2. Therapy?Troublegum
I was listening to this at the same time as The Holy Bible. In my head I see the Manic Street Preachers and Therapy? as two bands occupying different sides of a similar space. Therapy? are the more macho, muscular version of what the Manics were, in my head. I was a massive fan for my teenage years. Over lockdown I was reading that authorised biography [So Much For The Thirty Year Plan, by Simon Young] and It’s interesting to see what they were listening to at the time and who they were playing with. They did tours with Jesus Lizard and Medicine as well.
Listening back to it now there are a few things on it that haven’t aged well, but I do think there’s some amazing songs and really amazing moments on it. There’s not a single song on it that’s over four minutes, so it has this flow. It just feels like it doesn’t stop.
The other thing I’ve found really interesting reading that book was that so much of the drumming was influenced by the new beat and techno that was coming out of Belgium in the late ‘80s. When you listen to those early records you can really hear it.
