The Smiths

The Smiths was an English rock band that was formed in 1982 by Morrissey and Marr. The Smiths are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerge from 1980s British independent music.
==History==
===Formation===
In May 1982, Johnny Marr and his friend Steve Pomfret went to the home of Steven Morrissey in Stretford to invite him to form a band. Marr and Morrissey had met at a Patti Smith gig at Manchester's Apollo Theatre on 31 August 1978, when Marr was 14 and Morrissey was 19.https://books.google.com/books?id=ImK_BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT16 p. 16 They bonded through their love of poetry and literature.Morrissey: Scandal and Passion. Robson A fan of the New York Dolls, Marr had been impressed that Morrissey had written a book on the band and was inspired to turn up on his doorstep following the example of Jerry Leiber, who had formed his working partnership with Mike Stoller after turning up at Stoller's door.Bret 2004, p. 32; Goddard 2006, p. 16. According to Morrissey: "We got on absolutely famously. We were very similar in drive."https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/d8176a1c#b00p068y The two found that they were fans of many of the same bands.Goddard 2016, p. 17. When Marr looked through Morrissey's singles collection, he found the Monochrome Set, a band they both admired.https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jan/09/the-monochrome-set-remembered Marr later said that without them the Smiths would not have existed. https://www.cccb.org/en/participants/file/the-monochrome-set/214217 The next day, Morrissey phoned Marr to confirm that he would be interested in forming a band with him.Goddard 2006, p. 17 
By late 1982, Morrissey had chosen the band name the Smiths.Bret 2004, p. 34; Goddard 2006, p. 20. He said later that "it was the most ordinary name and I thought it was time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces".Goddard 2006, p. 20 Around the time of the band's formation, Morrissey decided that he would be publicly known only by his surname,Bret 2004, p. 34; Simpson 2004, p. 42. with Marr referring to him as "Mozzer" or "Moz". In 1983, he forbade those around him from using the name "Steven", which he despised.Goddard 2006, p. 21.
After remaining with the band for several rehearsals, Pomfret departed acrimoniously. He was replaced by the bass player Dale Hibbert, who worked at Manchester's Decibel Studios, where Marr had met him while recording Freak Party's demo.Goddard 2006, p. 20. Wolstencroft was not interested in joining the band, so following auditions Mike Joyce joined; he later revealed that he was under the influence of magic mushrooms during his audition.Goddard 2006, pp. 25–26. Meanwhile, Morrissey took the demo recording to Factory Records, but Factory's Tony Wilson was not interested.Goddard 2006, pp. 26–27.
===Rough Trade===
Marr and Rourke visited London to hand a cassette of their recordings to Geoff Travis of the independent record label Rough Trade Records.Marr 2016, pp. 275–276. Travis agreed to cut their song "Hand in Glove" as a single.Goddard 2006, p. 42. For the cover, Morrissey insisted on a homoerotic photograph by Jim French which he had found in Margaret Walters' The Nude Male.Goddard 2006, p. 42. The single was released in May 1983,Goddard 2006, p. 38. and sold well for the next 18 months, but did not chart in the UK Top 40. Among the audience at the Smiths' second London concert, at the University of London Union, was John Walters, the producer of John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show: he invited the band to record a session for the programme. Peel said: "You couldn't immediately tell what records they'd been listening to. That's fairly unusual, very rare indeed... It was that aspect of the Smiths that I found most impressive." Following this radio exposure, the Smiths gained their first interviews, in the music magazines NME and Sounds.Goddard 2006, p. 43.
Travis traveled to Manchester to meet the band at their Crazy Face rehearsal space and sign a record contract with Rough Trade.Goddard 2006, pp. 46–47. Morrissey and Marr signed it on behalf of the band, and there was no discussion of how earnings would be divided.Goddard 2006, p. 47. Travis brought in Troy Tate of the Teardrop Explodes, and under his supervision the band recorded their first album, at the Elephant Studios in Wapping, East London.Goddard 2006, pp. 47–50. Rough Trade were unhappy with the album and Tate's production, insisting the band rerecord it with a new producer, John Porter.Goddard 2006, pp. 50–51. The singles "This Charming Man" and "What Difference Does It Make?" reached numbers 25 and 12 on the UK Singles Chart.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_Book_of_British_Hit_Singles_%26_Albums Aided by praise from the music press and a series of studio sessions for Peel and David Jensen at BBC Radio 1, the Smiths began to build a dedicated fanbase.
===Breakup===
Marr was exhausted and took a break in June 1987, which he felt was negatively perceived by his bandmates. In July, he left the group because he erroneously believed an NME article titled "Smiths to Split" was planted by Morrissey.Johnny Rogan, Morrissey and Marr: The Severed Alliance (London: Omnibus, 1992), p. 281–282. The article, written by Danny Kelly, alleged that Morrissey disliked Marr working with other musicians and that Marr and Morrissey's personal relationship had reached a breaking point. Marr contacted NME to explain that he had not left the band due to personal tensions but because he wanted wider musical scope."Marr Speaks", NME, 8 August 1987. Former Easterhouse guitarist Ivor Perry was brought in to replace Marr.http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=22&csid=1&csid1=1375 The band recorded some material with him which was never completed, including an early version of "Bengali in Platforms", later released on Morrissey's debut solo album, Viva Hate (1988).Dave Henderson, "I Was Nearly a Suedehead! Ivor Perry and Cradle Tales", Underground, No. 13, April 1988, p. 5. Perry was uncomfortable with the situation, saying "it was like they wanted another Johnny Marr"; according to Perry, the sessions ended with Morrissey running out of the studio.Henderson, "Suedehead".
By the time Strangeways, Here We Come was released in September, the Smiths had split. The breakdown has been primarily attributed to Morrissey's irritation with Marr's work with other artists and Marr's frustration with Morrissey's musical inflexibility. Marr particularly hated Morrissey's obsession with covering 1960s pop artists such as Twinkle and Cilla Black, saying in 1992: "That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs."Johnny Rogan, "The Smiths: Johnny Marr's View", Record Collector, November/December 1992. In a 1989 interview, Morrissey cited the lack of a managerial figure and business problems as reasons for the split.http://www.morrissey-solo.com/
==Royalties Dispute==
Morrissey and Marr each took 40% of the Smiths' recording and performance royalties, allowing 10 per cent each to Joyce and Rourke. As Joyce's barrister later argued in court, Joyce and Rourke were treated as session musicians, "as readily replaceable as the parts in a lawnmower".The Daily Telegraph, Thursday, 12 December 1996. A transcript of the article. In March 1989, Joyce and Rourke started legal proceedings against Morrissey and Marr. They argued that they were equal partners in the Smiths and were each entitled to a 25 per cent share of the band's profits on all activities other than songwriting and publishing. Rourke, who was in debt, settled quickly for a lump sum of £83,000 (equivalent to £219,682 in 2021) and 10 per cent of royalties, renouncing all further claims.http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/1998/1711.html
Joyce continued with the action, which reached the High Court of Justice (Chancery Division) in December 1996. Morrissey and Marr had accepted the previous year that Joyce and Rourke were partners, but whether Joyce was entitled to a quarter of profits "arising out of the activities (other than songwriting or publishing)" of the Smiths remained contentious.Joyce vs. Morrissey and Others (1998). Joyce's barrister, Nigel Davis, said that Joyce did not realise he was receiving only 10% of the profits until after the band split.Richard Duce, "Former Smith Lets Court Know Why He's Miserable Now", The Times (London), Tuesday, 3 December 1996.
Morrissey and Marr – who were represented separately at the trial – insisted that the royalty split had been explained to Rourke and Joyce, though they were no longer sure when. Additionally, this agreement was only discussed verbally and it was never legally written on paper, something Marr came to regret. He said in 2004 that although he had no regrets in breaking up the Smiths, he wished the band had signed legal documents "from the word go" to avoid the later financial disagreements.Sheppard, David (2022). "We Changed People's Lives". MOJO the Collectors' Series: The Smiths – Hand in Glove 1982-1987: 105. As Marr's counsel, Robert Englehart, said, "Some 13 years on it is extremely difficult to pinpoint the moment when the 40:40:10:10 profit split came into being ... But Morrissey and Marr acted throughout on the basis that they would be getting 40 percent each of the net profits from the Smiths' earnings.""Smiths' Cash Split 'Never Equal'", Manchester Evening News, Tuesday, 10 December 1996.
After a seven-day hearing, Judge Weeks found in favour of Joyce, ordering that he receive around £1 million in back-royalties and 25 per cent henceforth. The judge also gave character assessments; Joyce and Rourke (who gave evidence in Joyce's support) impressed him as straightforward and honest, whereas Morrissey "appeared devious, truculent and unreliable where his own interests were at stake" and Marr was "willing to embroider his evidence to a point where he became less credible." The judge also ranked the band members by IQ, with Marr "probably the more intelligent of the four", while Rourke and Joyce were "unintellectual".https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/29/johnny-marr-the-smiths-morrissey-simon-hattenstone Morrissey said in an interview eight months later: The court case was a potted history of the life of the Smiths. Mike, talking constantly and saying nothing. Andy, unable to remember his own name. Johnny, trying to please everyone and consequently pleasing no one. And Morrissey under the scorching spotlight in the dock being drilled. "How dare you be successful?" "How dare you move on?" To me, the Smiths were a beautiful thing and Johnny left it, and Mike has destroyed it.Jennifer Nine, "The Importance of Being Morrissey", Melody Maker, 9 August 1997. 
Asked some time before the trial whether he thought Rourke and Joyce had been short-changed, Morrissey responded: "They were lucky. If they'd had another singer they'd never have got further than Salford Shopping Centre."https://books.google.com/books?id=O3pEsVdZWUoC&dq=morrissey+rourke+joyce+salford+shopping+centre&pg=PA83 Morrissey's counsel, Ian Mill, conceded that Morrissey's attitude "betrayed a degree of arrogance."Manchester Evening News, Wednesday, 11 December 1996. Morrissey appealed against the verdict; the appeal was heard by the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) in November 1998 and dismissed. Inspired by Joyce's success, Rourke sought legal advice on his own options."Morrissey may face new claim for £1m", Manchester Evening News, Thursday, 12 December 1996. He was declared bankrupt in 1999.http://www.citylife.co.uk/news_and_reviews/news/5110_can_a_new_film_heal_smiths__rift_
In November 2005, Joyce told Marc Riley on BBC Radio 6 Music that financial hardship had reduced him to selling rare Smiths recordings on eBay. By way of illustration, Riley played part of an unfinished instrumental known as the "Click Track" (or "Cowbell Track").The Mint Show with Marc Riley, BBC Radio 6 Music, Sunday, 27 November 2005. Morrissey responded with a statement three days later revealing that Joyce had received £215,000 each from Marr and Morrissey in 1997, along with Marr's final backpayment of £260,000 in 2001. Morrissey failed to make his final payment because, he said, he was overseas in 2001 and did not receive the paperwork. Joyce obtained a default judgement against Morrissey, revised his outstanding claim to £688,000 and secured orders garnishing much of his income. This was a source of grievance to Morrissey, who estimated that Joyce had cost him at least £1,515,000 in recovered royalties and legal fees up to 30 November 2005.http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_051130_01
==Controversy==
===Endorsement of Pedophilia===
The Smiths generated controversy when Garry Bushell of The Sun tabloid alleged their B-side "Handsome Devil" was an endorsement of pedophilia.Simpson 2004, p. 108; Goddard 2006, pp. 35–36. The band denied this, with Morrissey stating the song "has nothing to do with children, and certainly nothing to do with child-molesting."Goddard 2006, p. 37.
==Legacy==
The Smiths have been widely influential. Ian Youngs of BBC News described them as "the band that inspired deeper devotion than any British group since The Beatles."https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21323467 Marr's guitar playing "was a huge building block for more Manchester legends that followed the Smiths", including the Stone Roses, whose guitarist John Squire said Marr was an influence. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3005033.stm The Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher also cites the Smiths as an influence, especially Marr. Gallagher said that "when the Jam split, the Smiths started, and I totally went for them."Dowling, "The Influential Alliance". The singer Davey Havok of AFI cites the Smiths as an influence. The Smiths were an early influence on Radiohead,https://web.archive.org/web/20170903205835/http://www.guitarworld.com/radiohead-interview-golden-age-radiohead and in 2001 Marr said Radiohead were the act that had "come closest to the genuine influence of the Smiths".https://web.archive.org/web/20011013053327/http://www.rocksbackpages.com/features/smiths/hoskyns.html
==Discography==
===Albums===
*The Smiths (1984)
*Meat Is Murder (1985)
*The Queen Is Dead (1986)
*Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)
===Live Albums===
*Rank (1988)
===Compilation Albums===
*Hatful of Hollow (1984)
*The World Won't Listen (1987)
*Louder Than Bombs (1987)
*Best I (1992)
*Best II (1992)
*Singles (1995)
*The Very Best of The Smiths (2001)
*The Sound of The Smiths (2008)
*The Smiths Singles Box (2008)
*Complete (2011)
===Extended Plays===
*GIV 1 (1985)
*The 12" Mixes (1988)
*The Peel Sessions (1988)
===Singles===
*There Is a Light That Never Goes Out (Take 1) (1986)
*Rubber Ring/What She Said/Rubber Ring (Live in Boston) (2017)
*I Know It's Over (Demo) (2017)
==References==
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