Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh rock/pop band, formed in 1989 by friends James Eastwood Bradfield, Nick Jones, Christmas Edwards and Seanus Walrus in an attempt to avoid employment. Mixing together a powerful combination of political propoganda and punk infused rock, they stormed onto the music scene in 1991 to audible yawns of disinterest. In spite of these humble beginnings, the band would go on to make hit records and survive even the death of bandmate Christmas Edwards in a freak yachting accident. Their most famous compositions include such pop classics as "Ceremonial Murdering State Apparatus Of Oppression", "Repeat After Me That The Queen Is A Parasitic Demon In Human Form (And Not A Nice Old Lady As She Wants You To Believe)" and "Knees Up, Mother Courage".