was actually kind of cute."[3] Critics have labelled the album asglam rock,[9]hard rock,[10]punk rock,[11]glam punk[12] andglam metal.[13] Other influences on the album's sound includeGuns N' Roses and theNew York Dolls.[9]
All lyrics were written by Richey Edwards andNicky Wire. All music was written by James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore (except "Damn Dog", which is a cover version of a song by the Sleez Sisters from the 1980 movieTimes Square). The album's lyrics are politicised similar to that of The Clash andPublic Enemy,[14] with the album's songs regularly switching from a critical focus on globalcapitalism to more personal tales of despair and the struggles of youth.[15] Examples of the more politically inspired side ofGeneration Terrorists include the opening track "Slash 'n' Burn", which concerns "third world exploitation",[15] the track "Repeat (Stars and Stripes)", a remix of the band's own anti-monarchy tirade by Public Enemy production teamThe Bomb Squad[16] and "Another Invented Disease", a song whose title was deliberateword play onAIDS and referred to aconspiracy theory insinuating that the virus was manufactured by Americanbiological warfare scientists.[16]
Other tracks combine personal and political themes, implicating a connection between globalcapitalism and personal struggle; "Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds" was written as a critique of overseas banking credit policies, but also concernedRichey Edwards' issues involving overdrafts and refused loans.[17] Marc Burrows ofDrowned in Sound considered the song to be an accurate prediction of "global financial meltdown" and its effects on everyday life.[7] The single "Motorcycle Emptiness", meanwhile, criticizesconsumerism as a "shallow dream"[17] that makes human life overtly commercialized.[7] "Little Baby Nothing", a duet betweenTraci Lords and Bradfield, was described by Priya Elan of theNME as a "perfect snapshot of [female] innocence bodysnatched and twisted".[18]
Wire and Edwards' love of poetry is also evident in their lyrics.Stuart Maconie ofSelect speculated that the album's lyrics were not primarily written for usage in song format: "You got the impression that often they haven't even been tried out in the mouth".[19] Instead, revolutionary slogans,[20] and rhyme-free verse conveying multiple messages[19] combine to create an album "drenched in Richey and Nicky's cut-n-paste lyrical agitation",[20] with vocalist Bradfield "fitting sentences along the lines of 'Nagasaki royal alienation consumer deathmask strychnineholocaust hate' into the restrictive confines of a melodic rock chorus."
Edwards assumed responsibility for the cover; among ideas he had were usingAndres Serrano'sPiss Christ,[21] aJesus figure inside a container of urine;[22] theBert SternMarilyn Monroe photographs; a sandpaper sleeve that would scratch the album itself as well as anything else that it was shelved by (similar toMémoires byAsger Jorn andGuy Debord);[23] as well as several other famous religious paintings; but these suggestions were either declined or found too expensive.[21]
The final front cover of the album was a picture of Edwards' left arm and chest. The arm had a tattoo of a rose with the words "useless generation" in capitals underneath, which was changed to "generation terrorists". This was not without problems, as the original pressing had made Edwards' flesh to be bright pink as opposed to the intended mustard. The back cover featured a design similar to their earlierNew Art Riot EP cover, anEC Flag, though this time it was crumpled and in flames. Theworking title of the album wasCulture, Alienation, Boredom & Despair (a lyric from the song "Little Baby Nothing").
Generation Terrorists was released on 10 February 1992.[2] The album entered theUK Rock Chart at No. 1,[5] selling around 250,000 copies worldwide initially.[24] These sales coincided with the 1992BRIT Awards, whose winners relegatedGeneration Terrorists to a peak of No. 13 in theUK Albums Chart and has spent a total of 28 weeks in the top 100.[5] Early pressings of the album contain a sample fromA Streetcar Named Desire at the start of "Little Baby Nothing". It was removed from later pressings and does not appear on the legacy 20th anniversary edition of the album. The success of 1996'sEverything Must Go at the 1997BRIT Awards ensured that sales ofGeneration Terrorists and subsequent albumsGold Against the Soul andThe Holy Bible enjoyed a late surge; the band's debut sold an extra 110,000 copies.[25]
In the US, the track listing was changed, and some of the more political tracks were dropped. "Democracy Coma" was added to make up for this; it was later released as theB-side to "Love's Sweet Exile"/"Repeat", and also appeared onLipstick Traces (A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers). In addition, four tracks on the US release ("Slash 'n' Burn", "Nat West–Barclays–Midlands–Lloyds", "Little Baby Nothing" and "You Love Us") were remixed byMichael Brauer. These same four tracks also featured live drumming from American drummerZachary Alford. These tracks were later included on theStars and Stripes EP in Japan.[7]
The album failed to chart in the United States, shifting only 35,000 units. Music journalistSimon Price suggested that this was because of the arrival of bands such asNirvana,Pearl Jam andSoundgarden as the "new rock-megastar elite".[26]
On 5 November 2012,Generation Terrorists was re-released for its 20th anniversary. There are five editions of the re-release: the original album; a two-disc Deluxe Edition with a bonus disc of demos and a DVD of the documentary filmCulture, Alienation, Boredom, Despair, about the making of the album – when purchased from theRough Trade record store in London it also included a free ticket to a showing of the documentary film, followed by an acoustic gig with James Dean Bradfield on 6 November; a four-disc limited edition (3,000 copies worldwide), including, in addition to the contents of the two-disc edition, a replica of aGeneration Terrorist tour VIP pass; a 10" collage by Richey Edwards; a 10" vinyl LP of a rare Manics radio performance; and a 28-page book from Nicky Wire's personal archive.[27]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [28] |
| Alternative Press | [29] |
| BBC | favourable[30] |
| Clash | 8/10[31] |
| Drowned in Sound | 8/10[32] |
| The Guardian | [33] |
| The Independent | [34] |
| NME | 10/10[8] |
| Q | [35] |
| The Quietus | favourable[36] |
Soon after its releaseGeneration Terrorists was greeted with a favourable reception from magazines such asKerrang! andRAW,[5] along with a number 15 placing in theNME Albums of the Year list for 1992.[37] Andy Gill, music critic forThe Independent, highlighted in a review of the album's 2012 reissue that the music was "derided as sub-Clash" in other contemporary appraisals, but remarked that it "now has an astringent edge".[34] The album's length[30][32] and lack of "quality control"[15][32][38] were common criticisms.Richey Edwards said that "everybody knows the first album would have been better if we'd left out all the crap."[15] The underproduction of the album was a common cause of complaint among the band's adherents until the superior mix of the Anniversary Edition in 2012.
Nevertheless, by 2012 critics' perception ofGeneration Terrorists had remained generally positive. In their retrospective review of the album,The Quietus wrote, "Generation Terrorists should be celebrated, because among its messy feast of ideas it remembers to be fun. There's a cleansing and creative glee in its righteous rage and cultural destruction that's rarer inGold Against the Soul andThe Holy Bible."[8]AllMusic wrote, "Since the Manics deliver these charged lyrics as heavy guitar-rockers, the music doesn't always hit quite as forcefully as intended", stating that the "relatively polished production and big guitar sound occasionally sell the music short, especially the lesser songs", but calling the band's passion "undeniable, even on the weaker cuts [...] Debut albums rarely come as ambitious as the Manic Street Preachers'Generation Terrorists."[28]
NME listedGeneration Terrorists as the 18th greatest debut album from the last 50 years, describing the record as "angry as it was bright, the Manics blowtorched their manifesto in pulverising punk guitar squeals."[39] In a 2012 "In Depth" feature, Dom Gourlay ofDrowned in Sound declaredGeneration Terrorists to be the most important debut of the 1990s.[40] In a February 2011 issue ofQ it was voted by readers at #77 in "The 250 Best Albums of Q's Lifetime" featuring albums between 1986 and 2011.[41] The same magazine gave the record the award for Classic album in theQ Awards in 2012.[42]
All lyrics are written byRichey Edwards andNicky Wire; all music is composed byJames Dean Bradfield andSean Moore, except "Damn Dog", byJacob Brackman and Billy Mernit.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Slash 'n' Burn" | 4:00 |
| 2. | "Nat West–Barclays–Midlands–Lloyds" | 4:32 |
| 3. | "Born to End" | 3:55 |
| 4. | "Motorcycle Emptiness" | 6:08 |
| 5. | "You Love Us" | 4:18 |
| 6. | "Love's Sweet Exile" | 3:29 |
| 7. | "Little Baby Nothing" (5:22 on early pressings) | 5:00 |
| 8. | "Repeat (Stars and Stripes)" | 4:09 |
| 9. | "Tennessee" | 3:06 |
| 10. | "Another Invented Disease" | 3:24 |
| 11. | "Stay Beautiful" | 3:10 |
| 12. | "So Dead" | 4:28 |
| 13. | "Repeat (UK)" | 3:08 |
| 14. | "Spectators of Suicide" | 4:40 |
| 15. | "Damn Dog" | 1:52 |
| 16. | "Crucifix Kiss" | 3:39 |
| 17. | "Methadone Pretty" | 3:56 |
| 18. | "Condemned to Rock 'n' Roll" | 6:06 |
| Total length: | 73:00 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 19. | "A Vision of Dead Desire" | 3:14 |
| Total length: | 76:14 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 19. | "Motown Junk" | 3:58 |
| Total length: | 76:58 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Slash 'n' Burn" | 4:00 |
| 2. | "Nat West–Barclays–Midlands–Lloyds" | 4:32 |
| 3. | "Love's Sweet Exile" | 3:29 |
| 4. | "Little Baby Nothing" | 5:00 |
| 5. | "Another Invented Disease" | 3:24 |
| 6. | "Stay Beautiful" | 3:10 |
| 7. | "Repeat (UK)" | 3:09 |
| 8. | "You Love Us" | 4:18 |
| 9. | "Democracy Coma" | 3:44 |
| 10. | "Crucifix Kiss" | 3:39 |
| 11. | "Motorcycle Emptiness" | 6:08 |
| 12. | "Tennessee" | 3:06 |
| 13. | "Repeat (Stars and Stripes)" | 4:08 |
| 14. | "Condemned to Rock 'n' Roll" | 6:06 |
| Total length: | 57:53 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 19. | "Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)" | 3:44 |
| Total length: | 76:44 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Slash 'n' Burn" (House in the Woods demo) | 3:59 |
| 2. | "Nat West–Barclays–Midlands–Lloyds" (Marcus demo) | 4:02 |
| 3. | "Born to End" (Marcus demo) | 2:55 |
| 4. | "Motorcycle Emptiness" (House in the Woods demo) | 6:26 |
| 5. | "You Love Us" (Heavenly version) | 4:26 |
| 6. | "Love's Sweet Exile" (House in the Woods demo) | 3:15 |
| 7. | "Little Baby Nothing" (House in the Woods demo) | 4:25 |
| 8. | "Repeat" (Marcus demo) | 2:42 |
| 9. | "Tennessee" (House in the Woods demo) | 2:56 |
| 10. | "Another Invented Disease" (House in the Woods demo) | 3:32 |
| 11. | "Stay Beautiful" (Marcus demo) | 3:14 |
| 12. | "So Dead" (House in the Woods demo) | 4:24 |
| 13. | "Repeat" (House in the Woods demo) | 3:11 |
| 14. | "Spectators of Suicide" (House in the Woods demo) | 5:50 |
| 15. | "Damn Dog" (live) | 1:48 |
| 16. | "Crucifix Kiss" (Marcus demo) | 3:42 |
| 17. | "Methadone Pretty" (House in the Woods demo) | 4:12 |
| 18. | "Suicide Alley" (South Wales demo) | 2:35 |
| 19. | "New Art Riot" (South Wales demo) | 2:55 |
| 20. | "Motown Junk" (London studio demo) | 2:53 |
| 21. | "Motown Junk" | 4:00 |
| Total length: | 57:53 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Culture, Alienation, Boredom and Despair" (a film aboutGeneration Terrorists) | |
| 2. | "Unseen super eight montage" | |
| 3. | "Home road movie" | |
| 4. | "Motown Junk" (video) | |
| 5. | "You Love Us" (Heavenly version) (video) | |
| 6. | "Stay Beautiful" (video) | |
| 7. | "Loves [sic] Sweet Exile" (video) | |
| 8. | "You Love Us" (Columbia version) (video) | |
| 9. | "Slash 'n' Burn" (video) | |
| 10. | "Motorcycle Emptiness" (video) | |
| 11. | "Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)" (video) | |
| 12. | "Little Baby Nothing" (video) | |
| 13. | "Repeat" (video) | |
| 14. | "Nat West–Barclays–Midlands–Lloyds" (video) | |
| 15. | "Snub" (Generation Terrorists at the BBC) | |
| 16. | "Rapido" (Generation Terrorists at the BBC) | |
| 17. | "Band Explosion" (Generation Terrorists at the BBC) | |
| 18. | "Rapido" (Generation Terrorists at the BBC) | |
| 19. | "You Love Us" (Top of the Pops) | |
| 20. | "Motorcycle Emptiness" (Top of the Pops) | |
| 21. | "Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)" (Top of the Pops) |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Motorcycle Emptiness" (South Wales demo) | |
| 2. | "Generation Terrorists" (South Wales demo) | |
| 3. | "Poleaxed" (South Wales demo) | |
| 4. | "Faceless Sense of Void" (London demo) | |
| 5. | "UK Channel Boredom" (flexi disc) | |
| 6. | "Colt 45" (South Wales demo) | |
| 7. | "Crucifix Kiss" (House in the Woods demo) | |
| 8. | "Natwest-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds" (House in the Woods demo) | |
| 9. | "Spent All Summer" (South Wales demo remastered) | |
| 10. | "Behave Yourself Baby" (home demo remastered) | |
| 11. | "Sorrow 16" (B-side to "Motown Junk") | |
| 12. | "We Her Majesty's Prisoners" (B-side to "Motown Junk") | |
| 13. | "Spectators of Suicide" (B-side to "You Love Us" (Heavenly version)) | |
| 14. | "Starlover" (B-side to "You Love Us" (Heavenly version)) | |
| 15. | "R.P. Murphy" (B-side to "Stay Beautiful") | |
| 16. | "Soul Contamination" (B-side to "Stay Beautiful") | |
| 17. | "A Vision of Dead Desire" (B-side to "You Love Us" (re-recorded version)) | |
| 18. | "Ain't Going Down" (B-side to "Slash 'n' Burn") | |
| 19. | "Bored Out of My Mind" (B-side to "Motorcycle Emptiness") | |
| 20. | "Never Want Again" (B-side to "Little Baby Nothing") | |
| 21. | "Dead Yankee Drawl" (B-side to "Little Baby Nothing") | |
| 22. | "Democracy Coma" (B-side to "Love's Sweet Exile") |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Love Us" (live) | |
| 2. | "Under My Wheels" (live) | |
| 3. | "Slash 'n' Burn" (live) | |
| 4. | "Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds" (live) |
Manic Street Preachers
Additional musicians
| Technical personnel
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Weekly charts[edit]
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