Generation Terrorists

Generation Terrorists
LP by Manic Street Preachers
Released	February 10, 1992
Recorded	Blackbarn Studios, August-December 1991
Genre	Rock
Length	73 min 11 sec
Record label	Columbia Records
Producer	Steve Brown
Professional reviews
Q	4 stars out of 5	link (http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music.review.redirect&fixture_review=134159&resource=134159&fixture_artist=145875)
Rolling Stone magazine	4 stars out of 5	February 1999 (http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music.review.redirect&fixture_review=134159&resource=134159&fixture_artist=145875)
Allmusic.com	4 stars out of 5	Link (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDMISS70404112128090409&sql=Adb6wtro9kl6x)
Manic Street Preachers Chronology
	Generation Terrorist (1992)	Gold Against the Soul (1993)

Generation Terrorists is the debut album by Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers released on February 10 1992. Its working title was Culture, Alienation, Boredom & Despair (a line from the album's fifth single "Little Baby Nothing") and was produced by Steve Brown. It was recorded by tracking (the band recorded each instrument separately rather than playing it as a live band and then adding the overdubs later) over a period of 23 weeks at Blackbarn Studios, near Guildford, England.

To avoid controversy in the US, the track list was changed and some of the more "difficult" tracks were dropped. The album was released in its full, uncensored form everywhere else. Ironically, Manics icons The Clash ran into this exact same problem with their debut album The Clash.

All lyrics were written by Nicky Wire (real name Nicholas Jones) and Richey James Edwards. 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 movie Times Square).

Musically the album is reminiscent of Appetite For Destruction era Guns N' Roses while the lyrics are politicalised like that of The Clash and Public Enemy. Wire and Edwards's love of poetry is also evident in the nature of their lyrics. The track "Repeat (Stars And Stripes)" is a remix of the band's own anti-monarchy tirade, originally a double A-Side single with "Love's Sweet Exile", by Public Enemy production team The Bomb Squad of whom Bradfield and Edwards are big fans.

The cover was originally intended to be Andres Serrano's Pisschrist, a Jesus figure inside a tank of blood and urine, but Sony wanted to avoid any religious controversy; also, the royalty demanded for the piece was deemed excessive. Other ideas were the Bert Stern Marilyn Monroe photographs, a sandpaper sleeve that would scratch the album itself as well as anything else that it was shelved by (an old Situationist prank, this idea was also used by The Durutti Column for their first album The Return Of The Durutti Column), as well as several other famous religious paintings.

The eventual front cover of the album was a picture of Edwards's right arm and chest. The arm had a tattoo of a rose with the words "USELESS GENERATION" underneath, which was changed to read "GENERATION TERRORISTS". This was not without problems, as the original pressing had made Edwards's flesh to be bright pink as opposed to the intended mustard. The back featured a design similar to their earlier New Art Riot EP cover, an EC Flag, though this time it was crumbled and in flames.

Contents

1 Quotations 2 Track listing 2.1 UK 2.2 USA

Quotations

The album sleeve featured quotes from various literary figures that were considered relevant to particular songs.

Track listing

UK

1. "Slash 'N' Burn" (March 16 1992) - sleeve features a quotation from E. E. Cummings.
2. "Nat West – Barclays – Midlands – Lloyds" - sleeve features a quotation from Philip Larkin.
3. "Born To End" - sleeve features a quotation from Rimbaud.
4. "Motorcycle Emptiness" (June 1 1992) - sleeve features a quotation from Sylvia Plath.
5. "You Love Us" (January 16 1992) - sleeve features a quotation from the Manifesto of the Futurists.
6. "Love's Sweet Exile" (October 29 1991) - sleeve features a quotation from Kotanyi,Vaneigem (IS no.6, 1961).
7. "Little Baby Nothing" (November 15 1992) - sleeve features a quotation from Valerie Solanas.
8. "Repeat (Stars And Stripes)" - sleeve features a quotation from Chuck D.
9. "Tennessee" - sleeve features a quotation from Ten Bears For the Comanche at the Council of Medicine, Lodge Creek, 1867.
10. "Another Invented Disease" - sleeve features a quotation from Albert Camus.
11. "Stay Beautiful" (July 29 1991) - sleeve features a quotation from Confucius.
12. "So Dead" - sleeve features a quotation from Ibsen.
13. "Repeat (UK)" - sleeve features a quotation from George Orwell.
14. "Spectators Of Suicide" - sleeve features a quotation from Henry Miller.
15. "Damn Dog" - sleeve features a quotation from the Sleez Sisters (misspelled (sic) as "Sleaze Sisters", a different artist altogether)
16. "Crucifix Kiss" - sleeve features a quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche.
17. "Methadone Pretty" - sleeve features a quotation from William Burroughs.
18. "Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll" - sleeve features a quotation from Nik Cohn.

USA

1. "Slash 'N Burn"
2. "Natwest – Barclays – Midlands – Lloyds"
3. "Love's Sweet Exile"
4. "Little Baby Nothing"
5. "Another Invented Disease"
6. "Stay Beautiful"
7. "Repeat (UK)"
8. "You Love Us"
9. "Democracy Coma"
10. "Crucifix Kiss"
11. "Motorcycle Emptiness"
12. "Tennessee"
13. "Repeat (Stars And Stripes)"
14. "Condemned To Rock 'N' Roll"