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The Manics have been around forever and a day. Formed when they were at school in Blackwood, Wales, they made their breakthrough in the early 90's. They have often been viewed as an highly political group with their intelligent and opinionated lyrics mixed with their working class backgrounds.

It is fair to say that their career can probably be broken into 3 stages, with Richey Edwards; after his disappearance and their current renaissance. During the first period they were seen as a cult band and their fans fiercely defended them. They have never completely been the darlings of the musical press and Edwards in the early days made a few protests against some of the big names like NME.

When they started to record new material that Edwards had had no involvement in they seemed to lose a spark, they didn't seem to have the same passion any more. It has been said it was like they were playing music without turning up the amp. The good news is with their latest album they seem to have buried the ghost of Edwards, nearly 13 years on. Now they are almost the Grandads of British Rock and they are back to where they were at the beginning, this is how they should sound and it can only get better.