This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours is the fifth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 14 September 1998 by record label Epic.
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
14 September 1998
1997–1998
63:19
Like its 1996 predecessor Everything Must Go, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours was a commercial and critical success. The album debuted at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart, selling 136,000 copies, going Gold in the first week.[3] It sold well in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia,[4] and represented a change in the sound from the furious alternative rock sound to a more melodic and tender approach. By March 1999 the album was Triple Platinum in the UK alone and since its release it has sold more than five million copies worldwide. It earned the band further nominations and accolades at the BRIT Awards in 1999.[5] This is their first album whose lyrics were solely written by bassist Nicky Wire; their previous album still had songs that featured lyrics contributed by the late rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards.
Music and lyrics[edit]
The title is a quotation taken from a speech given by Aneurin Bevan, a Labour Party politician from Wales.[6] Its working title was simply Manic Street Preachers.[7] The cover photograph was taken on Black Rock Sands near Porthmadog, Wales.[8]
It was the first Manics album to feature lyrics solely by Nicky Wire, while all the music was written by the duo of James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours shows considerably less hard rock influence than their previous efforts and finds the band experimenting with sound and production techniques.[7] It features cleaner guitar sounds in general and the increased use of additional instrumentation such as strings, keyboards and both real and programmed percussion.[9] Clash magazine described the album's sound as "a glacial distillation of the anthemic rock that had served them so well two years previous",[10] an approach further developed on 2004's Lifeblood.
In an interview Dave Eringa admitted that: "James was piling on the pressure at the time. He's got this idea that I work best under pressure; it's about putting me under as much as he can all the time!". After recording "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next", he also said that the song went through a four-month gestation period.[11]
Eringa said that even in the week of release he was nervous: "You get midweek chart positions and sales figures all week, and it was my first chance of a possible Number One, which is such an exciting thing. Every day it was just getting worse and worse; I was becoming more and more psychotic. If it had been released the same week as a Nirvana record or an Oasis record, you'd just have to put your hands up and say 'c'est la vie' – but the horror of losing out to Steps would have been unbelievable!".[11] James Dean Bradfield has cited John Frusciante as the main influence for the intro riff of "My Little Empire".[12]
Release[edit]
The album was preceded by the single "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next", released on 24 August 1998,[13] which debuted at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, their first single to do so. The album itself was released on 14 September 1998, and its sales were such that a spokesperson for Virgin Megastores claimed it to be the biggest selling album of the year.[14][15] It reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming their only album to do so until The Ultra Vivid Lament reached the same position in 2021.[16] Like the preceding single, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours prevented Steps from topping the chart;[15] "One for Sorrow" was held off at No. 2 by "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next"[17] while the album Step One was also relegated to No. 2. The album remained at the top of the albums chart for three weeks,[18] selling around 250,000 copies in those three weeks. The album has been certified Triple Platinum in the UK and spent a total time of 74 weeks on the UK Albums Chart.[19]
Apart from the lead single, the album presented another three singles, with the second one being "The Everlasting", issued on 30 November 1998.[20] "You Stole the Sun from My Heart" was released on 8 March 1999[21] and was nominated for Best British Single at the 2000 BRIT Awards. The final single from the album, issued on 5 July 1999, was "Tsunami",[22] which was inspired by the Silent Twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons, who gave up speaking when they were young, became involved in crime and ended up being sent to Broadmoor Hospital. Both singles "The Everlasting" and "Tsunami" peaked at number 11, while "You Stole the Sun from My Heart" ended up peaking at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart.[16] In Japan, the band released another single, "Nobody Loved You", on 9 December 1998.[23]
Around the world the album was as successful as it was in the UK. In Sweden the album managed to remain in the chart for a total of 43 weeks, debuting at number 2, and peaking at number one in its second week. In Finland the album sold enough to stay in the charts for 32 weeks, peaking at number one, securing the top spot for two consecutive weeks. In Ireland the album also debuted at number one and charted within the top 20 in Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Austria and Australia. It was the number one album in Europe's for two weeks, and it has been certified Platinum (one million copies) by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The album's success ensured that by 1999 the band had sold more than three million albums worldwide.[24] To the present day This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours has sold more than five million copies since its release.[25][26]
On 7 December 2018, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours was re-released as a '20 Year Collector's Edition' on streaming services, as well as physically on three CDs and two LPs.[27] As well as being remastered, the track listing was revised, with "Nobody Loved You" replaced by the former B-side "Prologue to History". The CD and streaming releases also include various demos, B-sides and remixes.
Controversy[edit]
The album's final track, "S.Y.M.M." is an initialism for "South Yorkshire Mass Murderer". The title is a reference to actions of South Yorkshire Police in the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, in which 97 people died in a human crush during an association football match at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. Although he admitted to not having heard the song, the title was criticised by South Yorkshire's then Assistant Chief Constable, Ian Daines as "offensive" and "bad taste". At the time of the album's release, the actions of the police were the subject of a long-running and ongoing private prosecution by the Hillsborough Families Support Group. However the track was praised by Jimmy McGovern, who is name-checked in the song itself. McGovern stated that he felt the sentiment of the song was "brilliant" and that he was taken back by the "power" of the lyrics, adding "I've heard those sentiments (how do you sleep at night, etc) expressed by many of the Hillsborough families".[28]
Manic Street Preachers
Additional personnel
Sources