The Smiths Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Share Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey (vocals) and Johnny Marr (guitar), the band also included Andy Rourke (bass), Mike Joyce (drums) and for a brief time Craig Gannon (rhythm guitar). Critics have called them one of the most important alternative rock bands to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s,and the group has had major influence on subsequent artists. Morrissey's lovelorn tales of alienation found an audience amongst youth culture bored by the ubiquitous synthesiser-pop bands of the early 1980s, while Marr's complex melodies helped return guitar-based music to popularity.

The group were signed to the independent record label Rough Trade Records , for whom they released four studio albums and several compilations, as well as numerous non-LP singles. Although they had limited commercial success outside the UK while they were still together, and never released a single that charted higher than number 10 in their home country, The Smiths won a growing following, and they remain cult and commercial favourites. The band broke up in 1987 amid disagreements between Morrissey and Marr and has turned down several offers to reform. Welcome to The Smiths Wiki Smiths, The Smiths, The by • Artists - S , Music - 1980s • Tags: Madchester A bedroom-trained recluse with limited experience in local punk bands, Steven Patrick Morrissey (who was also the ex-president of the UK New York Dolls fan club, and author of the book James Dean Isn't Dead) finally seized his moment in the summer of 1982 when he formed The Smiths with guitarist Johnny Marr, a veteran of several Manchester bands. They played their first show at a local club called The Ritz.

Not many bands are given a second chance to make their debut, but then not many bands rewrote the rules quite like The Smiths did in 1984. Despite feverish anticipation, the release of their self-titled debut album in February 1984 was not greeted with unanimous hosannas. NME complained about "elephant's ear production" (grey and flat), while Morrissey and Johnny Marr, buoyant in public, expressed private disappointment. It was almost fitting - Morrissey's lyrics knew all about grasping defeat from the jaws of victory - yet part of their appeal was alway that they were the pale-and-interesting outsiders making supremely confident artistic gestures. So, audaciously, Hatful Of Hollow appeared just nine months after The Smiths was released, and it quickly became the record many considered to be the group's true debut. Containing BBC radio sessions for John Peel and David Jensen, plus the band's singles and B-sides to date, it was an essential document for the new devotees and a blueprint for independent music. Here was the humdrum town rendered exotic, intoxicating yet unshakably grim, like gas seeping out of a bedsit boiler.

Thematically too, it was all there; encoded sexuality (William, It Was Really Nothing, You've Got Everything Now), tabloid-alarming allusions to paedophilia (Handsome Devil, Reel Around The Fountain ), people revving their engines for a journey they know they'll never make (These Things Take Time, Hand In Glove, pretty much every track), at odds with rock 'n' roll's fondness for instant gratification. With its stabs at pleasure amid inescapable greyness, Hatful Of Hollow was the perfect soundtrack to end an Orwellian year. It showed a band who not only had the musical gifts to create an abundance of great songs at this tender stage of their career but the aesthetic instinct to create their own world. The Smiths also achieved their first UK Top 10 hit in 1984 with the single Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, with lyrics which were the very essence of Morrissey miserabilism. A renowned celibate, Morrissey had a morbid dread of sex (Pretty Girls Make Graves), and an obsession with child killers (Suffer Little Children). 1985 saw the Meat Is Murder album enter the UK chart at Number One.

The album did not fare so well in the red meat-loving USA where the album peaked at #110. The Smiths opened 1986 in a position of stalemate. Unable to record new material, they were doubly frustrated by the postponement of their new album which Rough Trade was keeping on ice until a legal dispute was settled. After telling the NME "whoever says that The Smiths have split shall be severely spanked by me with a wet plimsoll" after reports of battles with Johnny Marr, Morrissey announced in 1987 that the band had indeed split up. The singer signed a solo deal with EMI while Marr hooked up with The Pretenders . The Smiths' final studio album, Strangeways Here We Come, went to Number 2 in the UK. The band ended up in court in the 90s, with former drummer Mike Joyce suing for lost earnings. Morrissey was described by a UK judge in December 1996 as "devious, truculent and unreliable" and ordered to pay a £1 million share of profits to Joyce. Morrissey commented later, "I wish the very very worst for Joyce for the rest of his life".

Morrissey The Smiths (Music) - TV Tropes The Smiths You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share The Smiths in 1986. From left to right: Andy Rourke, Morrissey , Johnny Marr , Mike Joyce. "So, I broke into the palace With a sponge and a rusty spanner She said: 'Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing' I said: 'That's nothing - you should hear me play piano.'" —The Smiths, "The Queen is Dead" The Smiths were a Manchester -based alternative rock band that formed in 1982 and broke up in 1987. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey (vocals) and Johnny Marr (guitar), the band also included Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums).

Their sound was largely defined by the combination of Morrissey's witty, Deadpan Snarker lyrics and Campy , Melodramatic vocals, Marr's jangly, catchy pop-rock melodies (drawing a lot from The Beatles , Power Pop and classic rock) and the steady support of the Rourke-Joyce rhythm section, but they've branched out beyond pop-rock and experimented over the course of their career. Widely regarded as one of the most important bands to emerge from the British indie music scene of The '80s , the Smiths had a major influence on other artists, including Radiohead , The Stone Roses , and Suede. The band's influence on British alternative and indie rock is often compared to the influence R.E.M. had on American alternative rock. After the break up, Morrissey went on to have a successful solo career. Johnny formed Electronic with Joy Division / New Order guitarist Bernard Sumner, and also formed the short-lived Johnny Marr & the Healers. He also played with cult alternative rockers The The and has done session work for too many artists to list. He was a member of the American indie rock band Modest Mouse from 2005 to 2008.

After leaving Modest Mouse, he joined the British indie band The Cribs which he was a member of from 2008 to 2011. Discography: The Queen Is Dead (1986) Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) Their numerous non-album singles and b-sides are collected on: Hatful of Hollow (1984) The World Won't Listen (1987) and its far more famous American equivalent Louder Than Bombs, issued the same year. Vote for your favourite Smiths album by heading over to the Best Album crowner ! "Death of a Disco Dancer", "Meat is Murder", "Rubber Ring", "Rushholme Ruffians", "Shakespeare's Sister", "These Things Take Time", "Well I Wonder", "What's the World", "Wonderful Woman". In the consonance department, there's "Still Ill". All of the Other Reindeer : The Smiths are one of the few Manchester-based bands of their era not to have signed with Factory Records.

Amusing Injuries : The narrator of "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" injures himself on the crossbar of his bicycle, apparently breaking his spleen and knee. Author Appeal : "This Charming Man" and "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" both mention leather car seats, which Morrissey admitted to finding " erotic ." And then there's his interest in ruffians and criminals, which became even more pronounced in his solo work. Black Comedy : Present in a lot of their songs, as a counterbalance to the more depressing lyrics. "Unhappy Birthday" is a prime example, with morbid lyrics made funny by their matter-of fact delivery and anticlimactic nature (the narrator shoots himself toward the end of the song, but it keeps going). "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" managed to be both quite sad and quite funny at the same time. Boarding School of Horrors : "The Headmaster Ritual", written about the horrors of the British Education System as corporal punishment was still legal at the time.

The song was released in 1985, and corporal punishment was banned in state schools and state-funded private schools in 1987, and then for all other private schools in 1999 (England and Wales), 2000 (Scotland) and 2003 (Northern Ireland). See Society Marches On . Closet Key : "This Charming Man" is about a man's bicycle getting a flat tire, and he's picked up by a passing, charming rich man. They proceed to flirt during the ride, though the protagonist is still hesitant about it. Cool Shades : One of Johnny Marr's favorite fashion accessories. Cover Version : "Work Is a Four-Letter Word" by Cilla Black and "Golden Lights" by Twinkle are infamous for incensing Johnny Marr to the point that he left the band, leading to their breakup. Johnny: I wrote "I Keep Mine Hidden", which I liked, but "Work Is a Four-Letter Word" I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs.

Credits Gag : According to the liner notes to The Queen Is Dead, the backing vocals to "Bigmouth Strikes Again" are performed by Ann Coates... In reality, those vocals were Morrissey's own voice sped up, and "Ann Coates" is a pun on Ancoats, a district of Manchester. Dead Artists Are Better : "Paint A Vulgar Picture" is about this, and how it's exploited. Deadpan Snarker : Morrissey is a Real Life example of this. Drowning My Sorrows : "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" Oh, so I drank one It became four And when I fell on the floor ...I drank more Dumbass DJ : "Panic" was inspired by Steve Wright at the BBC, who played Wham's "I'm Your Man" after announcing the Chernobyl disaster.

The Smiths: Reel Around The Fountain (5:58) and Suffer Little Children (5:28) Meat Is Murder: Barbarism Begins At Home (6:57) and the title track (6:06) The Queen Is Dead: The title track (6:24) and I Know It's Over (5:48) Strangeways, Here We Come: Death Of A Disco Dancer (5:26), Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (5:01), Paint A Vulgar Picture (5:35) Hatful Of Hollow: How Soon Is Now? (6:44), Reel Around The Fountain (5:51, from The Peel Sessions) Rank: Bigmouth Strikes Again (5:51) Fake-Out Fade-Out : "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" fades out, then back in before carrying on for another minute and fading out again. Inverted with "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" where the song fades out rapidly and then fades slowly back in at the beginning of the song. Lesser Star : Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke.

The band's contract apparently only listed Morrissey and Marr as the official members of the band. Joyce and Rourke even sued the other half of the band for royalties that were owed them. Although Rourke wound up settling amicably out of court with Morrissey and Marr, Joyce kept pushing his part of the lawsuit and received a 1 million pound settlement (which in turn alienated him from Rourke). Morrissey claims that Joyce is the main reason why the Smiths will never reunite, moreso than his rift with Marr. Hypocrite : Even after releasing Meat is Murder, Morrissey admitted to wearing leather shoes until synthetic leather shoes became more widespread years later. "I Want" Song : "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want". Intercourse with You : "Stretch Out And Wait", "Reel Around The Fountain", and "Handsome Devil" are some of the less subtle examples. Jerk with a Heart of Gold : Morrissey had turns of this.

He often insulted other artists and pissed people off throughout the band's run, but he also wore a fake hearing aid during the band's 1986 Old Grey Whistle Test performance to support a hearing-impaired fan who was ashamed of wearing one. "Just Joking" Justification : The aptly titled "Bigmouth Strikes Again." "Sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head..." Large Ham : Morrissey, frequently and entertainingly. Long Title : "Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before", "Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want", "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me", "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", etc. It's safe to say that they were in love with this trope. Morrissey's solo work also uses ridiculously long song titles. Lyrical Dissonance : Sonically, they were like a slightly less murky R.E.M. . Lyrically, they were like a funnier The Cure . Miniscule Rocking : "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" comes in at a brisk 1:50.

Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness : The Smiths never went very high up it, pushing a 3-4 at most aggressive moments and 5-6 for "How Soon is Now?" - the lyrics were where the darkness was, not the music. However, when asked in an AV Club interview , Johnny Marr discussed the trope by mentioning how he felt that bands that drew inspiration from the Smiths like Belle and Sebastian were too lightweight compared to them: "Iï¿½ve heard some records by bands that came after us who had their music been any more fey and lightweight, then Iï¿½d expect petals to come out of the speakers. [Laughs.] Thatï¿½s kind of missing what we were about, because The Smiths were not all ï¿½Oscar Wilde at 3:30 in the afternoonï¿½ and feyness. The truth of it is, if you were to see any songs from any of our shows, we were, what I would say, quite heavy. Even the ballads were intense. We were a rock band, really, that played a type of pop music, if I care to analyze it.

I donï¿½t know very much about The Wedding Presentï¿½s music, but what Iï¿½ve heard of Belle & Sebastian was often quite fey, and light in a very deliberate way. I think they have their own thing, which is absolutely fine. But I donï¿½t actually think they sound like The Smiths." My Greatest Failure : Marr admitted to Guitar Player magazine in 1990 that he regrets not writing down how he achieved the slide guitar sound of "How Soon Is Now?": "I wish I could remember exactly how we did the slide part — not writing it down is one of the banes of my life! We did it in three passes through a harmonizer, set to some weird interval, like a sixth. There was a different harmonization for each pass. For the line in harmonics, I retuned the guitar so that I could play it all at the 12th fret with natural harmonics. It's doubled several times." The Queen is Dead, which featured more elaborate production than on their previous albums and singles. Strangeways, Here We Come largely abandons the jangle pop sound that they are known for.

Non-Appearing Title : "Paint a Vulgar Picture," though the original demo version does include it ("and they paint a vulgar picture / of the way they say you were"). "The Headmaster Ritual" and "Barbarism Begins At Home" against child abuse, the former by teachers and the latter by parents. "Meat Is Murder" against animal slaughter. Sadistic Teacher : "The Headmaster Ritual". Self-Deprecation : Quite often. "The Queen Is Dead" features the lyric "I know you and you can't sing/That's nothing, you should hear me play the piano". (Morrissey later fulfilled his threat on "Death of a Disco Dancer".) Serial Killer : The song "Suffer Little Children" was written about Real Life killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Morrissey's fascination with serial killers continued in his solo career with songs like " Jack the Ripper ." Shirtless Scene : Moz at almost every concert and quite a few photo shoots. Sixth Ranger : Second guitarist Craig Gannon, who only appeared on the "Panic" and "Ask" singles and the live Rank album.

Small Name, Big Ego : Morrissey was mouthy and pissed off a lot of music industry people all throughout The Smiths' rise in popularity. Smoking Is Cool : Johnny looked pretty damn cool with a cigarette. The Smiths The Smiths Left to right: Andy Rourke, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce. Background information Johnny Marr & The Healers, Modest Mouse Members Dale Hibbert (bass guitar) Craig Gannon (bass guitar, rhythm guitar) The Smiths were an English rock group active from 1982 to 1987. The group was based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr, and were signed to the independent record label Rough Trade Records. Considered by some critics to be the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British indie scene of the 1980s, the Smiths have had a major influence on subsequent alternative music, including the Britpop movement and bands such as The Stone Roses, Gene, Radiohead, Blur, Suede, Oasis , The Libertines, The Verve and Doves.

At the time, the group was notable in particular for two things: Morrissey's unusual, witty, and controversial lyrics, and Marr's music, which helped return guitar-based music to popularity after it had fallen out of favour in the UK charts. The group released a total of four studio albums and several compilations in fewer than five years, as well as numerous singles. Although not commercially successful outside the UK while they were still together, The Smiths won a growing following both at home and overseas in the closing years of the twentieth century, and they remain cult and commercial favourites to this day. History The group was formed in early 1982 by two Manchester residents. Morrissey (Steven Patrick Morrissey, though he does not use his forenames) was an unemployed writer who was a big fan of the New York Dolls and briefly fronted punk rock band The Nosebleeds. Johnny Marr (originally John Maher, he changed his name to avoid confusion with the Buzzcocks drummer) was already a very skillful guitarist with a talent for songwriting, and he provided the music for Morrissey's lyrics throughout the group's career. Mike Joyce was recruited as drummer after a short audition.

He had previously played with the punk bands The Hoax and Victim. Dale Hibbert initially played bass, and provided demo recording facilities at the studio where he worked as a sound engineer. However, after two gigs, Marr's friend Andy Rourke replaced Hibbert. Marr and Rourke had previously worked together in The Paris Valentinos along with Kevin Kennedy, who later became a household name in Britain as Curly Watts in the television show Coronation Street . The precise origin of the band's name is unknown, although they stated that it was a reaction against names they considered fancy and pompous such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Another theory regarding the origin of the band's name suggests that it was an ironic joke to give the band a quintessentially English name when all of the band members were of Irish descent. Somewhat contrarily, in a 1984 interview Morrissey stated, "I decided [to call ourselves "The Smiths"] because it was the most ordinary name, and I think it's time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces." . The band also considered the names "Smiths Family" and "Smithdom" before settling on "The Smiths".

Signing to indie label Rough Trade Records, they released their first single, " Hand in Glove," on 13 May 1983. That record, like all of their later singles, was championed by DJ John Peel, but failed to chart. The follow-ups " This Charming Man" and " What Difference Does It Make?" fared better, however. Aided by much praise from the music press and a series of studio sessions for Peel and David Jensen at BBC Radio 1, The Smiths began to acquire a dedicated fan base—which, particularly in the case of Morrissey himself, continues to be something of a cult following. Morrissey's lyrics, while superficially depressing, were often full of mordant humour (The Smiths were "one of the few bands capable of making me laugh out loud," said Peel) and his lovelorn tales of alienation found an audience amongst a disaffected section of youth culture, bored by the ubiquitous synthesizer bands that then dominated the charts. Morrissey wrote about ordinary things, social statements of life, and everything from despair, rejection, and death, to vegetarianism and the English music scene. The group also had a very distinctive visual style.

Album and single covers featured colourful images of film and pop stars, usually in duotone, designed by Morrissey and Rough Trade art coordinator Jo Slee. Single covers rarely featured any text other than the band name, and the band themselves did not appear on the outer cover of any UK release. (Morrissey did, however, appear on an alternative cover for "What Difference Does It Make?", mimicking the pose of the original subject Terence Stamp, after the latter objected to his image being used.) The "cover stars" were an indication of Morrissey's personal interests — obscure or cult film stars (Stamp, Jean Marais, Joe Dallesandro, James Dean), figures from 1960s British culture ( Viv Nicholson, Pat Phoenix, Yootha Joyce, Shelagh Delaney), or pictures of unknown models taken from old film or magazine photos. In contrast to the 1980s obsession with exotic fashion, typified by new romantic artists such as Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran , and highlighted in magazines such as The Face and i-D, the group dressed mainly in ordinary clothes — jeans and plain shirts — which reflected the "back to basics" style of the music.

Morrissey occasionally affected props such as a (fake) hearing aid (supporting a female fan who was ashamed of using one; see Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance by Johnny Rogan for more detail), thick-rimmed NHS-style eyeglasses and most famously bunches of flowers (often stuffed casually into the back of his trousers). The Smiths By February 1984, The Smiths fanbase was sufficiently large to launch the band's long-awaited self-titled debut album to number two in the UK chart. Its mood was unremittingly bleak, exemplified by such track titles as "Still Ill" and " Suffer Little Children," the latter referring to the Moors Murders that had stunned not just Manchester but the whole of Britain in the 1960s. Also evident were Morrissey's studied references to literature and popular culture icons. His frequent acknowledgment of his many idols ( Alain Delon, James Dean, and Oscar Wilde particularly) in interviews, along with more lyrical subtle reference (the song title "Pretty Girls Make Graves," for example, is taken from Jack Kerouac ) encouraged a literary bent amongst fans, who already had a tendency towards bookishness.

Both " Reel Around the Fountain" and " The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" met with controversy, supposedly being suggestive of paedophilia. In addition, " Suffer Little Children" caused an uproar after the grandfather of one of the murdered children heard it on a pub jukebox. In spite of the uproar, the song is in fact entirely sympathetic to the children's plight and led to Morrissey establishing a friendship with Ann West, the mother of victim Lesley Ann Downey, who is mentioned by name in the song. Shortly after the release of the album, Morrissey idol Sandie Shaw recorded "Hand in Glove" backed by Marr, Rourke, and Joyce. The hit single resulted in the band performing barefoot (a Sandie Shaw trademark) on Top of the Pops .

1984 also saw the release of a couple of singles which were not taken from the album: " Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (the band's first top ten hit; the title parodies Sandie Shaw's '60s hit "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now"), and "William, It Was Really Nothing" (popularly believed to have been written by Morrissey about his friend Billy Mackenzie, lead singer of The Associates, and which featured one of The Smiths' most well-known songs, " How Soon Is Now?," as a B-side). The year ended with the compilation album Hatful of Hollow. This album collected singles, B-sides and the versions of songs which had been recorded throughout the previous year for the Peel and Jensen shows. The radio session versions were felt by many (including the band) to be superior to those released on singles and the debut album. Meat Is Murder Early in 1985 the band released their second album, Meat Is Murder.

This album was more strident and political than its predecessor, including the vegetarian proselytizing of the 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." Musically, also, the band had grown more adventurous, 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. As well as the album being more political than its predecessor, Morrissey brought a political stance to many of his interviews, courting further controversy. Among his targets were the Thatcher administration, the Monarchy, and 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." The subsequent single "Shakespeare's Sister" (not taken from the album) was not a great success in chart terms, nor was the only single taken from the album, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore." Many considered this an odd choice for a single, with its backwards guitar and lack of any consistent hook. The charts reflected this, with it barely cracking the top 50. September 1985's "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side," however, was an indication of bigger things to come. The Queen Is Dead During 1985 the band completed exhausting tours of the UK and the US while recording the next studio record, The Queen Is Dead. The album was released in June 1986, shortly after the single "Bigmouth Strikes Again." A typical mixture of the mordantly bleak (e.g. "Never Had No One Ever," which seemed to play up to stereotypes of the band), the dry humour of (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 a number of songs that synthesised both of these sides (such as " There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" and "Cemetry Gates"), the record reached number two in the UK chart, and is now generally thought of as their best work. In 1989 SPIN magazine rated The Queen Is Dead as number one of "The Greatest Albums Ever Made." Subsequent "Greatest Albums" lists by numerous music publications have placed the album at the top or within the top ten, including the NME and Melody Maker. In June 2006, the NME even dedicated an entire issue to the twentieth anniversary of the record's release. 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 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 ongoing problems with heroin. He received notice of his dismissal via a Post-it note stuck to his car windscreen. It read, "Andy - you have left The Smiths. Goodbye and good luck, Morrissey." Rourke was temporarily replaced on bass by Craig Gannon, but was reinstated after only a fortnight. Gannon was retained and switched to rhythm guitar. This five-piece recorded the singles " Panic" and " Ask" (with Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals), and toured the United Kingdom ; after the tour ended in October 1986, Gannon was fired. Strangeways, Here We Come 1987 started off well for the band. The single " Shoplifters of the World Unite" (one of Morrissey's favourite Smiths songs) was released early in the year to chart success—as well as mild controversy and concern from parents over whether the song encouraged children to thieve.

This 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 ironically 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 States. Despite their continued success, personal differences within the band — including the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Marr — saw them on the verge of splitting. In August 1987, it was announced that Marr had left the group. Auditions to find a replacement for Marr — with Roddy Frame supposedly being lined up to join the band at one point — proved fruitless, and by the time Strangeways, Here We Come (named after Strangeways Prison, Manchester) was released in September, the band had ceased to exist.

The breakdown in the relationship has been primarily attributed to Morrissey becoming annoyed with Marr's work with other artists, and Marr growing frustrated by Morrissey's musical inflexibility. Marr in particular hated Morrissey's obsession with covering 1960s pop artists such as Twinkle and Cilla Black. Referring to the songs recorded in the band's last session together (B-sides for the "Girlfriend in a Coma" single, which preceded the album's release), Marr said, "I wrote " I Keep Mine Hidden," but "Work Is a Four Letter Word" I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs." Strangeways peaked at number two in the UK but was only a minor US hit. The track "Paint a Vulgar Picture" proved somewhat prophetic in foretelling how the group's songs would be "reissued and repackaged" in seemingly innumerable compilations. The infamous 30-second video for "Girlfriend in a Coma" garnered video rotation on MTV in America. The album received a lukewarm reception from critics, but all four members name it as their favourite Smiths album.

A couple of further singles from the album were released with earlier live, session, and demo tracks as B-sides, and the following year the live album Rank (recorded in 1986 while Gannon was in the band) repeated the UK chart success of previous albums. Post-Smiths careers Following the group's demise, Morrissey immediately began work on a solo effort, collaborating with Strangeways... 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 six months later, 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. Marr has also worked as a session musician and writing collaborator for artists including The Pretenders, Pet Shop Boys, Billy Bragg, Black Grape, and Beck.

In 2000 he started another band, Johnny Marr and the Healers, with a moderate degree of success, and would later work as a guest musician on the Oasis album Heathen Chemistry. In addition to his work as a recording artist, Marr has worked as a record producer. In 2006 Marr began work with Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock(2007) on songs that would eventually feature on the band's 2007 release, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. The band subsequently announced that Marr was a fully-fledged member and the reformed line-up toured extensively throughout 2006-07. Marr has also been recording music with Liam Gallagher of Oasis . Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce have continued working together, including doing session work for Morrissey (1988–1989) and Sinéad O'Connor, as well as working apart. Rourke has recorded and toured with Proud Mary and is currently forming a supergroup with fellow bassists Peter Hook (of New Order and Joy Division) and Mani (of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream), called Freebass.

He has recently started a radio career, hosting a show on Saturday evenings on XFM Manchester. Unfinished business The Smiths were reunited in court in 1996 to settle a royalties claim by Joyce against Morrissey and Marr, who had claimed the lion's share of the Smiths recording and performance royalties and allowed only ten percent each to Joyce and Rourke (composition royalties were not an issue, as Rourke and Joyce had never been credited as composers for the band). Morrissey and Marr claimed that the other two members of the band had always agreed to that split of the royalties, but the court found in favour of Joyce, and ordered that he be paid over £1m in back pay and receive twenty-five percent henceforth. As Smiths royalties had been frozen for two years, being under financial pressure Rourke settled for a smaller lump sum to pay off debts, and continued to receive ten percent. Morrissey was described by the judge as "devious, truculent and unreliable." The singer later said, "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." . Morrissey's 1997 solo album Maladjusted included a song titled "Sorrow Will Come in the End" which commented on the case, and which was omitted from the UK version of the album due to fear of libel action. Morrissey (but not Marr) appealed against the verdict, but was not successful . Things heated up once more in late November of 2005. While appearing on radio station BBC 6 Music, Mike Joyce claimed to be having financial problems, and said that he had resorted to selling rare band recordings on eBay. As a teaser, a few minutes of an unfinished instrumental track known as "The Click Track" was premiered on the show.

Morrissey hit back at Joyce with a public statement shortly after, on the website Relations between Joyce and Rourke cooled significantly as a result of Morrissey's statement which revealed that Joyce had misled the Courts by not declaring that, amongst others, Rourke was entitled to assets seized by his lawyers from Morrissey. Rourke, it stated, had been deprived of royalty payments from Morrissey as they had already been covertly seized by Joyce who was obligated to declare that others (Rourke, Lillywhite, and Street) had an interest in funds he wished to seize. The future of The Smiths As a result of the court case, a Smiths reunion seemed like it would almost certainly never happen, despite the apparent thawing of relations between Marr and Morrissey in recent years. Both Johnny Marr and Morrissey have repeatedly said in interviews that there is no way a reformation will ever take place. In 2005, VH1 attempted to get the band back together for a reunion on its Bands Reunited show. The show abandoned its attempt after its host Aamer Haleem was unsuccessful in his attempt to corner Morrissey before a show.

In December 2005 it was announced that Johnny Marr and The Healers would play at Manchester v Cancer, a benefit show for cancer research being organised by Andy Rourke and his production company, Great Northern Productions. Rumours suggested that a Smiths reunion would occur at this concert, but were dispelled by Johnny Marr on his website. What did eventuate was Rourke joining Marr onstage for the first time since The Smiths broke up, performing "How Soon Is Now?". Morrissey refuses to reunite with his old band members, going as far as to say that he would “rather eat [his] own testicles than re-form The Smiths, and that’s saying something for a vegetarian.” In March 2006 Morrissey revealed that the Smiths were offered five million dollars to reunite for a performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which he turned down, saying, "No, because money doesn't come into it." He further explained, "It was a fantastic journey. And then it ended. I didn't feel we should have ended. I wanted to continue. [Marr] wanted to end it.

And that was that." When asked why he would not reform with The Smiths, Morrissey responded “I feel as if I’ve worked very hard since the demise of the Smiths and the others haven’t, so why hand them attention that they haven’t earned? We are not friends, we don’t see each other. Why on earth would we be on a stage together?” Discography The Smiths - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Smiths This article is about the band. For the Smiths' self-titled debut album, see The Smiths (album) . The Smiths The Smiths in 1985. Left to right: Andy Rourke , Morrissey , Johnny Marr , Mike Joyce . Background information Craig Gannon The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey (vocals) and Johnny Marr (guitar), the band also included Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums). Critics have called them one of the most important alternative rock bands to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s, [1] [2] and the group has had major influence on subsequent artists.

Morrissey's lovelorn tales of alienation found an audience amongst youth culture bored by the ubiquitous synthesizer -pop bands of the early 1980s, while Marr's complex melodies helped return guitar-based music to popularity. [3] The group were signed to the independent record label Rough Trade Records , for whom they released four studio albums and several compilations, as well as numerous non-LP singles. Although they had limited commercial success outside the UK while they were still together, and never released a single that charted higher than number 10 in their home country, The Smiths won a growing following, and remain cult and commercial favourites. The band broke up in 1987 amid disagreements between Morrissey and Marr and have turned down several offers to reform since then. Contents [ edit ] History [ edit ] Formation and early singles The Smiths were formed in early 1982 by Steven Patrick Morrissey, an unemployed writer who was a big fan of the New York Dolls and briefly fronted punk rock band The Nosebleeds ; and John Maher, a guitarist and songwriter. Maher changed his name to Johnny Marr to avoid confusion with the Buzzcocks drummer, and Morrissey performed solely under his surname.

Marr had previously been in the band Freak Party along with former Patrol drummer Simon Wolstencroft and bassist Andy Rourke , and Marr and Rourke had previously worked together in The Paris Valentinos along with actor Kevin Kennedy . [4] . [5] After recording several demo tapes with 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. As well, they added bass player Dale Hibbert , who also provided the group with demo recording facilities at the studio where he worked as a factotum . However, after two gigs, Marr's friend Andy Rourke replaced Hibbert on bass, because neither Hibbert's bass playing nor his personality fit in with the group. Sample of "This Charming Man", the group's second single. Featuring jangly guitar riffs by Johnny Marr, the single was the band's first chart success. Problems listening to this file? See media help .

The band picked their name in part as a reaction against names used by popular synthpop bands of the early 1980s, such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Spandau Ballet , because they considered these names fancy and pompous. In a 1984 interview Morrissey stated that he chose the name 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." [6] 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 . [7] Aided by praise from the music press and a series of studio sessions for John Peel and David Jensen at BBC Radio 1 , The Smiths began to acquire a dedicated fan base.

[ edit ] The Smiths In February 1984, the group released their debut album The Smiths , which reached number two on the UK Albums Chart . [7] Both "Reel Around the Fountain" and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" met with controversy, supposedly being suggestive of paedophilia . In addition, " Suffer Little Children " caused an uproar after the grandfather of one of the children murdered in the notorious Moors murders heard it on a pub jukebox , and at first thought that 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. [8] [9] In 1984, the band released several singles not taken from the album: " Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now " (the band's first UK top-ten hit) and " William, It Was Really Nothing " (which featured " How Soon Is Now? " as a B-side ). 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. [ edit ] Meat Is Murder 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 adventurous 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. [7] Morrissey brought a political stance to many of his interviews, courting further controversy.

Among his targets were the Thatcher government, the monarchy and the famine relief project Band Aid . Morrissey famously quipped of the latter, "One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia , but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England." [10] 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. [7] [ edit ] The Queen Is Dead Sample of "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out", a song from the group's third album The Queen Is Dead (1986). Problems listening to this file? See media help . During 1985 the band completed lengthy tours of the UK and the US while recording the 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.

The record reached number two in the UK charts, [7] using 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." [11] Meanwhile, Rourke was fired from the band in early 1986 due to his use of heroin .

He received notice of his dismissal via a Post-it note stuck to the windshield of his car. It read, "Andy – you have left The Smiths. Goodbye and good luck, Morrissey." [12] Rourke was temporarily replaced on bass by Craig Gannon (formerly a member of Scottish New Wave band Aztec Camera ), but he was reinstated after only a fortnight. Gannon stayed in the band, switching to rhythm guitar . This five-piece recorded the singles " Panic " and " Ask " (with Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals) which reached numbers 11 and 14 respectively on the UK Singles Chart, [7] 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 signed with EMI , which drew criticism from their fanbase.

[11] [ edit ] Strangeways, Here We Come and breakup In early 1987 the single " Shoplifters of the World Unite " was released and reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. [7] 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 [7] – and the single "Sheila Take a Bow", the band's second (and last during the band's lifetime) UK top-10 hit. [7] 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. Despite their continued success, personal differences within the band – including the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Marr – saw them on the verge of splitting. In July 1987, Marr left the group, and auditions to find a replacement for him proved fruitless.

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." [13] In a 1989 interview, Morrissey cited the lack of a managerial figure and business problems as reasons for the band's eventual split. [14] Strangeways, Here We Come peaked at number two in the UK but was only a minor US hit, [7] [15] although it was more successful there than the band's previous albums. The album received a lukewarm reception from critics, but both Morrissey and Marr name it as their favourite Smiths album [16] .

A couple of further singles from the album were released with earlier live, session and demo tracks as B-sides, and the following year the live album Rank (recorded in 1986 while Gannon was in the band) repeated the UK chart success of previous albums. [ edit ] Post-Smiths careers Shortly after the release of Strangeways, the band were the subject of a documentary in LWT 's arts strand The South Bank Show , broadcast on ITV on 18 October 1987. Following the group's demise, Morrissey began work on a solo recording, collaborating with Strangeways 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 six months later, 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 also worked as a session musician and writing collaborator for 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, with a moderate degree of success, and later worked as a guest musician on the Oasis album Heathen Chemistry . In addition to his work as a recording artist, Marr has worked as a record producer on Haven's debut album Between the senses. 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 . The band subsequently announced that Marr was a fully fledged member, and the reformed line-up toured extensively throughout 2006-07. Marr has also been recording with Liam Gallagher of Oasis. In January 2008, Marr had reportedly been adding his skill and experience to a secret songwriting session with Wakefield indie group The Cribs .

Sources reveal that they worked together for a week at Moolah Rouge recording studio in Stockport - a favourite haunt of Bolton's Badly Drawn Boy, Damon Gough and fellow northern indie band I Am Kloot - and have penned a number of new songs. [17] Marr has now become a full member of The Cribs. Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce have continued working together, including doing session work for Morrissey (1988–89) and Sinéad O'Connor , as well as working separately. Rourke has recorded and toured with Proud Mary and is currently forming a group called Freebass with fellow bassists Peter Hook (of New Order and Joy Division ) and Mani (of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream ). He has recently started a radio career, hosting a show on Saturday evenings on XFM Manchester. [ edit ] Court case In 1996, Joyce took Morrissey and Marr to court, claiming that he had not received his fair share of recording and performance royalties. Morrissey and Marr had claimed the lion's share of The Smiths' recording and performance royalties and allowed ten percent each to Joyce and Rourke.

Composition royalties were not an issue, as Rourke and Joyce had never been credited as composers for the band. Morrissey and Marr claimed that the other two members of the band had always agreed to that split of the royalties, but the court found in favour of Joyce and ordered that he be paid over £1 million in back pay and receive twenty-five percent henceforth. As Smiths' royalties had been frozen for two years, Rourke settled for a smaller lump sum to pay off his debts and continued to receive ten percent. While the judge in the case described Morrissey as "devious, truculent and unreliable", he did not state that the singer had been dishonest. [18] Morrissey claimed that he was "...under the scorching spotlight in the dock, being drilled..." with questions such as " 'How dare you be successful?' 'How dare you move on?'". He stated that "The Smiths were a beautiful thing and Johnny [Marr] left it, and Mike [Joyce] has destroyed it." [19] Morrissey appealed against the verdict, but was not successful.

[20] In late November 2005, while appearing on radio station BBC 6 Music, Mike Joyce claimed to be having financial problems and said that he had resorted to selling rare band recordings on eBay. As a teaser, a few minutes of an unfinished instrumental track known as "The Click Track" was premiered on the show. Morrissey hit back at Joyce with a public statement shortly after, on the website true-to-you.net. [21] Relations between Joyce and Rourke cooled significantly as a result of Morrissey's statement which claimed that Joyce had misled the courts. Morrissey claimed that Joyce had not declared that Rourke was entitled to some of the assets seized by Joyce's lawyers from Morrissey. [ edit ] 2000s Both Johnny Marr and Morrissey have repeatedly said in interviews that they will not reunite the band. In 2005, VH1 attempted to get the band back together for a reunion on its Bands Reunited show. The programme abandoned its attempt after host Aamer Haleem was unsuccessful in his attempt to corner Morrissey before a show.

In December 2005 it was announced that Johnny Marr and The Healers would play at Manchester v Cancer , a benefit show for cancer research being organised by Andy Rourke and his production company, Great Northern Productions. [22] Rumours suggested that a Smiths reunion would occur at this concert but were dispelled by Johnny Marr on his website. [23] However, Rourke did join Marr onstage for the first time since The Smiths broke up, performing "How Soon Is Now?". To this day Morrissey refuses to reunite his old band, going as far as to say that he would "rather eat [his] own testicles than re-form The Smiths, and that’s saying something for a vegetarian." [24] In March 2006, Morrissey revealed that The Smiths had been offered $5 million to reunite for a performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival , which he turned down, saying, "No, because money doesn't come into it." He further explained, "It was a fantastic journey. And then it ended. I didn't feel we should have ended. I wanted to continue. [Marr] wanted to end it.

And that was that." [25] When asked why he would not reform with The Smiths, Morrissey responded "I feel as if I’ve worked very hard since the demise of The Smiths and the others haven’t, so why hand them attention that they haven’t earned? We are not friends, we don’t see each other. Why on earth would we be on a stage together?" [26] In August 2007, the NME reported that Morrissey had turned down a near £40 million offer to reunite with Marr for a 50-date world tour in 2008 and 2009. The condition would only be that Morrissey would have to play the dates with Marr, meaning the deal could have gone ahead without Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke. [27] According to an anonymous press release on true-to-you.net, an unofficial fan site tacitly supported by Morrissey, Morrissey was approached in summer 2007 by a "consortium of promoters" with a $75 million offer to tour during the next two years. The offer required Morrissey to make a minimum of fifty worldwide performances with Johnny Marr, under the Smiths' name.

true-to-you.net reported that the offer had been refused. [28] Other reports say that the whole $75 million tour was a hoax. [29] In an October 2007 interview on BBC Radio 5 Live , Johnny Marr hinted at a potential reformation in the future, saying that "stranger things have happened so, you know, who knows?" Marr went on to say that "It's no biggy. Maybe we will in 10 or 15 years' time when we all need to for whatever reasons, but right now Morrissey is doing his thing and I'm doing mine, so that's the answer really." This is the first potential indication of a Smiths reunion from Marr, who previously has stated that reforming the band would be a bad idea. [30] In October and December 2008, The Sun reported that the Smiths would be reforming to play at the Coachella Festival in 2009. [31] However, Johnny Marr later stated through his management that the rumours were "rubbish". [32] A Smiths compilation called The Sound of The Smiths was released on 10 November 2008.

Johnny Marr supervised the remastering of all the tracks and Morrissey named the record. The album is available as either a one-disc or two-disc version. [33] In February 2009, following further suggestions of an imminent reunion, Morrissey once again denied the rumours. In an interview with BBC Radio 2 , he stated that "People always ask me about reunions and I can't imagine why... the past seems like a distant place, and I'm pleased with that." [34] [ edit ] Musical style Throughout the group's existence, Morrissey and Johnny Marr dictated the musical direction of The Smiths. Marr said in 1990, "[I]t was a 50/50 thing between Morrissey and me. We were completely in sync about which way we should go for each record". [35] Encyclopedia Britannica comments that the band's "non-rhythm-and-blues, whiter-than-white fusion of 1960s rock and postpunk was a repudiation of contemporary dance pop" which was popular in the early 1980s. [36] The band's music purposefully rejected synthesizers and dance music .

[13] Marr's jangly Rickenbacker guitar-playing was influenced by The Byrds , Neil Young 's work with Crazy Horse , George Harrison and James Honeyman-Scott of The Pretenders . Marr often tuned his guitar up a full step to F# to accommodate Morrissey's vocal range, and also utilised open tunings. The guitarist devoted his focus to the production of the group's music. Citing producer Phil Spector as an influence, Marr said, "I like the idea of records, even those with plenty of space, that sound 'symphonic'. I like the idea of all the players merging into one atmosphere". [35] Musically, Morrissey's role in the band was to create vocal melodies and lyrics. [19] Morrissey's lyrics, while superficially depressing, were often full of mordant humour; John Peel remarked that The Smiths were one of the few bands capable of making him laugh out loud. Influenced by his childhood interest in the working-class social realism of 1960s "kitchen sink" television plays, Morrissey wrote about ordinary people and their experiences with despair, rejection and death.

While gloomy "...songs such as 'Still Ill' sealed his role as spokesman for disaffected youth", Morrissey's "manic-depressive rants" and his "'woe-is-me' posture inspired some hostile critics to dismiss the Smiths as 'miserabilists.'" [36] [ edit ] Imagery The group had a distinctive visual style on their album and single covers, which often featured colourful images of film and pop stars, usually in duotone , designed by Morrissey and Rough Trade art coordinator Jo Slee. Single covers rarely featured any text other than the band name, and the band themselves did not appear on the outer cover of their UK releases.

(Morrissey did, however, appear on an alternative cover for "What Difference Does It Make?", mimicking the pose of the original subject, UK film actor Terence Stamp , after the latter objected to his image being used.) The "cover stars" were an indication of Morrissey's personal interests in obscure or cult film stars, featuring Stamp, Alain Delon , Jean Marais , Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro , James Dean , figures from 1960s British culture ( Viv Nicholson , Pat Phoenix , Yootha Joyce , Shelagh Delaney ), or images of unknown models taken from old films or magazines. The Smiths dressed mainly in ordinary clothes – jeans and plain shirts – which reflected the "back to basics" guitar-and-drums style of the music. This contrasted with the exotic high-fashion image cultivated by New Romantic pop groups such as Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran and highlighted in magazines such as The Face and i-D . Morrissey once wore a fake hearing aid to support a hearing-impaired female fan who was ashamed of using one, [37] and thick-rimmed National Health Service -style glasses.

[ edit ] Legacy The Smiths have influenced a number of alternative rock bands through their career. Even as early as 1985, the "band had spawned a rash of soundalike bands, including James , who opened for the group on their spring 1985 tour". [38] The Cranberries combined "the melodic jangle of post-Smiths indie-guitar pop with the lilting, trance-inducing sonic textures of late-'80s dream pop, creating their sound with "trebly, chiming guitars and spare, certain melodies". [39] As well, the band used Stephen Street as producer, who was known for "maximizing the moodiness of the Smiths". [40] The Cranberries fused this sound with lyrics that echoed the lovesick, literary style of Morrissey. "The Smiths singer's bookish, fiercely intelligent lyrics also provided a blueprint for the quiet, literate Scottish band Belle & Sebastian ." [41] Marr's guitar playing "was a huge building block for more Manchester legends that followed The Smiths - The Stone Roses "; their guitarist John Squire has stated that Marr was a major influence.

[41] Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has called The Smiths an influence, especially Marr; Gallagher stated that "when The Jam split, The Smiths started, and I totally went for them." [41] The "Britpop movement preempted by The Stone Roses and spearheaded by groups like Oasis, Suede and Blur, drew heavily from Morrissey's portrayal of and nostalgia for a bleak urban England of the past." [42] Britpop band Blur formed as a result of seeing The Smiths on The South Bank Show in 1987.

However, even though leading bands from the Britpop movement claimed to be influenced by The Smiths, the Britpop bands were at odds with the "basic anti-establishment philosophies of Morrissey and The Smiths", since Britpop "was an entirely commercial construct." In the book Saint Morrissey, the author claims that Britpop "airbrush[ed] Morrissey out of the picture...so that the Nineties and its centrally-planned and coordinated pop economy could happen." [42] Journalist Chloe Veltman argues that "the fanatical adoration surrounding Morrissey today is founded on nostalgia, specifically a yearning for the Morrissey of the 1980s – the superstar-outsider frontman of The Smiths." She argues that The "Smiths have had a much more profound influence on subsequent culture than Morrissey has had on his own over the entire 17 year history of his solo career." She also points out that the "extensive catalogue of pop bands, plays, novels, films and other cultural artifacts that have been influenced by Morrissey's ideas and aesthetics draw their inspiration from The Smiths rather than Morrissey solo." [42] [43] Morrissey | The Ultimate Rock and Pop Music History Website

 - ROKPOOL Click on Image to Buy Album Biography: British indie band The Smiths were together for just 5 years but their legacy is monumental.

Formed in Manchester in 1982, the band were comprised of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitars), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums). They have been described as the important alternative alternative rock band to emerge from the 1980's, and have influenced many bands, including Suede, Oasis and The Libertines . The Smiths released four studio albums, several compilations and non-LP singles over the course of 1983 to 1987. Morrissey was an offbeat frontman, famous for his adoration of Oscar Wilde, 60 girl singers, James Dean and ''kitchen sink'' dramas. With the very first release, ''Hand In Glove'' in 1983 the band acquired a passionate fanbase, who were enthused by Morrissey's witty and observant lyrics married with Johnny Marr's accomplished and unique guitar style.

This video clip is taken from our HAVE YOU SEEN THIS archive: The Mancunian group scored one No.1 album ''Meat Is Murder'' and split in 1987 due to personal differences, at the same time the album ''Strangeways Here We Come'' was released, reaching No.2. Johnny Marr went on to work with several notable bands, including the THE and Electronic, he is currently a full-time member of The Cribs. Morrissey has been a successful solo singer-songwriter since 1988, releasing No.1 albums and performing sell-out tours. Mike Joyce successfully sued the band for £1m back pay in a court case, on the grounds of not receiving a fair share of recording and performance royalties. Band formed in 1982, in Manchester, England; original members included Steven Patrick Morrissey (born 1959, in Manchester, England), lead vocals; Johnny Marr, guitar; Andy Rourke, bass; and Mike Joyce, drums. Band dissolved in 1987.

Simon Reynolds was kinder to the group's final effort in his New Statesman review of Strangeways, calling it "a fascinating mess." He also speculated on the defunct group's contribution to popular music: "Morrissey's own idea of why the Smiths were important is rather traditional—he talks of the Smiths as a solitary bastion of Meaning and Human Depth in an age of processed, vapid, dehumanised, plastic pop. In fact, it's more complex and interesting than this.... Morrissey glamorises failure. And rather than matching our misery to his in a simple process of identification, we're seduced into aspiring to the same heroic pitch of maladjustment and exile.. .. Smiths music is perfectly poised between the vague dream of something more and the sinking realisation that the dream will always remain out of reach." The Smiths | Music News and Videos - Yahoo Music Alternative Rock, Madchester, Indie Rock, Pop, Rock, Chamber Pop, British Pop, New Wave Biography: The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982.

Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey (vocals) and Johnny Marr (guitar), the band also included Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums). Critics have called them the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. LessThe Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of … More Yahoo Music

Question: Which group, prominent in the 1980’s, featured Johnny Marr on guitar, Andy Rourke on bass and Mike Joyce on drums?
Answer: The Smiths