Manic Street Preachers have announced a new book charting the “definitive history” of the band, 168 Songs Of Hatred And Failure. Find all the details below.
Written by Keith Cameron, the forthcoming title is described as “a major new book” that tells “the story of 168 songs across 40+ years” of the Welsh group’s career. It is set to arrive on September 11 via White Rabbit (pre-order here).
168 Songs… is available in three formats: a standard hardback, ebook and digital audio, and two special editions including a signed slipcase and exclusive art prints.
An official description reads: “Because it was music that saved them, it’s through the prism of their music that Keith Cameron tells the definitive history of Manic Street Preachers, drawing on many hours of new interviews to dive deep into 168 songs, from 1988’s debut single ‘Suicide Alley’ to the late day peaks of 2025’s album ‘Critical Thinking’.
“Writing with the band’s full co-operation, his book charts the dynamic evolution of a universe in which Karl Marx and Kylie Minogue happily co-exist, that accords Rush and The Clash equal favour, and where Morrissey and Marr meet Torvill and Dean via Nietzsche and New Order in a single four-minute pop song – the story of Manic Street Preachers is unique in pop.”
Bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire explained: “No one understands the inner workings and shared aesthetics of Manic Street Preachers like Keith Cameron: the humour, the misery, the eternal doubt, the culture-alienation-boredom and despair.
Recommended
“This book illuminates 35 years of songwriting history with immense skill, expert research, dedication and boundless patience.”
He continued: “The art of writing about music and words is dying – the alchemy, the influences, the inexplicable accidents, the capacity songs have to transcend the people who wrote them; I’d like to think that art survives in this phenomenal book.”
Check out the preview images in the post above, and find more details here.
The Manics are currently out on their 2025 ‘Critical Thinking’ UK tour, which kicked off in Glasgow earlier this month. They have since played two shows at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. See their upcoming dates, and find any remaining tickets here.
This year will also see the band play slots at Live At Leeds: In The Park and Bearded Theory, ahead of a huge outdoor UK headline gig with The Charlatans and Ash in Essex this August.
‘Critical Thinking’ reached Number Two in the UK, and was awarded a four-star review by NME: “Sonically, ‘Critical Thinking’ has touches of the European modernist propulsion of 2014 renaissance record ‘Futurology’ and the graceful ABBA pop flourishes of 2021 predecessor ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’.
“But its uplifting warmth met with provocative spikiness feels like an album written staring up at the posters of their teenage art-pop and indie heroes – meant for the crackle of a record or the buzz of a cassette.”
Speaking to NME earlier this year, Nicky Wire described the collection as “a different kind of record” to what fans may have heard from the band in the past. “Albums are a reflection of where your mind is at – certainly in the Manics’ world,” he explained. “Sometimes you have to let that honesty out.”
He also revealed in the interview that the Manics were already “talking about what we could do next”, telling us: “I haven’t written many words for a while because it’s good to take a break from the album you’ve just done and not repeat yourself.
“This one is meant for the dark night of the soul and I’m sure the next one will be different from that. Whether it’s broader, whether it’s more macro in outlook. We’ll see.”
In the recently published second part of the conversation, the group discussed politics, ’90s nostalgia, and how culture had “muzzled” the freedom of new artists.
Looking at the state of the world and politics today, frontman James Dean Bradfield said it was grim but ripe for young acts to be writing about. “There’s enough material there for a generation to be getting on with, isn’t there?” he told NME.
2790