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Listen to Manic Street Preachers' Nicky Wire and Sean Moore talking about their number two single A Design For Life - one of the 10 songs that mean most to the band.
Few expected a return such as this after the 1995 disappearance of Richey Edwards. The first thing the remaining Manic Street Preachers had recorded was a cover of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head for the War Child charity album Help.
The Manics' top 10
Then, after deciding to carry on in Richey's absence, Nicky Wire rose to the challenge of providing lyrics. "Libraries gave us power," James Dean Bradfield sings on the first line, and accompanied by a huge, string-laden melody, the band were back with a vengeance, entering the UK charts at number two in 1996.
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See also
- Manic Street Preachers biography
- Interview: Manics' own top 10 singles
- Review: Postcards From A Young Man
- Manic Street Preachers photo gallery
- Nicky Wire interview (2007)
- Fans' questions for Nicky
- Interview (2005)
- Profile of James Dean Bradfield
- Profile of Nicky Wire
- Profile of Sean Moore
- Profile of Richey Edwards
- Manic Street Preachers video clips
- Review: The Holy Bible
- James Dean Bradfield solo biography
- Nicky Wire solo biography
- Rock music in Wales
- Manics on Welsh love songs