Aye, them were the days!

[Soft As Leprosy]

Inspired by this from the random manics thread:

Originally Posted by crush_my_bones

I've been getting quite nostalgic recently, as someone informed me that next year will be the 10th anniversary of my first ever Manics gig (Glasgow SECC 2002). I thought it was longer than that, but hey ho. Anyway, I thought I would share my favourite Manics memories (not in any particular order).

- Alex (Alexkid) leaving me a bottle of Babycham in a leopard print bag outside my student halls on my 18th birthday. (Only for some wee twat to steal it! ) Still, was a lovely thought!

- Lipstick Traces signing session at Virgin in Glasgow.
Met so many lovely people that day, and got a lot of Manics stuff signed too. None of this "the band will only be signing the new album" HMV bullshit. I think I also bought Nicky a toothbrush set too, because he had been on Glasto highlights the weekend before, stating he liked brushing his teeth, or something. Maybe

- James calling me "Granty" after his gig at King Tuts.
One of the best moments of my life. ever.

- Turning up for a Barrowlands gig 5 minutes before the door opened and getting in before everyone else, as my girlfriend was on crutches. Got so many daggers that night, but was still quite cool

- The NME mentioning me in a T in the Park review ("Boy with his arms draped over the barrier, white t-shirt and leopard print scarf, with Richey hair.."). Although she did say something like "It appears the church of Divine Brilliance attracts new members" EH NO. I actually emailed a complaint to her, explaining I wasn't a newbie.

- Meeting my ex at Connect Festival.
Things didn't work out for us, but meeting her still has to go down as one of my favourite moments of being a Manics fan. You clearly meet the best girls at the barrier of a Manics gig!

- Drinking with Will in London
LOL at the Security for the Roundhouse saying "have another drink and you won't get in"....as I tried to hide my 90% vodka and 10% coke drink

I'm sure there are more, but I don't want to bore you for too long. Just had to randomly say some of this!

...i love a bit of nostalgia me, so here's one of my favourite manics memories, how i got into them!

1998: 16 yrs old, in the sixth form at school, musically a bit directionless, casually listened to stuff like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, Terrorvision, Oasis, James, Bush, Travis (pls don't tell anyone about those last 2). Anyhoo, doin my a-levels I got to know a girl in my year really well. She was different, alternative, v cool and completely rocked my head! She was also a massive fan of a band i'd maybe heard of in passing but was pretty much unaware of: yep, twas Manic Street Preachers. She played me a few random tracks and to be honest i wasn't really that fussed to start off with. I was in a total Radiohead phase and so the Manics kinda passed me by.

So one day I mentioned the Manics to a guy I worked with at my part time supermarket job and a couple of days later he handed me an old cassette of Generation Terrorists and gave me some blurb about how good they used to be and how they'd sold out blah blah blah. So I took it home and stuck it on a little radio cassette player and laid on my bed and listened. Oh my fuckin god. I literally cannot describe the feeling as I listened more and more to it, reading the lyrics and snippets of quotes in the sleeve. It sounds a bit cliched but i was completely blown away, it really did feel life changing, like my tiny mind had opened up and there was nothing else in the world as important as this band and what they were saying. I absolutely fell in love with them, much to the derision of a lot of my mates, but i was well and truly hooked. I'd pretensiouly quote Manics lyrics and stuff from Plath, Satre et al, all the freakin time to anyone who'd listen. I must've been a complete pain in the arse. Wait, i still do that now from time to time. Ha!

Once i'd been 'converted' I only knew GT but quickly got to grips with TIMTTMY as that was in the charts at the time. So they were my first 2 Manics albums. I then got into THB. Again, how can you describe what effect an album like that has on you?! It was blinding, just awesome. Nothing else i'd ever listend to could touch it. Then it was GATS, which was great for filling up on my now Manics addiction. Next up was EMG which was just glorious and kinda bit sad after experiencing GT, GATS and THB. Along the way i picked up the pre-GT stuff from here n there and GT singles had been re-issued (i think around '96/97) so i found those sitting on the shelf in HMV. There was also a little independent record shop in my hometown which was great for home-made Manics B-sides/rarities compilation CDs, as well as the odd early single, found From Despair to Where and Faster/PCP in there.

So that was how i got into the Manics. 13 yrs and a bit of a rough ride at times since those early days of absolute-unobjective-adoration for every song they'd ever recorded. But i do still love 'em! Would be great to hear anyone else's nostalgic junk!

[Grant]

Glad to have inspired you!

And good to hear your story