A Design for Life // Manic Street Preachers
‘A Design for Life’ is one of those amazing songs in that it is both a great pop song – it reached #2 in the charts – and is also a profound statement on society. The song was a comeback for the Manic Street Preachers after the disappearance of troubled rhythm guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards that forced them into the shadows.
The lyrics of bassist Nicky Wire criticise the ruling class, and the working class for being so easy to mislead into consumerism: “We don’t talk about love / We only wanna get drunk / And we are not allowed to spend / As we are told that this is the end / A design for life”. Wire is referring to the decimation of soul-searching, individuality and genuine thought, by the Lad Culture which prizes drunken stupidity over intellectualism.
Yet the lyrics are also a celebration of the bands working-class background: “I wish I had a bottle / Right here in my dirty face / To wear the scars / To show from where I came”. ‘A Design for Life’ is an anthemic declaration of pride in the working class.
Words by Gabriel Rutherford