The Smiths Biography
Content
THE SMITHS
The Smiths in 1985. Left to right: Andy Rourke,
Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce.
Background information
Origin
Manchester, England
Genres
Alternative rock, indie pop
Years active
1982–1987
Labels
Rough Trade, Sire, Warner Bros.
Associated acts
The Adult Net, Moondog One
Past members
Morrissey
Johnny Marr
Mike Joyce
Andy Rourke
Craig Gannon
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. FORMATION AND EARLY SINGLES............................................................................
2. THE SMITHS.............................................................................................................
3. MEAT IS MURDER.....................................................................................................
4. THE QUEEN IS DEAD...............................................................................................
5. STRANGEWAYS, HERE WE COME AND BREAKUP.....................................................
6. POST-SMITHS CAREER.............................................................................................
7. THE SMITHS DISCOGRAPHY.....................................................................................
8. ANOTHER VIEW ON THE SMITHS HISTORY............................................................
9. FAMOUS SONG QUOTES........................................................................................
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The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The band
consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke and
drummer Mike Joyce. Critics have called them the most important alternative
rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. Q
magazine's Simon Goddard argued in 2007 that The Smiths were "the one truly
vital voice of the '80s", "the most influential British guitar group of the decade" and
the "first indie outsiders to achieve mainstream success on their own terms".
Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Marr, the group signed to
the independent record label Rough Trade Records, on which they released four
studio albums, The Smiths (1984), Meat Is Murder (1985), The Queen Is
Dead (1986) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987). They have also released
several compilations, and numerous non-LP singles.
The Smiths had several singles reach the UK top twenty and all four of their albums
reached the UK top five, including one which topped the charts. They won a
significant following and remain cult favourites, although they had limited
commercial success outside the UK while they were still together. The band broke
up in 1987 and have turned down several offers to reunite.
The band's focus on a guitar, bass, and drum sound and their fusion of 1960s rock
and post-punk was a repudiation of synthesiser-based contemporary dance pop –
the style popular in the early 1980s. Marr's guitar playing on his Rickenbacker
often had a jangly sound influenced by Roger McGuinn of the Byrds.
Marr's guitar playing influenced later Manchester bands, including the Stone Roses
and Oasis. Morrissey's lyrics combined themes about ordinary people with a
mordant sense of humour.
The Smiths were formed in
early 1982 by Steven Patrick
Morrissey, a writer who had
briefly fronted punk rock band
The Nosebleeds (which included guitarist Billy Duffy, who later was a member of
The Cult); and John Maher, a guitarist and songwriter. Maher changed his name
to Johnny Marr to avoid confusion with Buzzcocks drummer John Maher, and
Morrissey performed under his surname alone.
1. FORMATION AND EARLY
SINGLES
After recording several demo tapes with Simon Wolstencroft (later of The Fall) on
drums, Morrissey and Marr recruited drummer Mike Joyce in the autumn of 1982.
Joyce had formerly been a member of punk bands The Hoax and Victim. They also
added bass player Dale Hibbert, who provided the group with demo recording
facilities at the studio where he worked as a recording engineer. Hibbert was
replaced after one gig by Marr's friend Andy Rourke, because Marr felt that neither
Hibbert's bass playing nor his personality fitted the group.
The band picked their name in part as a reaction against those used by synthpop
bands of the early 1980s, such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Spandau
Ballet, which they considered pretentious. In a 1984 interview Morrissey said that
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he chose The Smiths "because it was the most ordinary name" and because he
thought that it was "time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces."
Signing to indie label Rough Trade Records, they released their first single, "Hand
in Glove", in May 1983. The record was championed by DJ John Peel, as were all
of their later singles, but failed to chart. The follow-up singles "This Charming Man"
and "What Difference Does It Make?" fared better when they reached numbers 25
and 12 respectively on the UK Singles Chart.
In February 1984, the group released their debut
album The Smiths, which reached number two on
the UK Albums Chart. Both "Reel Around the Fountain"
and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" met with
controversy, with some tabloid newspapers alleging the songs were suggestive of
paedophilia, a claim strongly denied by the group.
2. THE
SMITHS
The album was followed the same year by the non-album singles "Heaven Knows
I'm Miserable Now" and "William, It Was Really Nothing", which featured "How
Soon Is Now?" on its B-side. Securing the band's first top ten placing, "Heaven
Knows I'm Miserable Now" was also significant for marking the beginning of
engineer and producer Stephen Street's long-term working relationship with the
band.
More controversy followed when "Suffer Little Children", the B-side to "Heaven
Knows I'm Miserable Now", touched on the theme of the Moors murders. This
caused an uproar after the grandfather of one of the murdered children heard the
song on a pub jukebox and felt the band was trying to commercialise the murders.
After meeting with Morrissey, he accepted that the song was a sincere exploration
of the impact of the murders. Morrissey subsequently established a friendship with
Ann West, the mother of victim Lesley Ann Downey, who is mentioned by name in
the song. The year ended with the compilation album Hatful of Hollow. This
collected singles, B-sides and the versions of songs that had been recorded
throughout the previous year for the Peel and Jensen shows.
Early in 1985 the band released their second
album, Meat Is Murder. This album was more
strident and political than its predecessor,
including the pro-vegetarian title track
(Morrissey forbade the rest of the group from being photographed eating meat),
the light-hearted republicanism of "Nowhere Fast", and the anti-corporal
punishment "The Headmaster Ritual" and "Barbarism Begins at Home". The band
had also grown more diverse musically, with Marr adding rockabilly riffs to
"Rusholme Ruffians" and Rourke playing a funk bass solo on "Barbarism Begins at
Home". The album was preceded by the re-release of the B-side "How Soon Is
Now?" as a single, and although that song was not on the original LP, it has been
added to subsequent releases. Meat Is Murder was the band's only album (barring
compilations) to reach number one in the UK charts. In 2003, the album was
3. MEAT IS
MURDER
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ranked number 295 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of
all time.
Morrissey brought a political stance to many of his interviews, courting further
controversy. Among his targets were the Thatcher government, the British
monarchy, and the famine relief project Band Aid. Morrissey famously quipped of
the last, "One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another
thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England" ("torture" being a reference
to the music that resulted from the project). The subsequent single-only release
"Shakespeare's Sister" reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart, although the
only single taken from the album, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", was less
successful, barely making the top 50.
During 1985 the band completed lengthy
tours of the UK and the US while recording
their next studio record, The Queen Is
Dead. The album was released in June 1986,
shortly after the single "Bigmouth Strikes Again". The single again featured Marr's
strident acoustic guitar rhythms and lead melody guitar lines with wide leaps.
4. THE QUEEN IS
DEAD
The Queen Is Dead reached number two in the UK charts, and consisted of a
mixture of mordant bleakness (e.g. "Never Had No One Ever", which seemed to
play up to stereotypes of the band), dry humour (e.g. "Frankly, Mr. Shankly",
allegedly a message to Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis disguised as a letter of
resignation from a worker to his superior), and synthesis of both, such as in "There
Is a Light That Never Goes Out" and "Cemetry Gates".
However, all was not well within the group. A legal dispute with Rough Trade had
delayed the album by almost seven months (it had been completed in November
1985), and Marr was beginning to feel the stress of the band's exhausting touring
and recording schedule. He later told NME, "'Worse for wear' wasn't the half of it: I
was extremely ill. By the time the tour actually finished it was all getting a little
bit ... dangerous. I was just drinking more than I could handle." Meanwhile, Rourke
was fired from the band in early 1986 due to his use of heroin. He allegedly
received notice of his dismissal via a Post-it note stuck to the windscreen of his car.
It read, "Andy – you have left The Smiths. Goodbye and good luck, Morrissey."
Morrissey himself, however, denies this.
Rourke was replaced on bass by Craig Gannon (formerly a member of Scottish
New Wave band Aztec Camera), but was reinstated after only a fortnight. Gannon
stayed in the band, switching to rhythm guitar. This five-piece recorded the singles
"Panic" and "Ask" (the latter with Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals) which reached
numbers 11 and 14 respectively on the UK Singles Chart, and toured the UK. After
the tour ended in October 1986, Gannon left the band.
The group had become frustrated with Rough Trade and sought a record deal with
a major label. Marr told NME in early 1987, "Every single label came to see us. It
was small-talk, bribes, the whole number. I really enjoyed it." The band ultimately
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signed with EMI, which drew criticism from their fanbase and from elements of
the music press.
In early 1987
the single
"Shoplifters
of the World
Unite" was released and reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. It was
followed by a second compilation, The World Won't Listen – the title was
Morrissey's comment on his frustration with the band's lack of mainstream
recognition, although the album reached number two in the charts – and the
single "Sheila Take a Bow", the band's second (and last during the band's lifetime)
UK top-10 hit. Another compilation, Louder Than Bombs, was intended for the
overseas market and covered much the same material as The World Won't Listen,
with the addition of "Sheila Take a Bow" and material from Hatful of Hollow, as that
compilation was yet to be released in the U.S.
5. STRANGEWAYS, HERE WE COME AND
BREAKUP
Despite their continued success, a variety of tensions emerged within the band
to threaten their split. Johnny Marr was exhausted and took a break from the band
in June 1987, which he felt was negatively perceived by the other Smiths. In July
1987, Marr left the group permanently because he thought an NME article entitled
"Smiths to Split" was planted by Morrissey, when in fact it was not. That article,
written by Danny Kelly, alleged that Morrissey disliked Marr working with other
musicians, and that Marr and Morrissey's personal relationship had reached
breaking point. Marr contacted NME to explain that he did not leave the band due
to personal tensions but because he wanted wider musical scope.
Former Easterhouse guitarist Ivor Perry was brought in to replace Marr, and the
band recorded some new material with him which was never completed, including
an early version of "Bengali in Platforms" that was originally intended as the B-side
of "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before". Perry was uncomfortable
with the situation, stating "it was like they wanted another Johnny Marr", and the
sessions ended with (according to Perry) "Morrissey running out of the studio". By
the time the group's fourth album Strangeways, Here We Come was released in
September, the band had split up.
The breakdown in the relationship has been primarily attributed to Morrissey
becoming annoyed by Marr's work with other artists and Marr growing
frustrated by Morrissey's musical inflexibility. Marr particularly hated
Morrissey's obsession with covering 1960s pop artists such as Twinkle and Cilla
Black. Marr recalled in 1992, "That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group
to perform Cilla Black songs." In a 1989 interview, Morrissey cited the lack of a
managerial figure and business problems as reasons for the band's split.
Strangeways, Here We Come peaked at number two in the UK and was their
most successful album in the US, reaching number 55 on the Billboard 200. It
received a lukewarm reception from critics, but both Morrissey and Marr name it as
their favourite Smiths album. A couple of further singles from Strangeways were
released with earlier live, session and demo tracks as B-sides, and the following
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year the live recording Rank (recorded in 1986 while Gannon was in the band)
repeated the UK chart success of previous albums.
The Smiths were the subject of a South
Bank Show documentary produced by
LWT and broadcast by ITV on 18 October
1987, four months after their break-up and
three weeks after the release of Strangeways.
6. POST-SMITHS
CAREER
Following the group's demise, Morrissey began work on a solo recording,
collaborating with producer Stephen Street and fellow Mancunian Vini Reilly,
guitarist for The Durutti Column. The resulting album, Viva Hate (a reference to
the end of the Smiths), was released in March 1988, reaching number one in the
UK charts. Morrissey continues to perform and record as a solo artist.
Johnny Marr returned to the music scene in 1989 with New Order's Bernard
Sumner and Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant in the supergroup Electronic. Electronic
released three albums over the next decade. Marr was also a member of The The,
recording two albums with the group between 1989 and 1993. He has worked as a
session musician and writing collaborator with artists including The Pretenders,
Bryan Ferry, Pet Shop Boys, Billy Bragg, Black Grape, Talking Heads,
Crowded House, and Beck.
In 2000 he started another band, Johnny Marr and the Healers, which enjoyed
moderate success, and later worked as a guest musician on the Oasis album
Heathen Chemistry (2002). In 2006 he began work with Modest Mouse's Isaac
Brock on songs that eventually featured on the band's 2007 release, We Were
Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.
Modest Mouse subsequently announced that Marr was a fully fledged member, and
the reformed line-up toured extensively in 2006–07. Marr also recorded with Liam
Gallagher of Oasis. In January 2008, it was reported that Marr had taken part in a
week-long songwriting session at Moolah Rouge recording studio in Stockport with
Wakefield indie group The Cribs. Marr's association with the band lasted three
years and included an appearance on its fourth album, Ignore the Ignorant
(2009). His departure from the group was announced in April 2011. He is now
working on solo material. In addition to his activities as a musician and
songwriter, Marr produced Haven's debut album, Between the Senses (2002).
Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce have continued working together. They toured with
Sinéad O'Connor in the first half of 1988 (Rourke also appeared on her 1990
album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got). Still in 1988, they were recruited
(with Craig Gannon) to Adult Net, but left the band soon afterwards. In 1988 and
1989, they recorded singles with Morrissey. In 1998 they toured and recorded with
Aziz Ibrahim (ex-The Stone Roses). In 2001 they formed Specter with Jason
Specter and others. The band played in the United Kingdom and the United
States, but did not prosper. Part of its 27 May 2001 show in New York can be seen
at YouTube.
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In the same year they recorded demos with Paul Arthurs (ex-Oasis), Aziz Ibrahim,
and Rowetta Idah (ex-Happy Mondays) under the name Moondog One, but the
project went no further. Towards the end of 2001, they played together in the
veteran Manchester band Jeep. In 2005 they played with Vinny Peculiar,
recording the single "Two Fat Lovers" (Joyce also appeared on the 2006 album,
The Fall and Rise of Vinny Peculiar). In 2007 they released the documentary
DVD Inside the Smiths, a surprisingly affectionate memoir of their time with the
band, notable for the absence of Marr, Morrissey, and their music.
Rourke and Joyce have also pursued their own projects. Joyce has recorded with
Suede (1990); toured and recorded with Buzzcocks (1990–1991); toured with Julian
Cope (1992); toured with John Lydon and Public Image Ltd (1992); recorded with
P.P. Arnold (1995); toured and recorded with Pete Wylie (ex-The Mighty Wah!)
(1996–1998); toured with Vinny Peculiar and Paul Arthurs (2007); and toured with
Autokat (2008–2009). Joyce presented the Alternative Therapy radio show on
Revolution 96.2 FM until the station changed format in 2008, later reviving it on
Manchester Radio Online and Tin Can Media. He now hosts The Coalition Chart
Show on East Village Radio, which streams from New York, and works as a club
DJ.
Rourke wrote the music for three Morrissey B-sides released in 1989 and
1990 ("Yes, I Am Blind", "Girl Least Likely To", and "Get Off the Stage"). He has
played and recorded with Killing Joke (for three days in 1988); The Pretenders
(featuring on Last of the Independents, 1994); Badly Drawn Boy (with whom he
played for two years); Proud Mary (featuring on Love and Light, 2004); and Ian
Brown (featuring on The World Is Yours, 2007). In 2007 he formed Freebass with
fellow bassists Peter Hook (ex-New Order and Joy Division) and Mani (The Stone
Roses and Primal Scream); he remained active in the group until 2010 and appears
on its only album, It's A Beautiful Life (2010).
Rourke co-founded the Manchester v Cancer concert series, later known as
Versus Cancer, to raise money for cancer research. Concerts took place in
January 2006, March 2007, February 2008, and December 2009. He has since
concentrated on his radio career, beginning with a Saturday-evening show on
XFM Manchester.
More recently he has been a regular on East Village Radio, where his colleagues
include Mike Joyce. Rourke relocated to New York in early 2009. Soon after arriving
there, he formed Jetlag – a "DJ and audio production outfit" – with Olé Koretsky. The
pair DJ at venues around the city; a selection of their remixes can be heard at
Soundcloud.
7. THE SMITHS
DISCOGRAPHY
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Studio albums
4
Live albums
1
Compilation albums
10
EPs
1
Singles
20
Video albums
1
Music videos
14
The discography of the English alternative rock band The Smiths consists of four
studio albums, one extended play (EP), one live album, ten compilation
albums, twenty singles, one video album and fourteen music videos on
the Rough Trade, Sire and WEA record labels.
Despite being championed by BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel, the band's debut
single, "Hand in Glove" (May 1983), failed to chart. Its follow-up, "This Charming
Man" (October 1983), met with critical acclaim and reached number twenty-five
on the UK Singles Chart. The Smiths' cult status was followed by mainstream
success in 1984, as they reached number twelve in the UK with the "What
Difference Does It Make?" single and reached number two on the UK Albums Chart
with their debut album, The Smiths (1984). Their next three singles all reached the
top twenty of the charts in the UK, helping to consolidate their previous chart
success.
The next studio album, Meat Is Murder (1985), reached the top of the British
charts; however, the only single to be released from the album, "That Joke Isn't
Funny Anymore" (1985), failed to break the UK Top 40. Returning to form, The
Smiths' next six singles all reached the higher than number thirty in the UK and
their third album, The Queen Is Dead (1986), reached number two in the UK.
Despite the band's chart success, Marr left the group in August 1987 due to a
strained relationship with Morrissey. Failing to find a replacement, The Smiths
disbanded by the time their final studio album, Strangeways, Here We Come,
was released in September that year. Strangeways, Here We Come reached
number two in the UK and became the band's highest-charting release in the
United States when it reached number fifty-five on the Billboard 200.
In early 1992, WEA acquired the entire back catalogue of The Smiths and
produced two compilations – Best...I and ...Best II – the first of which reached the
top of the UK Albums Chart. WEA released two further singles compilations in 1995
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and 2001, with a further compilation, The Sound of The Smiths, released in
November 2008.
7.1.
Year
STUDIO ALBUMS
Album details
Certifications
(sales thresholds)
The Smiths
Released: 20 February
1984
1984
UK: Gold[11]
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
Meat Is Murder
Released: 11 February
1985
UK: Gold[11]
1985
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
The Queen Is Dead
Released: 16 June
UK: Platinum[11]
1986
1986
Label: Rough Trade
US: Gold[14]
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
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Strangeways, Here We
Come
Released: 28
UK: Gold[11]
September 1987
1987
US: Gold[14]
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
7.2.
Year
LIVE ALBUMS
Certifications
Album details
(sales thresholds)
Rank
Released: 5 October
1988
UK: Gold[11]
Labels: Rough
Trade, Sire
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
7. 3.
COMPILATION ALBUMS
Year
Album details
~ 10 ~
Certifications
(sales thresho
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Hatful of Hollow
1984
Released: 12 November 1984
UK: Platinum[11]
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
The World Won't Listen
Released: 23 February 1987
UK: Gold[11]
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
1987
Louder Than Bombs
Released: 30 March 1987
Labels: Rough Trade, Sire
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
UK: Gold[11]
US: Gold[14]
Best...I
Released: 17 August 1992
UK: Gold[11]
Label: WEA
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
1992
...Best II
Released: 2 November 1992
UK: Gold[11]
1995
Label: WEA
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
Singles
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UK: Platinum[11]
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Released: 20 February 1995
Label: WEA
Format: CD
The Very Best of The Smiths
Released: 4 June 2001
UK: Platinum[11]
2001
Label: WEA
Format: CD
The Sound of The Smiths
Released: 10 November 2008
UK: Platinum[11]
Label: WEA
Format: CD
2008
The Smiths Singles Box
Released: 8 December 2008
Label: WEA
Formats: 12 × 7" vinyl, 12 ×CD
The Smiths Complete
Released: 26 September 2011
3 October 2011
2011
Label: Rhino
Formats: 8 × CD, 8 × LP, 8 x CD + 8 x LP +
25 x 7" vinyl + DVD
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7.4.
THE SINGLES
Album
Year
Single
"Hand in Glove"
1983
Non-album singles
"This Charming Man"
"What Difference Does It
Make?"
1984
"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable
Now"
The Smiths
Non-album singles
"William, It Was Really Nothing"
"How Soon Is Now?"
"Shakespeare's Sister"
1985
"That Joke Isn't Funny
Anymore"
"The Boy with the Thorn in His
Meat Is Murder
The Queen Is Dead
Side"
1986
"Bigmouth Strikes Again"
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"Panic"
"Ask"
Non-album singles
"Shoplifters of the World Unite"
"Sheila Take a Bow"
"Girlfriend in a Coma"
1987
"I Started Something I Couldn't
Finish"
Strangeways, Here We Come
"Last Night I Dreamt That
Somebody Loved Me"
"Stop Me If You Think You've
Heard This One Before"
"This Charming Man"
...Best I
1992
"How Soon Is Now?"
"There Is a Light That Never
Goes Out"
...Best II
"Ask"
1995
Non-album singles
"Sweet and Tender Hooligan"
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7.5.
Year
MUSIC VIDEOS
Title
Director(s)
"How Soon Is Now?"
Paula Greif and Richard
Levine
"The Boy with the Thorn in His
Side"
Ken O'Neill
Notes
1985
"The Queen Is
Dead"/"Panic"/"There Is a Light
That Never Goes Out"
Derek Jarman
A short film made for
the 1986 Edinburgh
Festival.
"Panic"
Derek Jarman
A promo video for the
"Panic" single was
made using a mixture
of concert footage
and footage from
Jarman's film.
"Ask"
Derek Jarman
1986
1987
"Shoplifters of the World Unite"
Tamra Davis
"Sheila Take a Bow"
Tamra Davis
"Girlfriend in a Coma"
Tim Broad
"Stop Me if You Think You've
Heard This One Before"
Tim Broad
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Combines footage of
The Smiths on The
Tube in April 1987
with footage from the
film A Place In the
Sun.
Video produced for a
single whose release
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was cancelled.
1988
"I Started Something I Couldn't
Finish"
Tim Broad
Promo video released
after The Smiths had
split, which recycles
footage from the
"Stop Me if You Think
You've Heard This One
Before" video.
"Ask" (live)
Peter Fowler
Promo video produced
to promote
the Rank live album.
Unknown
Uses footage
originally shot for
the Tyne Tees
Television show The
Tube in 1983.
Tim Broad
Recycles footage from
the "Stop Me if You
Think You've Heard
This One Before"
promo video.
"This Charming Man"
1992
"There Is a Light That Never Goes
Out"
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The Smiths were
the definitive
British indie rock
band of the '80s,
marking the end of synth-driven new wave and the beginning of the guitar rock
that dominated English rock into the '90s. Sonically, the group was indebted to the
British Invasion, crafting ringing, melodic three-minute pop singles, even for their
album tracks.
8. ANOTHER VIEW ON THE SMITHS
HISTORY
But their scope was far broader than that of a revivalist band. The group's core
members, vocalist Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, were obsessive rock
fans inspired by the D.I.Y. ethics of punk, but they also had a fondness for girl
groups, pop, and rockabilly. Morrissey and Marr also represented one of the
strangest teams of collaborators in rock history. Marr was the rock
traditionalist, looking like an elegant version of Keith Richards during The Smiths'
heyday and meticulously layering his guitar tracks in the studio. Morrissey, on the
other hand, broke from rock tradition by singing in a keening, self-absorbed croon,
embracing the forlorn, romantic poetry of Oscar Wilde, publicly declaring his
celibacy, and making no secret of his disgust for most of his peers. While it
eventually led to The Smiths' early demise, the friction between Morrissey and
Marr resulted in a flurry of singles and albums over the course of three years that
provided the blueprint for British guitar rock in the following decade.
Before forming The Smiths in 1982, Johnny Marr (born John Maher, October 31,
1963; guitar) had played in a variety of Manchester-based rock & roll
bands, including Sister Ray, Freaky Part, White Dice, and Paris Valentinos. On
occasion, Marr had come close to a record contract -- one of his bands won a
competition Stiff Records held to have Nick Lowe "produce your band" -- but he
never quite made the leap. Though Morrissey (born Steven Patrick Morrissey, May
22, 1959; vocals) had sung for a few weeks with the Nosebleeds and auditioned
for Slaughter & the Dogs, he had primarily contented himself to being a
passionate, vocal fan of both music and film.
During his teens, he wrote the Melody Maker frequently, often getting his letters
published. He had written the biography/tribute James Dean Isn't Dead,
which was published by the local Manchester publishing house Babylon Books in
the late '70s, as well as another book on the New York Dolls; he was also the
president of the English New York Dolls fan club. Morrissey met Marr, who was
then looking for a lyricist, through mutual friends in the spring of 1982. The pair
began writing songs, eventually recording some demos with the Fall's drummer,
Simon Wolstencroft. By the fall, the duo had settled on the name The Smiths
and recruited Marr's schoolmate Andy Rourke as their bassist and Mike Joyce as
their drummer.
The Smiths made their live debut late in 1982, and by the spring of 1983, the
group had earned a small but loyal following in their hometown of Manchester and
had begun to make inroads in London. Rejecting a record deal with the Mancunian
Factory Records, the band signed with Rough Trade for a one-off single, "Hand in
Glove." With its veiled references to homosexuality and its ringing riffs, "Hand in
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Glove" became an underground sensation in the U.K., topping the independent
charts and earning the praise of the U.K. music weeklies.
Soon, Morrissey's performances became notorious as he appeared on-stage
wearing a hearing aid and with gladioli stuffed in his back pockets. His
interviews were becoming famous for his forthright, often contrary opinions,
which helped the band become a media sensation. By the time of the group's
second single, "This Charming Man," in late 1983, The Smiths had already been
the subject of controversy over "Reel Around the Fountain," a song that had been
aired on a BBC radio session and was alleged to condone child abuse. It was the
first time that Morrissey's detached, literary, and ironic lyrics were misinterpreted
and it wouldn't be the last.
"This Charming Man" reached number 25 on the British charts in December of
1983, setting the stage for "What Difference Does It Make"'s peak of number 12 in
February. The Smiths' rise to the upper reaches of the British charts was swift, and
the passion of their fans, as well as the U.K. music press, indicated that the group
had put an end to the synth-powered new wave that dominated Britain in the
early '80s. After rejecting their initial stab at a first album, they released their
debut, The Smiths, in the spring of 1984 to strong reviews and sales -- it peaked
at number two. A few months later, the group backed '60s pop vocalist Sandie
Shaw -- who Morrissey had publicly praised in an article -- on a version of "Hand
in Glove" that was released and reached the Top 40. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable
Now" reached number ten, becoming their highest-charting single amid a
storm of controversy about its B-side, "Suffer Little Children," which was about the
notorious Moors Murders.
More controversy appeared when Morrissey denounced the hunger-relief
efforts of Band Aid, but the group's popularity was not affected. Though The
Smiths had become the most popular new rock & roll group in Britain, the
group failed to make it outside of underground and college radio in the U.S.,
partially because they never launched a full-scale tour. At the end of the year,
"William It Was Really Nothing" became a Top 20 hit and Hatful of Hollow, a
collection of B-sides, BBC sessions, and non-LP singles, went to the Top Ten,
followed shortly by "How Soon Is Now," which peaked at number 24.
Meat Is Murder, the band's second proper studio album, entered the British
charts at number one in February of 1985, despite some criticism that it was
weaker than The Smiths. Around the time of the release of Meat Is Murder,
Morrissey's interviews were becoming increasingly political as he trashed the
Thatcher administration and campaigned for vegetarianism; he even claimed that
The Smiths were all vegetarians, and he forbade the remaining members to
be photographed eating meat, even though they were still carnivores.
Marr was delving deeply into the rock & roll lifestyle and looked increasingly like a
cross between Keith Richards and Brian Jones. By the time the non-LP
"Shakespeare's Sister" reached number 26 in the spring of 1985, The Smiths
had spawned a rash of soundalike bands, including James, who opened for the
group on their spring 1985 tour, most of whom Morrissey supported. However, all
of the media attention on The Smiths launched a mild backlash later in 1985,
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when "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" was pulled from Meat Is Murder and failed
to reach the Top 40.
"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" revived the band's fortunes in the fall of
1985, and their third album, The Queen Is Dead, confirmed their popularity upon
its release in the spring of 1986. Greeted with enthusiastic reviews and peaking at
number two on the U.K. charts, The Queen Is Dead also expanded their cult
following in the U.S., cracking the Top 100. Shortly before the album was
completed, former Aztec Camera guitarist Craig Gannon became the band's
rhythm guitarist, and he played with the band throughout their 1986 international
tour, including a botched American tour. The non-LP "Panic," which was criticized
as racist by some observers for its repeated refrain of "Burn down the disco...hang
the DJ," reached number 11 late in the summer. A few months after its release,
Marr was seriously injured in a car crash. During his recuperation, Gannon
was fired from the band, as was Rourke, who was suffering from heroin
addiction. Though Rourke was later reinstated, Gannon was never replaced.
The Smiths may have been at the height of their popularity in early 1987,
with the non-LP singles "Shoplifters of the World" and "Sheila Take a Bow"
reaching number 11 and ten respectively, and the singles and B-sides compilation
The World Won't Listen (revamped for U.S. release as Louder Than Bombs
later in 1987) debuting at number two, but Marr was growing increasingly
disenchanted with the band and the music industry. Over the course of the year,
Morrissey and Marr became increasingly irritated with each other.
The singer wished that Marr would stop playing with other artists like Bryan Ferry
and Billy Bragg, while the guitarist was frustrated with Morrissey's devotion to '60s
pop and his hesitancy to explore new musical directions. A few weeks before the
fall release of Strangeways, Here We Come, Marr announced that he was
leaving The Smiths. Morrissey disbanded the group shortly afterward and
began a solo career, signing with Parlophone in the U.K. and staying with The
Smiths' U.S. label, Reprise. Marr played as a sideman with a variety of artists,
eventually forming Electronic with New Order frontman Bernard Sumner.
Rourke retired from recording and Joyce became a member of the reunited
Buzzcocks in 1991.
Rank, a live album recorded on the Queen Is Dead tour, was released in the fall of
1988. It debuted at number two in the U.K. A widely criticized, two-part The Best
of the Smiths compilation was released in 1992; the praised Singles compilation
was released in 1995. Joyce and Rourke sued Morrissey and Marr in 1991,
claiming they received only ten percent of the group's earnings while the
songwriters received 40 percent. Rourke eventually settled out of court, but Joyce
won his case in late 1996.
9. FAMOUS SONG
QUOTES
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Miserable Lie
"There's something against us, it's not time, it's not time, so, goodbye, goodbye,
goodbye, goodbye"
"I know I need hardly say how much I love your casual way"
"The dark nights are drawing in and your humour is as black as them. I look at
yours, you laugh at mine and 'love' is just a miserable lie. You have destroyed my
flower-like life: not once - twice. You have corrupt my innocent mind: not once twice"
"Nobody ever looks at me twice"
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
"And when darknesss lifts and the room is bright I'll still be by your side for you
are all that matters and I'll love you to till the day I die"
This Charming Man
"I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear. This man said 'it's
gruesome that someone so handsome should care'"
"He knows so much about these things"
What Difference Does It Make
"All men have secrets and here is mine, so let it be known: For we have been
through hell and high tide I think I can rely on you and yet you start to recoil
heavy words are so lightly thrown... But still I'd leap in front of a flying bullet for
you"
"I stole and I lied, and why? Because you asked me to!"
"I'm feeling very sick and ill today but I'm still fond of you"
Suffer Little Children
"Oh, wherever he has gone, I have gone"
"We may be dead and we may be gone but we will be, we will be, we will be, right
by your side until the day you die, this is no easy ride. We will haunt you when you
laugh, yes, you could say we're a team. You might sleep, you might sleep, you
might sleep, but you will never dream"
William, It Was Really Nothing
"I don't dream about anyone - except myself"
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These Things Take Time
"Oh, the alcoholic afternoons, when we sat in your room, they meant more to me
than any, than any living thing on earth. They had more worth than any living
thing on earth"
How Soon Is Now
"You shut your mouth, how can you say I go about things the wrong way? I am a
human and I need to be loved just like everybody else does"
"There's a club, if you'd like to go. You could meet somebody who really loves
you.. So you go, and you stand on your own and you leave on your own and you
go home, and you cry and you want to die"
"When you say it's gonna happen 'now', well, when exactly do you mean? See,
I've already waited too long and all my hope is gone"
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
"I was looking for a job, and then I found a job and heaven knows I'm miserable
now"
"In my life, why do I give valuable time to people who don't care if I live or die?"
"What she asked of me at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed"
Girl Afraid
"Girl afraid, where do his intentions lay? Or does he even have any? She says: 'He
never really looks at me, I give him every opportunity.. In the room downstairs, he
sat and stared, in the room downstairs, de sat and stared.. I'll never make that
mistake again!' Boy afraid, Prudence never pays and everything she wants costs
money... 'But she doesn't even like me! And I know because she said so... In the
room downstairs, she sat and stared, in the room downstairs, she sat and stared...
I'll never make that mistake again!'"
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
"Good times for a change.. See, the luck I've had can make a good man turn bad..
So please, please, please, let me, let me, let me, let me get what I want this time.
Haven't had a dream in a long time... See, the life I've had can make a good man
bad. So for once in my life let me get what I want... Lord knows, it would be the
first time"
The Headmaster Ritual
"I wanna go home, I don't wanna stay... Give up education as a bad mistake"
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
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"I just might die with a smile on my face, after all"
"I've seen this happen in other people's lives and now it's happening in mine"
The Queen Is Dead
"Oh has the world changed, or have I changed?"
"We can go for a walk where it's quiet and dry and talk about precious things, like
love and law and poverty.. Oh, these are the things that kill me"
"Life is very long, when you're lonely"
Never Had No One Ever
"I had a really bad dream, it lasted 20 years, 7 months, and 27 days... I never, I'm
alone, and I never, ever oh... had no one ever"
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
"How can they look into my eyes and still they don't believe me? How can they
hear me say those words and still they don't believe me? And, if they don't believe
me now, will they ever believe me?"
"How can they see the love in our eyes and still they don't believe us? And, after
all this time, they don't want to believe us. And, if they don't believe us now, will
they ever believe us? And when you want to live, how do you start? Where do you
go? Who do you need to know?"
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
"Some girls are bigger than others"
"Send me the pillow, the one that you dream on, and I'll send you mine"
There is a light that never goes out
"And, if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly
way to die. And, if a ten-ton truck kills the both of us, to die by your side.. Well,
the pleasure - the privilege is mine. Take me out tonight, take me anywhere, I
don't care, I don't care, I don't care."
Shakespeare's Sister
"Throw your skinny body down, son!"
"Throw your white body down!"
"But I'm going to meet the one I love, so please don't stand in my way"
"But I'm going to meet the one I love, at last"
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Shoplifters Of The World Unite
"Learn to love me, assemble the ways.. Now, today, tomorrow and always"
"I was bored before I even began"
Unloveable
I know I'm unloveable, you don't have to tell me. Oh, message received, loud and
clear, loud and clear. I don't have much in my life but take it - it's yours"
"I wear Black on the outside 'cause Black is how I feel on the inside. And if I seem
a little strange.. Well, that's because I am. But I know that you would like me if
only you could see me, if only you could meet me"
Sheila Take a Bow
"Is it wrong to want to live on your own? No, it's not wrong - but I must know: how
can someone so young
Sing words so sad?"
"Come out and find the one that you love and who loves you"
"Is it wrong not to always be glad? No, it's not wrong - but I must add: How can
someone so young sing words so sad?"
"Throw your homework onto the fire, come out and find the one that you love"
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The Smiths in 1985. Left to right: Andy Rourke,
Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce.
Background information
Origin
Manchester, England
Genres
Alternative rock, indie pop
Years active
1982–1987
Labels
Rough Trade, Sire, Warner Bros.
Associated acts
The Adult Net, Moondog One
Past members
Morrissey
Johnny Marr
Mike Joyce
Andy Rourke
Craig Gannon
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. FORMATION AND EARLY SINGLES............................................................................
2. THE SMITHS.............................................................................................................
3. MEAT IS MURDER.....................................................................................................
4. THE QUEEN IS DEAD...............................................................................................
5. STRANGEWAYS, HERE WE COME AND BREAKUP.....................................................
6. POST-SMITHS CAREER.............................................................................................
7. THE SMITHS DISCOGRAPHY.....................................................................................
8. ANOTHER VIEW ON THE SMITHS HISTORY............................................................
9. FAMOUS SONG QUOTES........................................................................................
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The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The band
consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke and
drummer Mike Joyce. Critics have called them the most important alternative
rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. Q
magazine's Simon Goddard argued in 2007 that The Smiths were "the one truly
vital voice of the '80s", "the most influential British guitar group of the decade" and
the "first indie outsiders to achieve mainstream success on their own terms".
Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Marr, the group signed to
the independent record label Rough Trade Records, on which they released four
studio albums, The Smiths (1984), Meat Is Murder (1985), The Queen Is
Dead (1986) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987). They have also released
several compilations, and numerous non-LP singles.
The Smiths had several singles reach the UK top twenty and all four of their albums
reached the UK top five, including one which topped the charts. They won a
significant following and remain cult favourites, although they had limited
commercial success outside the UK while they were still together. The band broke
up in 1987 and have turned down several offers to reunite.
The band's focus on a guitar, bass, and drum sound and their fusion of 1960s rock
and post-punk was a repudiation of synthesiser-based contemporary dance pop –
the style popular in the early 1980s. Marr's guitar playing on his Rickenbacker
often had a jangly sound influenced by Roger McGuinn of the Byrds.
Marr's guitar playing influenced later Manchester bands, including the Stone Roses
and Oasis. Morrissey's lyrics combined themes about ordinary people with a
mordant sense of humour.
The Smiths were formed in
early 1982 by Steven Patrick
Morrissey, a writer who had
briefly fronted punk rock band
The Nosebleeds (which included guitarist Billy Duffy, who later was a member of
The Cult); and John Maher, a guitarist and songwriter. Maher changed his name
to Johnny Marr to avoid confusion with Buzzcocks drummer John Maher, and
Morrissey performed under his surname alone.
1. FORMATION AND EARLY
SINGLES
After recording several demo tapes with Simon Wolstencroft (later of The Fall) on
drums, Morrissey and Marr recruited drummer Mike Joyce in the autumn of 1982.
Joyce had formerly been a member of punk bands The Hoax and Victim. They also
added bass player Dale Hibbert, who provided the group with demo recording
facilities at the studio where he worked as a recording engineer. Hibbert was
replaced after one gig by Marr's friend Andy Rourke, because Marr felt that neither
Hibbert's bass playing nor his personality fitted the group.
The band picked their name in part as a reaction against those used by synthpop
bands of the early 1980s, such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Spandau
Ballet, which they considered pretentious. In a 1984 interview Morrissey said that
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he chose The Smiths "because it was the most ordinary name" and because he
thought that it was "time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces."
Signing to indie label Rough Trade Records, they released their first single, "Hand
in Glove", in May 1983. The record was championed by DJ John Peel, as were all
of their later singles, but failed to chart. The follow-up singles "This Charming Man"
and "What Difference Does It Make?" fared better when they reached numbers 25
and 12 respectively on the UK Singles Chart.
In February 1984, the group released their debut
album The Smiths, which reached number two on
the UK Albums Chart. Both "Reel Around the Fountain"
and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" met with
controversy, with some tabloid newspapers alleging the songs were suggestive of
paedophilia, a claim strongly denied by the group.
2. THE
SMITHS
The album was followed the same year by the non-album singles "Heaven Knows
I'm Miserable Now" and "William, It Was Really Nothing", which featured "How
Soon Is Now?" on its B-side. Securing the band's first top ten placing, "Heaven
Knows I'm Miserable Now" was also significant for marking the beginning of
engineer and producer Stephen Street's long-term working relationship with the
band.
More controversy followed when "Suffer Little Children", the B-side to "Heaven
Knows I'm Miserable Now", touched on the theme of the Moors murders. This
caused an uproar after the grandfather of one of the murdered children heard the
song on a pub jukebox and felt the band was trying to commercialise the murders.
After meeting with Morrissey, he accepted that the song was a sincere exploration
of the impact of the murders. Morrissey subsequently established a friendship with
Ann West, the mother of victim Lesley Ann Downey, who is mentioned by name in
the song. The year ended with the compilation album Hatful of Hollow. This
collected singles, B-sides and the versions of songs that had been recorded
throughout the previous year for the Peel and Jensen shows.
Early in 1985 the band released their second
album, Meat Is Murder. This album was more
strident and political than its predecessor,
including the pro-vegetarian title track
(Morrissey forbade the rest of the group from being photographed eating meat),
the light-hearted republicanism of "Nowhere Fast", and the anti-corporal
punishment "The Headmaster Ritual" and "Barbarism Begins at Home". The band
had also grown more diverse musically, with Marr adding rockabilly riffs to
"Rusholme Ruffians" and Rourke playing a funk bass solo on "Barbarism Begins at
Home". The album was preceded by the re-release of the B-side "How Soon Is
Now?" as a single, and although that song was not on the original LP, it has been
added to subsequent releases. Meat Is Murder was the band's only album (barring
compilations) to reach number one in the UK charts. In 2003, the album was
3. MEAT IS
MURDER
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ranked number 295 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of
all time.
Morrissey brought a political stance to many of his interviews, courting further
controversy. Among his targets were the Thatcher government, the British
monarchy, and the famine relief project Band Aid. Morrissey famously quipped of
the last, "One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another
thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England" ("torture" being a reference
to the music that resulted from the project). The subsequent single-only release
"Shakespeare's Sister" reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart, although the
only single taken from the album, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", was less
successful, barely making the top 50.
During 1985 the band completed lengthy
tours of the UK and the US while recording
their next studio record, The Queen Is
Dead. The album was released in June 1986,
shortly after the single "Bigmouth Strikes Again". The single again featured Marr's
strident acoustic guitar rhythms and lead melody guitar lines with wide leaps.
4. THE QUEEN IS
DEAD
The Queen Is Dead reached number two in the UK charts, and consisted of a
mixture of mordant bleakness (e.g. "Never Had No One Ever", which seemed to
play up to stereotypes of the band), dry humour (e.g. "Frankly, Mr. Shankly",
allegedly a message to Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis disguised as a letter of
resignation from a worker to his superior), and synthesis of both, such as in "There
Is a Light That Never Goes Out" and "Cemetry Gates".
However, all was not well within the group. A legal dispute with Rough Trade had
delayed the album by almost seven months (it had been completed in November
1985), and Marr was beginning to feel the stress of the band's exhausting touring
and recording schedule. He later told NME, "'Worse for wear' wasn't the half of it: I
was extremely ill. By the time the tour actually finished it was all getting a little
bit ... dangerous. I was just drinking more than I could handle." Meanwhile, Rourke
was fired from the band in early 1986 due to his use of heroin. He allegedly
received notice of his dismissal via a Post-it note stuck to the windscreen of his car.
It read, "Andy – you have left The Smiths. Goodbye and good luck, Morrissey."
Morrissey himself, however, denies this.
Rourke was replaced on bass by Craig Gannon (formerly a member of Scottish
New Wave band Aztec Camera), but was reinstated after only a fortnight. Gannon
stayed in the band, switching to rhythm guitar. This five-piece recorded the singles
"Panic" and "Ask" (the latter with Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals) which reached
numbers 11 and 14 respectively on the UK Singles Chart, and toured the UK. After
the tour ended in October 1986, Gannon left the band.
The group had become frustrated with Rough Trade and sought a record deal with
a major label. Marr told NME in early 1987, "Every single label came to see us. It
was small-talk, bribes, the whole number. I really enjoyed it." The band ultimately
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signed with EMI, which drew criticism from their fanbase and from elements of
the music press.
In early 1987
the single
"Shoplifters
of the World
Unite" was released and reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. It was
followed by a second compilation, The World Won't Listen – the title was
Morrissey's comment on his frustration with the band's lack of mainstream
recognition, although the album reached number two in the charts – and the
single "Sheila Take a Bow", the band's second (and last during the band's lifetime)
UK top-10 hit. Another compilation, Louder Than Bombs, was intended for the
overseas market and covered much the same material as The World Won't Listen,
with the addition of "Sheila Take a Bow" and material from Hatful of Hollow, as that
compilation was yet to be released in the U.S.
5. STRANGEWAYS, HERE WE COME AND
BREAKUP
Despite their continued success, a variety of tensions emerged within the band
to threaten their split. Johnny Marr was exhausted and took a break from the band
in June 1987, which he felt was negatively perceived by the other Smiths. In July
1987, Marr left the group permanently because he thought an NME article entitled
"Smiths to Split" was planted by Morrissey, when in fact it was not. That article,
written by Danny Kelly, alleged that Morrissey disliked Marr working with other
musicians, and that Marr and Morrissey's personal relationship had reached
breaking point. Marr contacted NME to explain that he did not leave the band due
to personal tensions but because he wanted wider musical scope.
Former Easterhouse guitarist Ivor Perry was brought in to replace Marr, and the
band recorded some new material with him which was never completed, including
an early version of "Bengali in Platforms" that was originally intended as the B-side
of "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before". Perry was uncomfortable
with the situation, stating "it was like they wanted another Johnny Marr", and the
sessions ended with (according to Perry) "Morrissey running out of the studio". By
the time the group's fourth album Strangeways, Here We Come was released in
September, the band had split up.
The breakdown in the relationship has been primarily attributed to Morrissey
becoming annoyed by Marr's work with other artists and Marr growing
frustrated by Morrissey's musical inflexibility. Marr particularly hated
Morrissey's obsession with covering 1960s pop artists such as Twinkle and Cilla
Black. Marr recalled in 1992, "That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group
to perform Cilla Black songs." In a 1989 interview, Morrissey cited the lack of a
managerial figure and business problems as reasons for the band's split.
Strangeways, Here We Come peaked at number two in the UK and was their
most successful album in the US, reaching number 55 on the Billboard 200. It
received a lukewarm reception from critics, but both Morrissey and Marr name it as
their favourite Smiths album. A couple of further singles from Strangeways were
released with earlier live, session and demo tracks as B-sides, and the following
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year the live recording Rank (recorded in 1986 while Gannon was in the band)
repeated the UK chart success of previous albums.
The Smiths were the subject of a South
Bank Show documentary produced by
LWT and broadcast by ITV on 18 October
1987, four months after their break-up and
three weeks after the release of Strangeways.
6. POST-SMITHS
CAREER
Following the group's demise, Morrissey began work on a solo recording,
collaborating with producer Stephen Street and fellow Mancunian Vini Reilly,
guitarist for The Durutti Column. The resulting album, Viva Hate (a reference to
the end of the Smiths), was released in March 1988, reaching number one in the
UK charts. Morrissey continues to perform and record as a solo artist.
Johnny Marr returned to the music scene in 1989 with New Order's Bernard
Sumner and Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant in the supergroup Electronic. Electronic
released three albums over the next decade. Marr was also a member of The The,
recording two albums with the group between 1989 and 1993. He has worked as a
session musician and writing collaborator with artists including The Pretenders,
Bryan Ferry, Pet Shop Boys, Billy Bragg, Black Grape, Talking Heads,
Crowded House, and Beck.
In 2000 he started another band, Johnny Marr and the Healers, which enjoyed
moderate success, and later worked as a guest musician on the Oasis album
Heathen Chemistry (2002). In 2006 he began work with Modest Mouse's Isaac
Brock on songs that eventually featured on the band's 2007 release, We Were
Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.
Modest Mouse subsequently announced that Marr was a fully fledged member, and
the reformed line-up toured extensively in 2006–07. Marr also recorded with Liam
Gallagher of Oasis. In January 2008, it was reported that Marr had taken part in a
week-long songwriting session at Moolah Rouge recording studio in Stockport with
Wakefield indie group The Cribs. Marr's association with the band lasted three
years and included an appearance on its fourth album, Ignore the Ignorant
(2009). His departure from the group was announced in April 2011. He is now
working on solo material. In addition to his activities as a musician and
songwriter, Marr produced Haven's debut album, Between the Senses (2002).
Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce have continued working together. They toured with
Sinéad O'Connor in the first half of 1988 (Rourke also appeared on her 1990
album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got). Still in 1988, they were recruited
(with Craig Gannon) to Adult Net, but left the band soon afterwards. In 1988 and
1989, they recorded singles with Morrissey. In 1998 they toured and recorded with
Aziz Ibrahim (ex-The Stone Roses). In 2001 they formed Specter with Jason
Specter and others. The band played in the United Kingdom and the United
States, but did not prosper. Part of its 27 May 2001 show in New York can be seen
at YouTube.
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In the same year they recorded demos with Paul Arthurs (ex-Oasis), Aziz Ibrahim,
and Rowetta Idah (ex-Happy Mondays) under the name Moondog One, but the
project went no further. Towards the end of 2001, they played together in the
veteran Manchester band Jeep. In 2005 they played with Vinny Peculiar,
recording the single "Two Fat Lovers" (Joyce also appeared on the 2006 album,
The Fall and Rise of Vinny Peculiar). In 2007 they released the documentary
DVD Inside the Smiths, a surprisingly affectionate memoir of their time with the
band, notable for the absence of Marr, Morrissey, and their music.
Rourke and Joyce have also pursued their own projects. Joyce has recorded with
Suede (1990); toured and recorded with Buzzcocks (1990–1991); toured with Julian
Cope (1992); toured with John Lydon and Public Image Ltd (1992); recorded with
P.P. Arnold (1995); toured and recorded with Pete Wylie (ex-The Mighty Wah!)
(1996–1998); toured with Vinny Peculiar and Paul Arthurs (2007); and toured with
Autokat (2008–2009). Joyce presented the Alternative Therapy radio show on
Revolution 96.2 FM until the station changed format in 2008, later reviving it on
Manchester Radio Online and Tin Can Media. He now hosts The Coalition Chart
Show on East Village Radio, which streams from New York, and works as a club
DJ.
Rourke wrote the music for three Morrissey B-sides released in 1989 and
1990 ("Yes, I Am Blind", "Girl Least Likely To", and "Get Off the Stage"). He has
played and recorded with Killing Joke (for three days in 1988); The Pretenders
(featuring on Last of the Independents, 1994); Badly Drawn Boy (with whom he
played for two years); Proud Mary (featuring on Love and Light, 2004); and Ian
Brown (featuring on The World Is Yours, 2007). In 2007 he formed Freebass with
fellow bassists Peter Hook (ex-New Order and Joy Division) and Mani (The Stone
Roses and Primal Scream); he remained active in the group until 2010 and appears
on its only album, It's A Beautiful Life (2010).
Rourke co-founded the Manchester v Cancer concert series, later known as
Versus Cancer, to raise money for cancer research. Concerts took place in
January 2006, March 2007, February 2008, and December 2009. He has since
concentrated on his radio career, beginning with a Saturday-evening show on
XFM Manchester.
More recently he has been a regular on East Village Radio, where his colleagues
include Mike Joyce. Rourke relocated to New York in early 2009. Soon after arriving
there, he formed Jetlag – a "DJ and audio production outfit" – with Olé Koretsky. The
pair DJ at venues around the city; a selection of their remixes can be heard at
Soundcloud.
7. THE SMITHS
DISCOGRAPHY
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Studio albums
4
Live albums
1
Compilation albums
10
EPs
1
Singles
20
Video albums
1
Music videos
14
The discography of the English alternative rock band The Smiths consists of four
studio albums, one extended play (EP), one live album, ten compilation
albums, twenty singles, one video album and fourteen music videos on
the Rough Trade, Sire and WEA record labels.
Despite being championed by BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel, the band's debut
single, "Hand in Glove" (May 1983), failed to chart. Its follow-up, "This Charming
Man" (October 1983), met with critical acclaim and reached number twenty-five
on the UK Singles Chart. The Smiths' cult status was followed by mainstream
success in 1984, as they reached number twelve in the UK with the "What
Difference Does It Make?" single and reached number two on the UK Albums Chart
with their debut album, The Smiths (1984). Their next three singles all reached the
top twenty of the charts in the UK, helping to consolidate their previous chart
success.
The next studio album, Meat Is Murder (1985), reached the top of the British
charts; however, the only single to be released from the album, "That Joke Isn't
Funny Anymore" (1985), failed to break the UK Top 40. Returning to form, The
Smiths' next six singles all reached the higher than number thirty in the UK and
their third album, The Queen Is Dead (1986), reached number two in the UK.
Despite the band's chart success, Marr left the group in August 1987 due to a
strained relationship with Morrissey. Failing to find a replacement, The Smiths
disbanded by the time their final studio album, Strangeways, Here We Come,
was released in September that year. Strangeways, Here We Come reached
number two in the UK and became the band's highest-charting release in the
United States when it reached number fifty-five on the Billboard 200.
In early 1992, WEA acquired the entire back catalogue of The Smiths and
produced two compilations – Best...I and ...Best II – the first of which reached the
top of the UK Albums Chart. WEA released two further singles compilations in 1995
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and 2001, with a further compilation, The Sound of The Smiths, released in
November 2008.
7.1.
Year
STUDIO ALBUMS
Album details
Certifications
(sales thresholds)
The Smiths
Released: 20 February
1984
1984
UK: Gold[11]
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
Meat Is Murder
Released: 11 February
1985
UK: Gold[11]
1985
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
The Queen Is Dead
Released: 16 June
UK: Platinum[11]
1986
1986
Label: Rough Trade
US: Gold[14]
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
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Strangeways, Here We
Come
Released: 28
UK: Gold[11]
September 1987
1987
US: Gold[14]
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
7.2.
Year
LIVE ALBUMS
Certifications
Album details
(sales thresholds)
Rank
Released: 5 October
1988
UK: Gold[11]
Labels: Rough
Trade, Sire
Formats: LP, cassette,
CD
7. 3.
COMPILATION ALBUMS
Year
Album details
~ 10 ~
Certifications
(sales thresho
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Hatful of Hollow
1984
Released: 12 November 1984
UK: Platinum[11]
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
The World Won't Listen
Released: 23 February 1987
UK: Gold[11]
Label: Rough Trade
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
1987
Louder Than Bombs
Released: 30 March 1987
Labels: Rough Trade, Sire
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
UK: Gold[11]
US: Gold[14]
Best...I
Released: 17 August 1992
UK: Gold[11]
Label: WEA
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
1992
...Best II
Released: 2 November 1992
UK: Gold[11]
1995
Label: WEA
Formats: LP, cassette, CD
Singles
~ 11 ~
UK: Platinum[11]
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Released: 20 February 1995
Label: WEA
Format: CD
The Very Best of The Smiths
Released: 4 June 2001
UK: Platinum[11]
2001
Label: WEA
Format: CD
The Sound of The Smiths
Released: 10 November 2008
UK: Platinum[11]
Label: WEA
Format: CD
2008
The Smiths Singles Box
Released: 8 December 2008
Label: WEA
Formats: 12 × 7" vinyl, 12 ×CD
The Smiths Complete
Released: 26 September 2011
3 October 2011
2011
Label: Rhino
Formats: 8 × CD, 8 × LP, 8 x CD + 8 x LP +
25 x 7" vinyl + DVD
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7.4.
THE SINGLES
Album
Year
Single
"Hand in Glove"
1983
Non-album singles
"This Charming Man"
"What Difference Does It
Make?"
1984
"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable
Now"
The Smiths
Non-album singles
"William, It Was Really Nothing"
"How Soon Is Now?"
"Shakespeare's Sister"
1985
"That Joke Isn't Funny
Anymore"
"The Boy with the Thorn in His
Meat Is Murder
The Queen Is Dead
Side"
1986
"Bigmouth Strikes Again"
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"Panic"
"Ask"
Non-album singles
"Shoplifters of the World Unite"
"Sheila Take a Bow"
"Girlfriend in a Coma"
1987
"I Started Something I Couldn't
Finish"
Strangeways, Here We Come
"Last Night I Dreamt That
Somebody Loved Me"
"Stop Me If You Think You've
Heard This One Before"
"This Charming Man"
...Best I
1992
"How Soon Is Now?"
"There Is a Light That Never
Goes Out"
...Best II
"Ask"
1995
Non-album singles
"Sweet and Tender Hooligan"
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7.5.
Year
MUSIC VIDEOS
Title
Director(s)
"How Soon Is Now?"
Paula Greif and Richard
Levine
"The Boy with the Thorn in His
Side"
Ken O'Neill
Notes
1985
"The Queen Is
Dead"/"Panic"/"There Is a Light
That Never Goes Out"
Derek Jarman
A short film made for
the 1986 Edinburgh
Festival.
"Panic"
Derek Jarman
A promo video for the
"Panic" single was
made using a mixture
of concert footage
and footage from
Jarman's film.
"Ask"
Derek Jarman
1986
1987
"Shoplifters of the World Unite"
Tamra Davis
"Sheila Take a Bow"
Tamra Davis
"Girlfriend in a Coma"
Tim Broad
"Stop Me if You Think You've
Heard This One Before"
Tim Broad
~ 15 ~
Combines footage of
The Smiths on The
Tube in April 1987
with footage from the
film A Place In the
Sun.
Video produced for a
single whose release
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was cancelled.
1988
"I Started Something I Couldn't
Finish"
Tim Broad
Promo video released
after The Smiths had
split, which recycles
footage from the
"Stop Me if You Think
You've Heard This One
Before" video.
"Ask" (live)
Peter Fowler
Promo video produced
to promote
the Rank live album.
Unknown
Uses footage
originally shot for
the Tyne Tees
Television show The
Tube in 1983.
Tim Broad
Recycles footage from
the "Stop Me if You
Think You've Heard
This One Before"
promo video.
"This Charming Man"
1992
"There Is a Light That Never Goes
Out"
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The Smiths were
the definitive
British indie rock
band of the '80s,
marking the end of synth-driven new wave and the beginning of the guitar rock
that dominated English rock into the '90s. Sonically, the group was indebted to the
British Invasion, crafting ringing, melodic three-minute pop singles, even for their
album tracks.
8. ANOTHER VIEW ON THE SMITHS
HISTORY
But their scope was far broader than that of a revivalist band. The group's core
members, vocalist Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, were obsessive rock
fans inspired by the D.I.Y. ethics of punk, but they also had a fondness for girl
groups, pop, and rockabilly. Morrissey and Marr also represented one of the
strangest teams of collaborators in rock history. Marr was the rock
traditionalist, looking like an elegant version of Keith Richards during The Smiths'
heyday and meticulously layering his guitar tracks in the studio. Morrissey, on the
other hand, broke from rock tradition by singing in a keening, self-absorbed croon,
embracing the forlorn, romantic poetry of Oscar Wilde, publicly declaring his
celibacy, and making no secret of his disgust for most of his peers. While it
eventually led to The Smiths' early demise, the friction between Morrissey and
Marr resulted in a flurry of singles and albums over the course of three years that
provided the blueprint for British guitar rock in the following decade.
Before forming The Smiths in 1982, Johnny Marr (born John Maher, October 31,
1963; guitar) had played in a variety of Manchester-based rock & roll
bands, including Sister Ray, Freaky Part, White Dice, and Paris Valentinos. On
occasion, Marr had come close to a record contract -- one of his bands won a
competition Stiff Records held to have Nick Lowe "produce your band" -- but he
never quite made the leap. Though Morrissey (born Steven Patrick Morrissey, May
22, 1959; vocals) had sung for a few weeks with the Nosebleeds and auditioned
for Slaughter & the Dogs, he had primarily contented himself to being a
passionate, vocal fan of both music and film.
During his teens, he wrote the Melody Maker frequently, often getting his letters
published. He had written the biography/tribute James Dean Isn't Dead,
which was published by the local Manchester publishing house Babylon Books in
the late '70s, as well as another book on the New York Dolls; he was also the
president of the English New York Dolls fan club. Morrissey met Marr, who was
then looking for a lyricist, through mutual friends in the spring of 1982. The pair
began writing songs, eventually recording some demos with the Fall's drummer,
Simon Wolstencroft. By the fall, the duo had settled on the name The Smiths
and recruited Marr's schoolmate Andy Rourke as their bassist and Mike Joyce as
their drummer.
The Smiths made their live debut late in 1982, and by the spring of 1983, the
group had earned a small but loyal following in their hometown of Manchester and
had begun to make inroads in London. Rejecting a record deal with the Mancunian
Factory Records, the band signed with Rough Trade for a one-off single, "Hand in
Glove." With its veiled references to homosexuality and its ringing riffs, "Hand in
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Glove" became an underground sensation in the U.K., topping the independent
charts and earning the praise of the U.K. music weeklies.
Soon, Morrissey's performances became notorious as he appeared on-stage
wearing a hearing aid and with gladioli stuffed in his back pockets. His
interviews were becoming famous for his forthright, often contrary opinions,
which helped the band become a media sensation. By the time of the group's
second single, "This Charming Man," in late 1983, The Smiths had already been
the subject of controversy over "Reel Around the Fountain," a song that had been
aired on a BBC radio session and was alleged to condone child abuse. It was the
first time that Morrissey's detached, literary, and ironic lyrics were misinterpreted
and it wouldn't be the last.
"This Charming Man" reached number 25 on the British charts in December of
1983, setting the stage for "What Difference Does It Make"'s peak of number 12 in
February. The Smiths' rise to the upper reaches of the British charts was swift, and
the passion of their fans, as well as the U.K. music press, indicated that the group
had put an end to the synth-powered new wave that dominated Britain in the
early '80s. After rejecting their initial stab at a first album, they released their
debut, The Smiths, in the spring of 1984 to strong reviews and sales -- it peaked
at number two. A few months later, the group backed '60s pop vocalist Sandie
Shaw -- who Morrissey had publicly praised in an article -- on a version of "Hand
in Glove" that was released and reached the Top 40. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable
Now" reached number ten, becoming their highest-charting single amid a
storm of controversy about its B-side, "Suffer Little Children," which was about the
notorious Moors Murders.
More controversy appeared when Morrissey denounced the hunger-relief
efforts of Band Aid, but the group's popularity was not affected. Though The
Smiths had become the most popular new rock & roll group in Britain, the
group failed to make it outside of underground and college radio in the U.S.,
partially because they never launched a full-scale tour. At the end of the year,
"William It Was Really Nothing" became a Top 20 hit and Hatful of Hollow, a
collection of B-sides, BBC sessions, and non-LP singles, went to the Top Ten,
followed shortly by "How Soon Is Now," which peaked at number 24.
Meat Is Murder, the band's second proper studio album, entered the British
charts at number one in February of 1985, despite some criticism that it was
weaker than The Smiths. Around the time of the release of Meat Is Murder,
Morrissey's interviews were becoming increasingly political as he trashed the
Thatcher administration and campaigned for vegetarianism; he even claimed that
The Smiths were all vegetarians, and he forbade the remaining members to
be photographed eating meat, even though they were still carnivores.
Marr was delving deeply into the rock & roll lifestyle and looked increasingly like a
cross between Keith Richards and Brian Jones. By the time the non-LP
"Shakespeare's Sister" reached number 26 in the spring of 1985, The Smiths
had spawned a rash of soundalike bands, including James, who opened for the
group on their spring 1985 tour, most of whom Morrissey supported. However, all
of the media attention on The Smiths launched a mild backlash later in 1985,
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when "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" was pulled from Meat Is Murder and failed
to reach the Top 40.
"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" revived the band's fortunes in the fall of
1985, and their third album, The Queen Is Dead, confirmed their popularity upon
its release in the spring of 1986. Greeted with enthusiastic reviews and peaking at
number two on the U.K. charts, The Queen Is Dead also expanded their cult
following in the U.S., cracking the Top 100. Shortly before the album was
completed, former Aztec Camera guitarist Craig Gannon became the band's
rhythm guitarist, and he played with the band throughout their 1986 international
tour, including a botched American tour. The non-LP "Panic," which was criticized
as racist by some observers for its repeated refrain of "Burn down the disco...hang
the DJ," reached number 11 late in the summer. A few months after its release,
Marr was seriously injured in a car crash. During his recuperation, Gannon
was fired from the band, as was Rourke, who was suffering from heroin
addiction. Though Rourke was later reinstated, Gannon was never replaced.
The Smiths may have been at the height of their popularity in early 1987,
with the non-LP singles "Shoplifters of the World" and "Sheila Take a Bow"
reaching number 11 and ten respectively, and the singles and B-sides compilation
The World Won't Listen (revamped for U.S. release as Louder Than Bombs
later in 1987) debuting at number two, but Marr was growing increasingly
disenchanted with the band and the music industry. Over the course of the year,
Morrissey and Marr became increasingly irritated with each other.
The singer wished that Marr would stop playing with other artists like Bryan Ferry
and Billy Bragg, while the guitarist was frustrated with Morrissey's devotion to '60s
pop and his hesitancy to explore new musical directions. A few weeks before the
fall release of Strangeways, Here We Come, Marr announced that he was
leaving The Smiths. Morrissey disbanded the group shortly afterward and
began a solo career, signing with Parlophone in the U.K. and staying with The
Smiths' U.S. label, Reprise. Marr played as a sideman with a variety of artists,
eventually forming Electronic with New Order frontman Bernard Sumner.
Rourke retired from recording and Joyce became a member of the reunited
Buzzcocks in 1991.
Rank, a live album recorded on the Queen Is Dead tour, was released in the fall of
1988. It debuted at number two in the U.K. A widely criticized, two-part The Best
of the Smiths compilation was released in 1992; the praised Singles compilation
was released in 1995. Joyce and Rourke sued Morrissey and Marr in 1991,
claiming they received only ten percent of the group's earnings while the
songwriters received 40 percent. Rourke eventually settled out of court, but Joyce
won his case in late 1996.
9. FAMOUS SONG
QUOTES
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Miserable Lie
"There's something against us, it's not time, it's not time, so, goodbye, goodbye,
goodbye, goodbye"
"I know I need hardly say how much I love your casual way"
"The dark nights are drawing in and your humour is as black as them. I look at
yours, you laugh at mine and 'love' is just a miserable lie. You have destroyed my
flower-like life: not once - twice. You have corrupt my innocent mind: not once twice"
"Nobody ever looks at me twice"
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
"And when darknesss lifts and the room is bright I'll still be by your side for you
are all that matters and I'll love you to till the day I die"
This Charming Man
"I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear. This man said 'it's
gruesome that someone so handsome should care'"
"He knows so much about these things"
What Difference Does It Make
"All men have secrets and here is mine, so let it be known: For we have been
through hell and high tide I think I can rely on you and yet you start to recoil
heavy words are so lightly thrown... But still I'd leap in front of a flying bullet for
you"
"I stole and I lied, and why? Because you asked me to!"
"I'm feeling very sick and ill today but I'm still fond of you"
Suffer Little Children
"Oh, wherever he has gone, I have gone"
"We may be dead and we may be gone but we will be, we will be, we will be, right
by your side until the day you die, this is no easy ride. We will haunt you when you
laugh, yes, you could say we're a team. You might sleep, you might sleep, you
might sleep, but you will never dream"
William, It Was Really Nothing
"I don't dream about anyone - except myself"
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These Things Take Time
"Oh, the alcoholic afternoons, when we sat in your room, they meant more to me
than any, than any living thing on earth. They had more worth than any living
thing on earth"
How Soon Is Now
"You shut your mouth, how can you say I go about things the wrong way? I am a
human and I need to be loved just like everybody else does"
"There's a club, if you'd like to go. You could meet somebody who really loves
you.. So you go, and you stand on your own and you leave on your own and you
go home, and you cry and you want to die"
"When you say it's gonna happen 'now', well, when exactly do you mean? See,
I've already waited too long and all my hope is gone"
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
"I was looking for a job, and then I found a job and heaven knows I'm miserable
now"
"In my life, why do I give valuable time to people who don't care if I live or die?"
"What she asked of me at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed"
Girl Afraid
"Girl afraid, where do his intentions lay? Or does he even have any? She says: 'He
never really looks at me, I give him every opportunity.. In the room downstairs, he
sat and stared, in the room downstairs, de sat and stared.. I'll never make that
mistake again!' Boy afraid, Prudence never pays and everything she wants costs
money... 'But she doesn't even like me! And I know because she said so... In the
room downstairs, she sat and stared, in the room downstairs, she sat and stared...
I'll never make that mistake again!'"
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
"Good times for a change.. See, the luck I've had can make a good man turn bad..
So please, please, please, let me, let me, let me, let me get what I want this time.
Haven't had a dream in a long time... See, the life I've had can make a good man
bad. So for once in my life let me get what I want... Lord knows, it would be the
first time"
The Headmaster Ritual
"I wanna go home, I don't wanna stay... Give up education as a bad mistake"
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
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"I just might die with a smile on my face, after all"
"I've seen this happen in other people's lives and now it's happening in mine"
The Queen Is Dead
"Oh has the world changed, or have I changed?"
"We can go for a walk where it's quiet and dry and talk about precious things, like
love and law and poverty.. Oh, these are the things that kill me"
"Life is very long, when you're lonely"
Never Had No One Ever
"I had a really bad dream, it lasted 20 years, 7 months, and 27 days... I never, I'm
alone, and I never, ever oh... had no one ever"
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
"How can they look into my eyes and still they don't believe me? How can they
hear me say those words and still they don't believe me? And, if they don't believe
me now, will they ever believe me?"
"How can they see the love in our eyes and still they don't believe us? And, after
all this time, they don't want to believe us. And, if they don't believe us now, will
they ever believe us? And when you want to live, how do you start? Where do you
go? Who do you need to know?"
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
"Some girls are bigger than others"
"Send me the pillow, the one that you dream on, and I'll send you mine"
There is a light that never goes out
"And, if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly
way to die. And, if a ten-ton truck kills the both of us, to die by your side.. Well,
the pleasure - the privilege is mine. Take me out tonight, take me anywhere, I
don't care, I don't care, I don't care."
Shakespeare's Sister
"Throw your skinny body down, son!"
"Throw your white body down!"
"But I'm going to meet the one I love, so please don't stand in my way"
"But I'm going to meet the one I love, at last"
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Shoplifters Of The World Unite
"Learn to love me, assemble the ways.. Now, today, tomorrow and always"
"I was bored before I even began"
Unloveable
I know I'm unloveable, you don't have to tell me. Oh, message received, loud and
clear, loud and clear. I don't have much in my life but take it - it's yours"
"I wear Black on the outside 'cause Black is how I feel on the inside. And if I seem
a little strange.. Well, that's because I am. But I know that you would like me if
only you could see me, if only you could meet me"
Sheila Take a Bow
"Is it wrong to want to live on your own? No, it's not wrong - but I must know: how
can someone so young
Sing words so sad?"
"Come out and find the one that you love and who loves you"
"Is it wrong not to always be glad? No, it's not wrong - but I must add: How can
someone so young sing words so sad?"
"Throw your homework onto the fire, come out and find the one that you love"
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