Critical Thinking (Pt. 1)

The Big Mates discuss teachers, single edits, smart motorways, and Critical Thinking by Manic Street Preachers.Adam, Steve, and Lucas return to the subject of their very first season, Manic Street Preachers, in order to dissect and explore the band's fifteenth and most recent album, Critical Thinking. They talk about the writing and recording process, the context surrounding the songs, and offer up analysis, opinions, and thoughts from three differing perspectives on music, from being deeply into analysis and music, to not caring for art or critique, and everything in between.They touch on the recording process, the effects of not having a manifesto, the themes of the album, and the ever-quotable Nicky Wire. Aging, nostalgia, techno-confusion, art, and politics - it must be a Manics album! How grey is grass? Could you listen to 165 Lifebloods in a row? What happened to your critical thinking? Find out on this episode of What Is Music?Join us next week for the conclusion of our deep-dive into Critical Thinking!Join the conversation on:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatismusicpod.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.net/@whatismusicpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatismusicpodE-mail: [email protected] access to more shows, exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes of this show, and more music discussion by subscribing to our Patreon!Head to patreon.com/whatismusicpod and receive up to two new episodes of our various shows every week (including our album club and monthly themed playlists!), ad-free archives of What Is Music?, and access to our Patron-only Discord server for even more music (and non-music) discussion!Support our show when starting your own podcast!By signing up to Buzzsprout with this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=780379Check out our merch!https://whatismusicpod.redbubble.comDonate to our podcast!https://ko-fi.com/whatismusichttp://whatismusic.buzzsprout.com/Support the show