Manic Street Preachers

Dressed in glam clothing, wearing heavy eyeliner, and shouting political rhetoric, The Manic Street Preachers emerged from their hometown of Blackwood, Wales, in 1991 as self-styled "Generation Terrorists." Fashioning themselves after The Clash and The Sex Pistols, The Manics were on a mission, intending to restore revolution to rock & roll at a time when Britain was dominated by trancey shoegazers and faceless, trippy acid house. Their self-consciously dangerous image, leftist leanings, crunching hard rock, and outsider status made them favorites of the British music press and helped them build a rabidly dedicated following.