Will the Manics finally find a U.S. audience?

Manic Street Preachers.

Mostly unknown in this country, the Welsh rock trio have been taking the U.K. by storm for more than a decade. From their roots as DIY pop/punk group with the visceral snarl of a Guns 'n Roses record as heard in Generation Terrorists (1992) and Gold Against The Soul (1993), to the stripped down caustic caulderon of meloncholy and forboding that was their pinnacle album, ironically named The Holy Bible (1994), to more mainstream rock efforts such as their latest album, this year's Journal For Plague Lovers, the group has never been able to make the proverbial leap across the pond.

And for no bloody good reason apart from a case of bad timing, argues author Simon Price in "Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers)."

Price argues their first efforts at heralding a U.S. audience fell short of the mark in 1992 due mostly to the very same thing that killed off hair metal (for those readers who have a musical knowledge akin to our former president's verbal rhetoric, I'm talking about grunge).

Taking to the states at a time when hair metal was about as desirable as a full-body cavity search, they suffered bad concert attendance. When they finally hit the musical trend in 1994 with the most horrifying and doom-laden album of all time, their lyricist/rhythm guitarist, Richey Edwards, disappeared. He hasn't been seen to this day.

Needless to say, that tour never happened.

But at the time, perhaps America wasn't ready for the Manics. With titles such as "Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart," it might be sufficient to say 1990s American youth were not THAT disaffected. Or at least if they were, it was directed more inwardly with the angst of grunge, and they certainly didn't want a load of Brits taking the piss out of their country.

That argument has already been made. I'm glad those who have never heard of this band are caught up to speed.

Now, I believe, America is finally ready for the Manics. And it's not because their sound has become a bit more what one might term Mainstream Rock. It's because, unlike British bands such as Coldplay that make college girls want to down a Bud Light Lime and drop their panties, groups like the Manics typically have to rely on something much more despairing to garner a U.S. audience:

A new generation of American bands shamelessly aping their style. Most of them are shite New York indie bands that spend more time on their hair and eyeliner than learning how to give energized performances.

So there you have it. America is finally ready for the Manics. Let's just hope their tongue-in-cheek Welsh subtlety isn't lost on a nation of music fans that needs to be beaten over the head with straightforward Springsteen-esque lyrics (or even worse, those dreaded hipsters who have a greater sense of self-importance than any human being should).

Anyway, here's the dates:

Seattle, WA Neumo’s (September 21)
Vancouver, Canada The Commodore Ballroom (22)
San Francisco, CA The Fillmore (24)
Los Angeles, CA The Avalon (25)
Denver, CO The Bluebird Theatre (28)
Minneapolis, MN The Varsity Theatre (30)
Chicago, IL The Metro (October 1)
Detroit, MI The Majestic Theatre (2)
Toronto, Canada The Phoenix Concert Theatre (4)
Philadelphia, PA World Café Live (6)
New York City, NY Webster Hall (7)
Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club (8)