Praise for the Smiths

[ghost of miles]

Last night I picked up a Mojo/Q issue devoted to the Smiths, and spent most of the evening reading it while I listened to a couple of their CDs. I had such a great love for this band when I was an undergrad in the mid-1980s, and their music, for the most part, has held up well. They provided such a great soundtrack for the coked-out alienation of that decade, the discovery with AIDS that love indeed kills, the rise of Reaganism/Thatcherism... As someone who was already badly hooked on R.E.M.'s early Rickenbacker sound, I was a sucker for Johnny Marr's bevy of sharply beautiful hooks (didn't he even buy Roger McGuinn's old 12-string guitar?). It's easy to forget, too, how unusual it was in 1984 for a band to be fronted by an openly gay singer (though Morrissey managed to be subtle & overt at the same time) who didn't dress in drag, a la Boy George, or camp it up in over-the-top ways. My parents were shocked when I told them Morrissey was gay and that I was listening to the band (1984 in Indiana, remember). His lyrics were such a revelation, too; my girlfriend and I laughed so hard when we first heard "Girl Afraid," which perfectly captures would-be romantic anxiety, but also includes lines such as "And she doesn't even like me/and I know because she said so..."

They incorporated so many musical influences in their work, from the MC5 to girl groups (listen to MEAT IS MURDER for what I think is the best example of their range). And they were a great singles band--God, there was such a thrill in going down to one of the local record shops every three months to get the new 12-inch (and their b-sides were often pretty killer as well). In the fall of 1986, while I was still taking in THE QUEEN IS DEAD, I went to visit a friend at a nearby dorm. He was a solemnly benign, hipper-than-thou poet who dressed in de rigeur black, and as I was talking to him he lowered a needle onto his turntable. "What is it?" I asked. "It's the new Smiths single," he said with a look of wry merriment, and as the opening chords of "Panic" careened off the record-player, he broke into a bohemian jig. God, that song! "Burn down the disco/hang the blessed DJ/because the music that he constantly plays/It says nothing to me about my life," followed by children singing the joyously defiant refrain, "Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ..." It caught so well what many of us felt about radio in the 1980s. The Smiths, we felt, were our band--the sensitive, lonely aesthetes finally had a club.

Which is why the day that I heard they were breaking up felt like the end of an era in indie music. I imagined it was what many more felt 17 years before when they heard that the Beatles were no more. Autumn 1987 was a bleak time in many respects, and news of the Smiths' conclusion made it only more so. In a 1986 interview, Morrissey said, when asked what fate he wished for their songs: "I don't necessarily hope that people will say we changed their lives--I just hope they say our songs remind them of a certain period in their lives." In that case, they succeeded wildly, and then some.

Edited July 20, 2004 by ghost of miles

[Noj]

I was a big fan when I was in Junior High, but I've found that I've grown to dislike Morrissey's singing and lyrics--which I liked way back when. Marr's guitar work is cool, but the whole depression rock thing has gone stale for me. I can still appreciate it in small doses every now and then, but overall I prefer happier music now. Maybe they can digitally remove Morrissey's voice so I can just listen to Marr...?

[John B]

I was a big fan when I was in Junior High, but I've found that I've grown to dislike Morrissey's singing and lyrics--which I liked way back when. Marr's guitar work is cool, but the whole depression rock thing has gone stale for me. I can still appreciate it in small doses every now and then, but overall I prefer happier music now. Maybe they can digitally remove Morrissey's voice so I can just listen to Marr...?

just put The Draize Train off of Rank on repeat. A great instrumental from a band not known for instrumentals.

[Peter Johnson]

I, too, enjoy their music, although some tunes have a "dated" feel to them now.

Hasn't Morrissey always professed to be "celibate," rather than identifying with a particular sexual preference?

[ghost of miles]

I, too, enjoy their music, although some tunes have a "dated" feel to them now.

Hasn't Morrissey always professed to be "celibate," rather than identifying with a particular sexual preference?

He did indeed profess to be celibate, and often used "I/you" in his songs, eschewing direct gender identification, but songs like "Handsome Devil," "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "Hand In Glove" didn't leave much doubt... (And according to Mojo, an early, discarded song was titled, "I Want a Boy for My Birthday"). Most of my friends, like me, were straight, but we were all pretty early gay-rights advocates--and again, it's easy to forget that that was not a popular stance, particularly as the AIDS epidemic became more widespread. Perhaps listening to the Smiths was also an easy way to glom onto a sense of political militancy (their music in & of itself certainly wasn't overtly militant) because of Morrissey's identity (willed or not) as a gay lead singer... very 1980s indeed! For me, though, it was mostly that songs like "How Soon Is Now?" and "Well I Wonder" really caught the mood of being young in that particular time.

[ghost of miles]

Listening to HATFUL OF HOLLOW today, I find myself thinking the "depression rock" label a bit of a misnomer--there's such a sense of joy at the heart of the band's music, in the sense of aesthetic excitement. While they certainly had a "sound," I was always a bit uncertain of where that "sound" was going to go, as the albums came out--unlike, say, the Jesus & Mary Chain or Husker Du, who found a formula early on and did interesting things within it, but who didn't deviate all that much once they did.

And I still long for the days of singles coming out every several months, though I know that's a difficult pace for most bands to sustain. The current "one CD every 3-4 years, with NO singles in between" system of distribution is a real bore, IMO.

Edited July 20, 2004 by ghost of miles

[John B]

Listening to HATFUL OF HOLLOW today, I find myself thinking the "depression rock" label a bit of a misnomer--there's such a sense of joy at the heart of the band's music, in the sense of aesthetic excitement.

I always thought that Morrissey was having a bit of fun, to a degree, with the whole doom and gloom schtick. Especially on the last album, with song titles like Girlfriend in a Coma, I thought he was really being intentionally over the top with the depressing song themes.

[Rooster_Ties]

You know, I was really late getting to 'The Smiths' party. I went off to college in the fall of 1987, and probably heard some Smiths, here and there, but I never even really became aware of the band until much later -- like around 1991, 92, or 93 (when I worked as a DJ on a local top-40 FM station). Then, a couple years later, I borrowed some Smiths CD's from a friend (this would have been around 1995), and it was only then that I got hooked.

But actually, oddly enough, I was already well aware of Johnny Marr, having heard him on a couple albums by the supergroup "Electronic" -- with Marr on guitar, and Bernard Sumner on vocals (from New Order), plus Neil Tennant (of The Pet Shop Boys) on vocals on at least a few "Electronic" singles.

[marcoliv]

Ghost, i felt you were describing my feelings about The Smiths. thanks for express them in a decent english. i couldn't do it.

i know them since 1985 when i heard for the first time This Charming Man. a friend came back from London with many albums and among them was Hatful of Hollow. songs such Reel Around The Fountain, What Difference Does It Make and many others opened a new era for me on my musical tastes.

the same friend introduced me to:

REM´s first album "Murmur"

The Cure-The Head On The Door & Three Imaginary Boys

The Style Council-Our Favorite Shop & Cafe Bleu (my favorite band EVER!)

Prefab Sprout-Two Wheels Good aka Steve McQueen

Aztec Camera-Knife

LLoyd Cole & The Commotions-Rattlesnakes & Easy Pieces

Everything But Girl-Love Not Money & Eden

Thomas Dolby-The Flat Earth

The The- Soul Mining & Infected

Sting-The Dream Of The Blue Turtles (one of my favorite albums EVER!)

Sade-Diamond Life

Matt Bianco & Basia-Whose Side Are You On?

The Dream Academy-The Dream Academy

Pet Shop Boys-

New Order-Low Life

The Fairground Attraction - The First of a Million Kisses

sweet memories!!

Marcus

[BFrank]

This was a group that was DEFINITELY better than the individual parts, as we have seen since they broke up. None has done anything significant or interesting since. It's a shame, because the instrumental trio by itself was rock solid and probably could have continued on - even with another singer.

"Hatful of Hollow" is a great album, for sure. Maybe their best overall.

[kenny weir]

Ten replies? I was sure this would be the shortest thread in the history of the known universe!

[ghost of miles]

I was a big fan when I was in Junior High, but I've found that I've grown to dislike Morrissey's singing and lyrics--which I liked way back when.  Marr's guitar work is cool, but the whole depression rock thing has gone stale for me.  I can still appreciate it in small doses every now and then, but overall I prefer happier music now.  Maybe they can digitally remove Morrissey's voice so I can just listen to Marr...?

just put The Draize Train off of Rank on repeat. A great instrumental from a band not known for instrumentals.

Yes, "The Draize Train" was a good one, and I wish they had included it on LOUDER THAN BOMBS.

Another Smiths instrumental I've heard good things about is "Money Changes Everything" (B-side to either "Bigmouth Strikes Again" or "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side," can't remember which at the moment). I've never heard it, unfortunately. Marr re-recorded it with Bryan Ferry under a different name shortly after leaving the Smiths.

Listening to MEAT IS MURDER right now--a great record, though it does trail off a bit at the end ("Barbarism Begins at Home" is just too damned long and not all that great to begin with).

[Gary]

True, but isnt 'That joke isnt funny anymore' a Smiths classic?

[ghost of miles]

True, but isnt 'That joke isnt funny anymore' a Smiths classic?

Oh, definitely! I love that record, and that song in particular. I was just saying that "Barbarism" is the only song on MIM that I don't care for much--and where Morrissey's yelps drive me to distraction. The rest of the album is killer stuff--the hard-charging opener, the galloping "Rusholme Ruffians," the frantic, unrequited despair of "I Want the One I Can't Have," the MC5 attack of "What She Said," and yeah, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore," beautiful and haunting. Throw in "How Soon Is Now," "Nowhere Fast," and "Well I Wonder," and you have an eight-song stretch that never seems to sputter for a moment.

Funny that 20 years on I've renewed my Smiths fanaticism. I'm going to seek out a copy of MORRISSEY & MARR: A SEVERED ALLIANCE, which is a thoroughly detailed and researched account of their songwriting partnership.

[Gary]

"Well I Wonder," & "Rusholme Ruffians,"

Now I'm going to have to find my copy . While I'm there I might dig out 'Strangeways Here We Come' & play ''Unhappy Birthday''

[ghost of miles]

"Well I Wonder," & "Rusholme Ruffians,"

Now I'm going to have to find my copy . While I'm there I might dig out 'Strangeways Here We Come' & play ''Unhappy Birthday''

You know, STRANGWAYS is the one that I never actually picked up, although I heard two of the singles frequently ("Girlfriend in a Coma" and "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before"), and I did hear the entire LP via a friend when it was first released. I think I was too depressed by their breakup to become too absorbed in it. Not long ago I finally got it through BMG and listened to it all the way through last night. In the Mojo issue both Morrissey and Marr are quoted as saying they think it's the best Smiths album (an honor usually accorded to THE QUEEN IS DEAD), and Marr makes some statement to the effect that it took everything the Smiths were trying to do musically to its full development. If he felt that way, then that might be the biggest reason that he left the Smiths when he did. In any case, I'm appreciating anew STRANGEWAYS and hope to listen to it again tonight after the Baker/Smithsonian Basie concert. (Ah, the pleasures of the schizoid jazz/indie rock fan!)

[marcoliv]

Unhappy Birthday is great

Marcus

[ghost of miles]

Picked up a book today that I'd long been meaning to get:

The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life

...and here's a Halloween-appropriate performance from the band ('86 era--note second guitarist Craig Gannon on the left):

Edited October 31, 2009 by ghost of miles

[Big Al]

I've only ever heard "Louder Than Bombs." Don't know why I never pursued it beyond that.

Funny thing about Morrissey is even when he is singing about openly gay themes, I *still* wasn't completely convinced he was gay. Bi maybe, but not tied down to one particular gender.

And yeah, his lyrics can be so morose as to be absurd. The joke I like to tell is that you could narrow down Morrissey's oeuvre to the following:

Nobody loves me.

Do you love me?

Well, I hate you.

I'm so depressed.

Then it became apparent that even HE didn't mean to be taken so seriously, so the joke was on me. :D

But I love Johnny Marr's guitar work, especially on "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (did I mention the lyrics being so morose as to be absurd?) and "This Night Will Go On Forever" (or something like that, the one about drowning the baby).

[Noj]

I was a big fan when I was in Junior High, but I've found that I've grown to dislike Morrissey's singing and lyrics--which I liked way back when. Marr's guitar work is cool, but the whole depression rock thing has gone stale for me. I can still appreciate it in small doses every now and then, but overall I prefer happier music now. Maybe they can digitally remove Morrissey's voice so I can just listen to Marr...?

just put The Draize Train off of Rank on repeat. A great instrumental from a band not known for instrumentals.

Always weird to see my own opinions mutate over time. Since '04 I've been through a phase where I relived all my old alternative rock tastes, including The Smiths. Morrissey doesn't grate on me now as much as then.

[Alexander]

Talk about being late to the party...

When I was in High School (1985-1989...prime Smiths territory), I was aware of them but little else. The Smiths (like Echo and the Bunnymen, the Violent Femmes, and the Cure...all of whom I like now, btw) were the province of the proto-Goths (the term didn't exist at the time) who hung out in the art wing. Being a neo-hippy (from about 1986 on), I listened exclusively to music that was ten to twenty years old. I wouldn't give the Smiths the time of day...

Then I discovered Elvis Costello during my senior year and I realized that good music WAS being made in the '80s. I went off to college and had a Smiths fan for a roommate. Rather than sharing our interests, he insisted on slamming Costello, so I retaliated by refusing to give HIS music a chance.

Too bad, because years later I would become a big fan of the Smiths (and solo Morrisey to a lesser extent). I still wish that I could tell that guy that I wound up getting into the Smiths, largely because of what I heard from him in our dorm room (although I wouldn't have admitted it at the time).

Funny thing about this guy, btw (whose name was also Alexander) was that he was a totally macho guy of Cuban/Chilean descent (his family had lived - happily, being filthy rich - under the Pinochet regime. My roommate actually had a POSTER of Pinochet in our room) and was totally homophobic (his favorite epithet was "ass-pirate"). How he reconciled his Smith fandom with his homophobia I've never figured out...

[Use3D]

Smiths fan here too, although I discovered them at a time in my life I'd rather forget, it's kinda funny, since now because of that debacle I actually identify with their music a lot more. I like Morrissey's solo stuff too.

[spinlps]

The Smiths were part of my life's soundtrack in high school & college. I can't see pics from my U of I years w/o hearing Cemetery Gates.

[Big Al]

Talk about being late to the party...

When I was in High School (1985-1989...prime Smiths territory), I was aware of them but little else. The Smiths were the province of the proto-Goths (the term didn't exist at the time) who hung out in the art wing. Being a neo-hippy (from about 1986 on), I listened exclusively to music that was ten to twenty years old. I wouldn't give the Smiths the time of day...

Holy shit..... this reads EXACTLY like my high-school experience. Word for word (except the part I edited out, obviously).

[BFrank]

I'm not a big Radiohead fan, but this version of

is pretty impressive.