Motorcycle Emptiness

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"Motorcycle Emptiness" was a single by the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers released on June 1, 1992. It was the fifth single to be lifted from the Generation Terrorists album. The track is slower paced than most others on the album. Its lyrics are inspired by S.E. Hinton's book 'Rumblefish', about biker gang culture. The lyrics have also been interpreted as an attack on the hollowness of the consumer lifestyle offered by capitalism or a teen anthem, describing how society expects you to conform.

The song reached number seventeen in the UK charts on June 13, 1992. It remained there for another week and spent a total of six weeks in the top 75, two weeks longer than any other Generation Terrorists single and a record not surpassed by the Manics until 1996's "A Design for Life".

Some of the lyrics are taken from the poem "Neon Lonliness" by Welsh poet Patrick Jones, the brother of MSP bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire. It also made an appearance as track number two on Forever Delayed (October 28 2002), the Manics' greatest hits album.

An electronic version of the main melody was used by Vodafone for an advertising campaign in 2003, much to the derision of some fans.