Manic anger

Music

Manic anger

by Angela Stapleford

THOSE WHO are already fans of the Manic Street Preachers will love their latest release. Their single, The Masses Against the Classes, is a return to their earlier raw and energetic style of rock and is an attack on our rulers. It could almost have been the anthem of the Battle of Seattle. It triumphantly states that the masses have not gone away and that the future lies in our hands.

And there is even an introduction by US radical academic Noam Chomsky to the record. The power of the Manics' music and their angry rejection of capitalist society are bound to increase their popularity and provide a much-needed antidote to the stale, manufactured pop that so often dominates the charts. In fact, the single reached number one this week.