"Everything Must Go" is a song by Welsh

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Wales, Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, le ...

, released as the second single from their fourth studio album, '' Everything Must Go'' (1996), on 22 July 1996. The song reached number five on the UK Singles Chart.

Background

The song is cited by Wire as a message to the fans, saying the music had changed after the loss of

Richey Edwards Richard James Edwards (22 December 1967 – disappeared 1 February 1995, declared dead 24 November 2008), also known as Richey James or Richey Manic, was a Welsh musician who was the lyricist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band ...

, but the band is still the same. Ushering in a new era for the band, Wire's lyric asks fans to forgive them for changing: "and I just hope that you can forgive us, but everything must go". James Dean Bradfield has said Sean Moore had a lot of freedom in the drums for his song. By contrast to several previous Manic Street Preachers singles, the drums are not "compressed", but are more open and free, giving a sense of disorder in the song. The song features a prominent string section that commentators such as '' Q'' magazine's Tom Doyle have compared to the songs of

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...

and his

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

Release

"Everything Must Go" reached number five on the UK Singles Chart on 3 August 1996, making it the second of five consecutive UK top-ten singles. In Finland the song reached number 18. The CD release included "Black Garden", "Hanging On" and "No One Knows What It's Like to Be Me" whereas the cassette featured a live version of "

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". An acoustic version of the song appears on the cassette single of "

Kevin Carter Kevin Carter (13 September 1960 – 27 July 1994) was a South African photojournalism, photojournalist and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He was the recipient in 1994 of a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, Pulitzer Prize for the vulture a ...

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

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of the song appeared in the intro movie to the

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and European versions of the

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game '' Gran Turismo''. The song also made an appearance on ''

Forever Delayed ''Forever Delayed'' is a greatest hits album and DVD by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 28 October 2002 by Epic Records. The album included three singles which had never appeared on any of the band's earlier al ...

'', the band's greatest-hits album released in November 2002.

Track listings

All music was composed by

James Dean Bradfield James Dean Bradfield (born 21 February 1969) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He is known for being the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. His cousin Sean Moore is a ...

and Sean Moore except where indicated. All lyrics were written by

Nicky Wire Nicholas Allen Jones (born 20 January 1969), known as Nicky Wire, is a Welsh musician, best known as lyricist, bassist and secondary vocalist of the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. Prior to the group, Wire studied politics ...

except where indicated. UK CD1 and Japanese CD single # "Everything Must Go" – 3:43 # "Black Garden" – 4:28 # "Hanging On" – 3:07 # "No-One Knows What It's Like to Be Me" – 3:04 UK CD2 # "Everything Must Go" – 3:43 # "Everything Must Go" (

remix) – 6:33 # "Everything Must Go" ( Stealth Sonic Orchestra remix) – 3:45 # "Everything Must Go" (Stealth Sonic Orchestra Soundtrack) – 3:28 UK cassette single # "Everything Must Go" (special version) – 3:40 # "

" (live acoustic version) (

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David was born and raised in New ...

) – 2:09 Australian CD single # "Everything Must Go" – 3:43 # "Black Garden" – 4:28 # "Hanging On" – 3:07 # "No-One Knows What It's Like to Be Me" – 3:04 # "Everything Must Go" (Stealth Sonic Orchestra remix) – 3:45

Charts

Release history

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Everything Must Go (Song) 1996 singles 1996 songs Epic Records singles Manic Street Preachers songs Song recordings produced by Mike Hedges Songs written by James Dean Bradfield Songs written by Nicky Wire Songs written by Sean Moore (musician) Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements