"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." Manic Street Preachers announce "definitive history", 168 Songs Of Hatred And Failure

Manic Street Preachers studio portrait — (Image credit: Alex Lake)

Manic Street Preachers have revealed that a new "definitive history" of the band will be published in September.

Written by one of Britain's best music writers, MOJO journalist Keith Cameron. with the full co-operation of James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore, 168 Songs Of Hatred And Failure "illuminates 35 years of songwriting history with immense skill, expert research, dedication and boundless patience", according to Wire.

"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," the bassist adds.

"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."

An official synopsis for the title 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."

Available in three format - a standard hardback, ebook and digital audio, and two special editions - the book will be published on September 11 via White Rabbit, and can be pre-ordered now.

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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.