Manic Street Preachers - Generation Terrorist

During the late 8os and early 90s, I saw my musical taste shifted from punk to metal, specifically thrash metal. Metal is not that alien to me since my older brothers groomed me to bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. So shifting gears towards metal was like visiting an old uncle. Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Death Angel, Motorhead, Iron Maiden and the crossed-over DRI were the staples around the house for a number of years. And in between my Metallicas and Slayers were the so-called alternative bands like Sonic Youth and the Pixies. To make matters worse for punk music, a bag full of punk and hardcore cassettes was stolen. Though most of them were copies I made from my friends’ LPs, punk classics such as Black Flag’s Damaged, Dead Kennedys’ Fresh Fruits, Crucifix’ Dehumanization, Descendents’ Milo Goes to College and Enjoy, and Verbal Abuse’s Just An American Band we’re lost in that bag.

And then, a slew of “underground” releases were made available locally that made me realized how much I missed punk rock. Bands like Manic Street Preachers, Senseless Things and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin gave me a wake-up call. I know, these bands were not exactly punk bands but they sure sounded like one which was more than ok for me. The Manic’s Generation Terrorist and Senseless Things’ Empire of the Senseless” were totally awesome plus Ned’s Atomic Dustbins’ Kill Your Television” blew me away!

So, I tried to scrounge every music store here in Manila looking for my old punk classics. At first, all I can manage to get were the Clash, the Damned, Minor Threat and Sex Pistols’ records. Then came Tower Records. They carried lots of titles my normal record store wouldn’t carry. I bought my Bad Brains’ ROIR cd there, tons of Descendents, Black Flag and Circle Jerks records plus a whole lot more. I know what it felt like to be in a record collectors’ heaven! But the downside was these records don’t come cheap but that didn’t stop me. I finally got the Verbal Abuse and Crucifix cd’s from my friend who introduced me to crust.

I ran across my high school buddy in our reunion 6 years ago and asked him if he still has the Crucifix and Verbal Abuse vinyl. He still has them but wouldn’t sell them to me. Damn!

Anyways, I was so glad I came across Manic Street Preachers and the Senseless Things. They sure helped me find my lost youth.

Enjoy!


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