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Manic Street Preachers’ controversial protest song about the Hillsborough disaster

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A quarter-century later, the Manic Street Preachers’ fifth studio album, 1998’s This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, remains their best-selling effort and an essential touchstone in the band’s career—as they moved on after the disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards and continued to develop a less aggressive, more atmospheric pop sound. Importantly, despite the radio-ready hooks of singles like ‘You Stole the Sun From My Heart’ and ‘Tsunami’, This Is My Truth also still adheres to the Manics’ firm and well-established political principles.

The best example of this can be found in the album’s controversial closing track, ‘S.Y.M.M.’, a slow, contemplative protest song that, at first listen, leaves its true meaning somewhat elusive. Singer James Dean Bradfield delivers lyrics penned by bassist Nicky Wire that are intentionally vague in the beginning, reflecting the speaker’s hesitation to broach an uncomfortable and painful subject.

If you did immediately know what this song was about in 1998 or what the letters S.Y.M.M. stood for, it was likely due to the tabloid news stories it had already generated even before This Is My Truth was officially released in September of that year. The song’s original complete title, ‘South Yorkshire Mass Murderer’ (also uttered in its chorus), leaves less to the imagination, as the band acknowledged it was written as a statement about the ongoing injustices of the Hillsborough disaster, the deadly crowd crush during an FA Cup football match at Sheffield’s Hillsborough Stadium almost a decade earlier on April 15th, 1989.

Nearly 100 people, most of them supporters of Liverpool FC, died as a result of the horrific event. To add insult to the tragedy, many of the same people who were injured or perished on the day were also painted as hooligans and blamed, for many years, as the instigators of the chaos that led to the crowd crush. This was despite ample evidence of false testimonies and severe negligence by the South Yorkshire Police.

In the years before the Manic Street Preachers recorded ‘S.Y.M.M.’, friends and families of the Hillsborough victims had been trying in vain to get a new inquiry into the case. A 1996 TV film called Hillsborough, written by Jimmy McGovern and starring Christopher Eccleston, helped generate more public sympathy and understanding, but nonetheless, it would take another 20 years for the tide to turn, as the Liverpool supporters were cleared of any responsibility in the event, and charges of manslaughter and/or misconduct were filed against six of the officers involved on the day.

Back in 1998, though, public opinion was still somewhat split on what had actually occurred at Hillsborough, and the South Yorkshire Police weren’t shy about responding swiftly to the Manics’ controversial new song and its vicious refrain: “South Yorkshire mass murderer / How can you sleep at night?”.

Assistant Chief Constable Ian Daines, speaking on behalf of the South Yorkshire police in July of 1998, admitted that he hadn’t yet heard the song himself but that “judging solely from the title, it would appear to be in bad taste and is likely to cause offence to many people.”

Filmmaker Jimmy McGovern had a very different response to ‘S.Y.M.M.’, whom the Manics even personally thanked in the song’s lyrics for “reminding them of what lives on.” McGovern told NME he thought the song was “brilliant… I wish the British media had the balls of our singers… I’ve heard those sentiments (‘how do you sleep at night’, etc) expressed by many of the Hillsborough families. It’s just that when you see it in black and white and realise it.”

Despite its powerful message, ‘S.Y.M.M.’ isn’t a song that entices regular re-listens. On Spotify, as of 2025, it’s the least streamed track from This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours.

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