Everything Must Go (Manic Street Preachers album)
Everything Must Go is the fourth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 20 May 1996, through Epic Records, and was the first record released by the band following the disappearance of lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards.
Everything Must Go
20 May 1996
1995–1996
- Chateau de la Rouge Motte, Normandy, France
- Big Noise, Cardiff, Wales
- Real World, Box, UK
45:24
Released at the height of Britpop in the mid-1990s, the album was a commercial and critical success, it reached its peak in the UK on separate occasions, debuting and peaking at number 2 in the UK Albums Chart and earned the band accolades in the 1997 Brit Awards.[6] It represented a shift in the group's sound due to Edwards' departure. The album charted in mainland Europe, Asia and Australia, eventually selling over two million copies. Everything Must Go is frequently featured and voted highly in lists for one of the best albums of all time by many music publications such as NME[7] and Q.[8]
Legacy[edit]
The album remains a critical success, an important album in Manic Street Preachers' career, and a classic of the British music in the 1990s,[42] being frequently listed amongst the greatest albums ever by British music publications.[7]
In 1998, Q magazine readers voted it the 11th greatest album of all time,[43] while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 39 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".[44] The album also placed at number 16 in its list of the best albums released in the magazine's lifetime.[8] The album is part of NME's collection of classic albums,[42] and the same magazine placed the album in number 182 on their definitive list "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[7]
Kerrang! placed the album in number 24 on their list of "100 Best British Rock Albums Ever".[45] The same magazine featured the album in number 22 on their list of "100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".[46] The album was placed in number 41 on Melody Maker's list of "All Time Top 100 Albums".[47] In 2016 the album was featured in the Absolute Radio's list of greatest albums of all time.[48]
In the end-of-year critics' lists Everything Must Go was placed at number 2 by NME and Kerrang![49][50] while Q chose the album as one of the best of 1996.[51] Melody Maker and Vox magazine placed the album at number 1 in their 1996's list.[52][53]
The album and was featured in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[54]
Website Clash, before the release of the band's twelfth studio album Futurology, said the following about Everything Must Go: "Sympathetically guided by Mike Hedges and with an empathetic but not overbearing application of strings, Everything Must Go managed to combine the more accessible sound of their early years with the vivid imagery of their previous album. Somehow lumped into the latter stages of Britpop at the time, this record remains one of the decade's finest releases and is an essential listen."[55]
In 2015 the band announced that they were going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album with their biggest headline show since 1999, at Liberty Stadium, Swansea on 28 May 2016. Special guests would include Super Furry Animals. The album would be performed in full.[56] Before the final show in Swansea the band would tour the album with a series of UK dates: Liverpool, Echo Arena (13 May), Birmingham, Genting Arena (14 May), London, Royal Albert Hall (16–17 May), Leeds, First Direct Arena (20 May) and Glasgow, The SSE Hydro (21 May).[57] In early 2016 the band announced European dates for the tour in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.[58]