What I love about the Manics is that they've never betrayed their socialist ideals. I was once told by a lecturer at university that Socialism is a naive ideal of the young; that age, hard work and savings will turn a man away from such youthful ideals. I remember thinking he was a cynical and bitter old man and promising myself that I would never sell my ideals, let ambition or success corrupt my principles. I haven't found it to be difficult. I imagine James, Nicky and Sean could very easily have betrayed their youthful vision with all the success they've had and promises of sweet deals if they do this or that. I'm proud to have been a fan of theirs from the beginning. Their music and concerts have been a golden thread in the text of my life.
This is a superb comment that hits the nail on the head. The Manics have indeed stayed true to what they believe in, as evident in their music and comments in interviews. That said, the line in Post Cards From A Young Man about not believing the absolutes anymore has always troubled me when I hear it because it suggests a questioning of some of the principles of socialism in the modern world and through life experience. I could be wrong. The principles of socialism remain just as valid today as they did fifty years ago even if the context and nature of society in the UK and wider world has often changed beyond recognition. It is by standing firm and not abandoning socialist principles that they can find an audience anew in the modern era, hence the appeal of Corbyn to so many who see him as the conduit for a re-assertion of core Labour values. I do not mean to suggest the Manics have compromised on their socialist beliefs in referencing one line from a song, but it has always struck me as a little incongruous when set alongside the political values expressed in their other songs.
Sorry, Socialism will never work...ever. People have aspirations, dreams...Socialism suppresses these..'for the general good'...it is a tyranny....intelligent people see this...
My best mate worked underground and Thatcher let him down , poor bugger had lung conditions due to coal dust... He loved the manics too , he would have appreciated this video but unfortunately passed away early 2013. Miss you Ger so much , you are always in my thoughts. Cymru Am Byth.
I'll never forget the miners strike. The narrative in this beautiful moving song is harrowing yet heartwarming at the same time. In my opinion The Manic Street Preachers are the best band in the world. They're not consumed by greed or ridiculous fashion, they are consumed with social identity, justice for the disenfranchised and the history of socialism. This song brought a tear to my eye as I remembered the long and bitter miners strike that destroyed communities and lives up and down Thatchers divided Britain.
The strike was a year-long struggle in which a community was attacked on all fronts - not only in the way the state was acting at the picket line level. In Staffordshire women were on the picket line because the area was subject to a lot of scabs. So women were absolutely critical to the strike, as this video depicts well .Throughout the whole of the strike women got involved with speaking tours, organising major events, collections and so on. As soon as the strike came along it was quite clear, within that community, where you had to put your energies. That happened with all the different groups. They all came together and formed a united front, and that was what was so wonderful about it. They understood that when there is a serious attempt to destroy our class we can all unite. I can‘t think of anything more inspiring than that.
I've listened to this about six times now. It's such a great song. It brings history to life and tackles a hugely emotive issue one that remains divisive to this day. Thatchers brutal attack on the miners and unions had terrible repercussions that echo through generations, her fascist agenda left a painful legacy that scarred the land, scarred communities, families and hearts, scars that are passed from parents to child. But Thatchers fascism has inspired solidarity, socialist action, working class community cohesion and of course the much beloved 'best band in the world', the magnificent Manic Street Preachers.
Sorry Jack, but I can only agree on one thing there and that's how good MSP are. I grew up thinking it was normal for the Miners or the Dockers to be on strike. Scargill and his communist mates were poison set on busting the country. Thank God for Mrs Thatcher for ending a period of union domination which thankfully has never returned.
Chris Evans +Chris Evans And ruined the economy and lives of communities by not putting investment back into those areas she destroyed of which some of those communities have never recovered and widened the North-South divide in the process.
The same unions that attempted to bring economic ruin to further their political agenda? Thankfully Thatcher managed to outmaneuver this red menace and left socialism in Britain extinct save for an unintelligent minority that rather take from others than earn for themselves. The left lacks ambition and thus are doomed to obscurity.
Chris Evans Well you just need to type Miner's Strike and Thirty year rule into Google to get the truth about the motives. Don't let some rudimentary research stop your ideological perspective though. It was about attitude and need. She lied. It is on record that she lied. She said they were striking for money and not against pit closures. If her methods were so just why the need for deceit.
I effing love the manics, singing about real stories, emotions, not whats fashionable at the time. Genuine genius in my humble opinion as a fellow human.
Pure Manics, one of the few bands who have kept true to themselves and their beliefs. Seems so long since Generation Terrorists but each album takes me back to treasured times and people. Thanks for making some dark days at least more meaningful and for writing words you can read, feel and trust. Another great track.
Good track and evocative video to go with it. I remember watching the Miner's strike on the telly when I was younger but really never recognising the significance of it until I grew up a bit more. The scars are still there from this conflict all these years down the line. Some things I reckon don't ever heal.
37 people are a totally lost cause, heh heh. It's remarkable at how close the chorus is to "A Design For Life" in the chords and arrangement. The verses seem to have a similar open ringing string pattern, too. Both great songs.
"Anthem For A Lost Cause" It's a cold and lonely message At the end of a song It invaded hearts and minds But they couldn't get along It can ask you to remember It can ask you for a dance So it seems that every song Now is just one last chance Take this, it's yours An anthem for a lost cause Now ashes, bone and splinter What once was a glittering prize The composition rites Oh redemption, love and departure I think your work is done Paris, St. Petersburg don't need a tower of song Escape's not worth the capture So walk that lonesome road No joy or earthly rapture Nothing to take the load ...Yours… ...Cause…
We are constantly fed that the system is working, that two party parliamentary democracy and rampant fiscal giants are what stops this country from breaking. In the past we would have an angry youth to vocalize the reality of the working class but as of 2000 over 90% of British chart entries are released by the privately educated. Social mobility, however weak it was, is dead. But once in a while something gets through to make you realise, this isn't working, this has not been working for some time. Something with the soul to make you feel instead of listen. God save the Manics, how lucky we are to still have them.
Fast becoming my favourite MSP song in todays world...A song written 5 years ago about events nearly 40 years ago still relevant right now. Shit, what a bummer!!
My late father worked at the Bersham colliery, in North Wales, til his retirement, then we moved to Kent, as my English mother got homesick, and thanks to my father, i got a job at the Betteshanger colliery in Kent, 2 years before the miners strike,. Fair play to the Kent miners they was solid as a rock, and who would have thought, that a pit in Thatchers heartland of the home counties, would be the last to go back. I hated the Tories, then, and still hate them now,.
Diolch Manix, I lived in the Valleys (Pontypridd) for few years; an open society which accepted me as part of their community. This allowed me to understand the deep meanings of their songs. Though I am not welsh in heritage but a quarter English and the rest Greek, I feel that Wales is where my heart belongs. Cymru am Byth!!
I've been to Britain many times for both business and leisure, and the only people I've ever met who have anything nice to say about Thatcher are a handful of Americans. And this is a brilliant song, so glad the Manics found their groove again.
Ads at the side of the screen like the old days, not the forced before-you-watch adverts. The ads used to be for the hosting and profits but now google and the abortion that is google+ have got their hands on it's now a cash cow so don't believe it's paying for hosting alone. Where there are shareholders there is greed and the gullible.
I wasn't having a dig at the manics. Like I said I use adblock just to stop the ads before a video. Stick em on the side or have a hundred banners and I wouldn't have to use ad blocking software.
Very surprising... . Yesterday evening I thought that it'd be good for me to read some article or watch some movie about Britain in its mid 80-s when Thacher was a prime-minister and it was hard time for UK miners. It's kind of nostalgia for me for I was only 10 when they discussed the topic all over on Soviet television (I'm Russian). I remembered that clearly. This morning as soon as I woke up the song started running through my mind though I've never really realised what the lyrics was about (my English is far from being perfect). So this evening when I started watching the video for the first time I was very surprised to learn that it's just about what I'm really interested in now. By the way could anyone advise me on some good readings about this part of UK history?
Right, exploited and kept poor- then brainwashed into thinking we can't manage if we go independent. Our ancestral lands were stolen, we will never have our share of UK wealth while governed by England. High time to become independent, gain some self-respect and change to a decent progressive society, instead of being run by right wing governments time after time.
What an powerfull video :) I was just a kid when the miners strike !?! And your right 'twas thatchers falt that I didn't have much food in my belly or decent shoes on my feet !?! Damn you thatcher ...
a song with its heart in the right place and I know that the band themselves experienced bad times - but this lyric / video comes nowhere near to describing the horror of what hard working - decent people went through due to the vendetta waged by a cruel / heartless government who had only one agenda and that was to destroy working class pride / communities and the NUM - have a look at how the tory press mocked Scargill's claims - yet they all came true - and look at where we are now paying for the rest of our lives for the mistakes of bankers - and what is their punishment haha bailouts - Anthem for a Lost Country - Proud to be the son of a miner who endured the 84/5 strike and proud of every single man / woman and child who endured - I remember the hard times when I had to watch my parents struggle to survive and thanks to the Hungarian miners who sent food parcels to the North East - never to be forgotten - Farage never forget that we all are brothers and sister - race - creed - colour we are all one and love each other :)
In the end, mines did indeed end up closing and areas that relied upon coal mining went into decline, with soaring unemployment, drug problems, mental health problems, poverty, and so on. The effects still linger today - that's the Thatcher legacy.
In the 80s Thatcher, Conservative PM appointed Ian MacGregor (who the wife writes to) as head of NCB, who then announced large scale pit closures across the country, including South Wales and other areas dominated by/reliant on coal mining such as South Yorkshire. The mineworkers union then went on an indefinite strike across 1984/85 in protest. People often resorted to suicide due to financial problems (no income), which I assume is what the husband has done.
What I love about the Manics is that they've never betrayed their socialist ideals. I was once told by a lecturer at university that Socialism is a naive ideal of the young; that age, hard work and savings will turn a man away from such youthful ideals. I remember thinking he was a cynical and bitter old man and promising myself that I would never sell my ideals, let ambition or success corrupt my principles. I haven't found it to be difficult. I imagine James, Nicky and Sean could very easily have betrayed their youthful vision with all the success they've had and promises of sweet deals if they do this or that. I'm proud to have been a fan of theirs from the beginning. Their music and concerts have been a golden thread in the text of my life.
This is a superb comment that hits the nail on the head. The Manics have indeed stayed true to what they believe in, as evident in their music and comments in interviews. That said, the line in Post Cards From A Young Man about not believing the absolutes anymore has always troubled me when I hear it because it suggests a questioning of some of the principles of socialism in the modern world and through life experience. I could be wrong. The principles of socialism remain just as valid today as they did fifty years ago even if the context and nature of society in the UK and wider world has often changed beyond recognition. It is by standing firm and not abandoning socialist principles that they can find an audience anew in the modern era, hence the appeal of Corbyn to so many who see him as the conduit for a re-assertion of core Labour values. I do not mean to suggest the Manics have compromised on their socialist beliefs in referencing one line from a song, but it has always struck me as a little incongruous when set alongside the political values expressed in their other songs.
The lecturer wasn't wrong. The problem is that socialism doesn't work in a large scale.
i think i heard nicky wire denounce his core belief ,,,with just that comment "i dont believe in absolutes anymore " ....hmmmm tricky
Sorry, Socialism will never work...ever. People have aspirations, dreams...Socialism suppresses these..'for the general good'...it is a tyranny....intelligent people see this...
Yes, it doesn't work. I live in Brazil, so i think i can attest to that.
My best mate worked underground and Thatcher let him down , poor bugger had lung conditions due to coal dust...
He loved the manics too , he would have appreciated this video but unfortunately passed away early 2013.
Miss you Ger so much , you are always in my thoughts.
Cymru Am Byth.
Althemusicman1 sad man, my thoughts are there. Alba Gu Brath.
Reply to Kawapilot.
Thank you my friend...
One of those comments you want to show support for but it doesn't seem right giving it a thumbs up. Sorry for your loss, bud.
Teared up reading that, your friend is well remembered.
Solidarity from Yorkshire ✊🏻💙
I'll never forget the miners strike. The narrative in this beautiful moving song is harrowing yet heartwarming at the same time. In my opinion The Manic Street Preachers are the best band in the world. They're not consumed by greed or ridiculous fashion, they are consumed with social identity, justice for the disenfranchised and the history of socialism. This song brought a tear to my eye as I remembered the long and bitter miners strike that destroyed communities and lives up and down Thatchers divided Britain.
The woman was pure evil.
The strike was a year-long struggle in which a community was attacked on all fronts - not only in the way the state was acting at the picket line level. In Staffordshire women were on the picket line because the area was subject to a lot of scabs. So women were absolutely critical to the strike, as this video depicts well .Throughout the whole of the strike women got involved with speaking tours, organising major events, collections and so on. As soon as the strike came along it was quite clear, within that community, where you had to put your energies. That happened with all the different groups. They all came together and formed a united front, and that was what was so wonderful about it. They understood that when there is a serious attempt to destroy our class we can all unite. I can‘t think of anything more inspiring than that.
I've listened to this about six times now. It's such a great song. It brings history to life and tackles a hugely emotive issue one that remains divisive to this day. Thatchers brutal attack on the miners and unions had terrible repercussions that echo through generations, her fascist agenda left a painful legacy that scarred the land, scarred communities, families and hearts, scars that are passed from parents to child. But Thatchers fascism has inspired solidarity, socialist action, working class community cohesion and of course the much beloved 'best band in the world', the magnificent Manic Street Preachers.
Sorry Jack, but I can only agree on one thing there and that's how good MSP are.
I grew up thinking it was normal for the Miners or the Dockers to be on strike. Scargill and his communist mates were poison set on busting the country. Thank God for Mrs Thatcher for ending a period of union domination which thankfully has never returned.
Chris Evans +Chris Evans And ruined the economy and lives of communities by not putting investment back into those areas she destroyed of which some of those communities have never recovered and widened the North-South divide in the process.
The same unions that attempted to bring economic ruin to further their political agenda? Thankfully Thatcher managed to outmaneuver this red menace and left socialism in Britain extinct save for an unintelligent minority that rather take from others than earn for themselves. The left lacks ambition and thus are doomed to obscurity.
The Deer Thatcher lover fuck off !!
Chris Evans
Well you just need to type Miner's Strike and Thirty year rule into Google to get the truth about the motives. Don't let some rudimentary research stop your ideological perspective though. It was about attitude and need. She lied. It is on record that she lied. She said they were striking for money and not against pit closures. If her methods were so just why the need for deceit.
I burst into tears at the end (again). Lovely song and lovely video.
I effing love the manics, singing about real stories, emotions, not whats fashionable at the time. Genuine genius in my humble opinion as a fellow human.
Pure Manics, one of the few bands who have kept true to themselves and their beliefs. Seems so long since Generation Terrorists but each album takes me back to treasured times and people. Thanks for making some dark days at least more meaningful and for writing words you can read, feel and trust. Another great track.
Melancholic and fantastic song ...Manic street preachers always with good songs and lyrics!
Beautiful song, MSP at their best. Love this band, true working class heroes.
Saw these guys last year in NZ. Please come back. Makes me proud of my Welsh heritage.
aww man the shot when she's listening to the Clash record one last time
Thanks for fucking making me cry
@@johnharrington5501 love this too
Made it til the last ten seconds before crying - a new record for me!
This song does not get the airplay or recognition it deserves personally
Such a powerful video, really compliments such a meaningful song
Amazing song. One of their best! I'm in tears...
Now ashes burn and splinter what was once a glittering prize. That lyric makes me well up every time.
Ashes, bone and splinters
Good track and evocative video to go with it. I remember watching the Miner's strike on the telly when I was younger but really never recognising the significance of it until I grew up a bit more. The scars are still there from this conflict all these years down the line. Some things I reckon don't ever heal.
Want more Manics? Our Manic Street Preachers playlist is a great place to start...
Manic Street Preachers - Anthem for a Lost Cause
37 people are a totally lost cause, heh heh. It's remarkable at how close the chorus is to "A Design For Life" in the chords and arrangement. The verses seem to have a similar open ringing string pattern, too. Both great songs.
brought me to tears reminds of hard times were when we lived in thatchers britain as a kid
Love this
"Anthem For A Lost Cause"
It's a cold and lonely message
At the end of a song
It invaded hearts and minds
But they couldn't get along
It can ask you to remember
It can ask you for a dance
So it seems that every song
Now is just one last chance
Take this, it's yours
An anthem for a lost cause
Now ashes, bone and splinter
What once was a glittering prize
The composition rites
Oh redemption, love and departure
I think your work is done
Paris, St. Petersburg don't need a tower of song
Escape's not worth the capture
So walk that lonesome road
No joy or earthly rapture
Nothing to take the load
...Yours…
...Cause…
Love this song, I am not the biggest fan of MSP but have really liked the more recent songs.
they just get better and better
We are constantly fed that the system is working, that two party parliamentary democracy and rampant fiscal giants are what stops this country from breaking. In the past we would have an angry youth to vocalize the reality of the working class but as of 2000 over 90% of British chart entries are released by the privately educated. Social mobility, however weak it was, is dead.
But once in a while something gets through to make you realise, this isn't working, this has not been working for some time. Something with the soul to make you feel instead of listen.
God save the Manics, how lucky we are to still have them.
UK is not a democracy
Fast becoming my favourite MSP song in todays world...A song written 5 years ago about events nearly 40 years ago still relevant right now. Shit, what a bummer!!
aLove Manics! Their songs are wonderful and wise! The best band ever!
Superb. Bravo.
My late father worked at the Bersham colliery, in North Wales, til his retirement, then we moved to Kent, as my English mother got homesick, and thanks to my father, i got a job at the Betteshanger colliery in Kent, 2 years before the miners strike,.
Fair play to the Kent miners they was solid as a rock, and who would have thought, that a pit in Thatchers heartland of the home counties, would be the last to go back. I hated the Tories, then, and still hate them now,.
This music is a perfect soundtrack for This is England. I'm in tears!
Yet the cause remains if you wish to pick it up and fight for it.
what a beautiful song! what a great and well-done video....
Absolutely love this
Diolch Manix, I lived in the Valleys (Pontypridd) for few years; an open society which accepted me as part of their community. This allowed me to understand the deep meanings of their songs. Though I am not welsh in heritage but a quarter English and the rest Greek, I feel that Wales is where my heart belongs. Cymru am Byth!!
Superb in every way!!
Классная песня, на счёт три...как вальс! Джеймс, талант!!!!
The true legacy of Thatcher illustrated here. "thatcher was dead a long time ago for me" - Nicky Wire
I've been to Britain many times for both business and leisure, and the only people I've ever met who have anything nice to say about Thatcher are a handful of Americans.
And this is a brilliant song, so glad the Manics found their groove again.
fantastic
Fantastic. I love this band
Such a fantastic video! ❤
The video is sad, the music is inspiring. Love from Russia 2020
Beautiful way to a tell a story!!
I fucking love this song! 3:08, gives me chill.
This is probably their best video/short film ever. Heartbreaking.
Make it available on mobile!!!!!!!
Brilliant song and video. Show Me The Wonder, this and hopefully Running Out Of Fantasy will be a great trio of singles.
Es la favorita de este tremendo disco, buen álbum que se mandaron muchachos. Saludos desde Chile.
Heartbreaking video with a heartbreaking soundtrack.
Beautiful song
Made my year, watching that did.
I wasnt an mps fan have listened to all and have loved it all now true word for word
Msp
Just perfect images to the MSP's music.
One of their best videos.
Fantastic band fantastic song
Terrific video
Great band, great voice James Dean Bradfield...
Mamma mia, what a song, it's moving.
I love it ❤
Great music, nice beauty..
It’s just crazy how it starts off where she’s asking if anyone’s seen her husband and Richey Edwards goes missing never to be seen again
Actually I really like the new album, played it lots, it is a grower. I do find it a bit depressing though, world weary lefties like me, we lost!
Like the phoenix, socialism is reborn from every pile of ashes left day in, day out, by burnt-out human dreams and charred hopes.
Zygmunt Bauman
Never surrender!
Love you guys
great song great video!
love it
Manics, band of the People - with an ad before their video.
Adblock is your friend.
The advertising makes it free (for the people).
Ads at the side of the screen like the old days, not the forced before-you-watch adverts. The ads used to be for the hosting and profits but now google and the abortion that is google+ have got their hands on it's now a cash cow so don't believe it's paying for hosting alone. Where there are shareholders there is greed and the gullible.
I wasn't having a dig at the manics. Like I said I use adblock just to stop the ads before a video. Stick em on the side or have a hundred banners and I wouldn't have to use ad blocking software.
oops my bad.
Lovely stuff...long live the manics
video tells it as it was RESPECT to you manics !!!"
this run of videos are cracking!
Very surprising... . Yesterday evening I thought that it'd be good for me to read some article or watch some movie about Britain in its mid 80-s when Thacher was a prime-minister and it was hard time for UK miners. It's kind of nostalgia for me for I was only 10 when they discussed the topic all over on Soviet television (I'm Russian). I remembered that clearly. This morning as soon as I woke up the song started running through my mind though I've never really realised what the lyrics was about (my English is far from being perfect). So this evening when I started watching the video for the first time I was very surprised to learn that it's just about what I'm really interested in now.
By the way could anyone advise me on some good readings about this part of UK history?
After viewing the clip of Show Me The Wonder, I here thought: Wow that escalated quickly!
stunning song and stunning video> the British public have a duty to make this NUMBER 1
The fact that shes a comedian , its a surprise she plays a role as a sad miners wife very perfectly. Love tori lyons
Everyone thinks Wales is very poor......but anyone would be poor when all your wealth been nicked and sent elsewhere with LITTLE reinvestment
Right, exploited and kept poor- then brainwashed into thinking we can't manage if we go independent. Our ancestral lands were stolen, we will never have our share of UK wealth while governed by England. High time to become independent, gain some self-respect and change to a decent progressive society, instead of being run by right wing governments time after time.
Why they import from China shit?
The difference between say Cardiff and the valleys is stark. I’ve been to both places a few times. Great people though the welsh 🏴 ❤️
TRUE Wealth is in the Heart NOT the wallet
Manics are getting better in the 2020s
Loved it.
James Dean Bradfield...the voice of British Pop!
What an powerfull video :) I was just a kid when the miners strike !?! And your right 'twas thatchers falt that I didn't have much food in my belly or decent shoes on my feet !?! Damn you thatcher ...
Great song :)
what a chorus
Лучшая группа❤
thank you comrades.
Great vid
looooooooool!
nice one!
a song with its heart in the right place and I know that the band themselves experienced bad times - but this lyric / video comes nowhere near to describing the horror of what hard working - decent people went through due to the vendetta waged by a cruel / heartless government who had only one agenda and that was to destroy working class pride / communities and the NUM - have a look at how the tory press mocked Scargill's claims - yet they all came true - and look at where we are now paying for the rest of our lives for the mistakes of bankers - and what is their punishment haha bailouts - Anthem for a Lost Country - Proud to be the son of a miner who endured the 84/5 strike and proud of every single man / woman and child who endured - I remember the hard times when I had to watch my parents struggle to survive and thanks to the Hungarian miners who sent food parcels to the North East - never to be forgotten - Farage never forget that we all are brothers and sister - race - creed - colour we are all one and love each other :)
An amazing comment. Well done for it.
perfect
only 431 976 views, what an underrated band .
Most people didnt know what is great music... Greatings from good old Germany
I love this song :')
great
You can see the reflection of the cameraman in the window just after 4:09!
Iron Maiden & Manic Street Preachers, is strange but they are my favourite bands too!!!!
Just excellent.The best band in the world(together with iron maiden) in my opinion.
Cymru am byth aways and so proud of this band for speaking out too
There's something about ruining hundreds of thousands of lives that lingers in peoples minds.
In the end, mines did indeed end up closing and areas that relied upon coal mining went into decline, with soaring unemployment, drug problems, mental health problems, poverty, and so on. The effects still linger today - that's the Thatcher legacy.
A lesson in history wrapped in a broken heart story that I'm sure has only just begun in the hills of America's coal country.
Just realised it is the same couple from the Show Me The Wonder Video.
The voice of Robbie Williams!
Isn't this the same couple that appeared in the Show Me The Wonder clip?
+Scorp308 it is
A sad end to this love story from show me the wonder to this
In the 80s Thatcher, Conservative PM appointed Ian MacGregor (who the wife writes to) as head of NCB, who then announced large scale pit closures across the country, including South Wales and other areas dominated by/reliant on coal mining such as South Yorkshire. The mineworkers union then went on an indefinite strike across 1984/85 in protest. People often resorted to suicide due to financial problems (no income), which I assume is what the husband has done.