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The Smiths

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Performers and composers

                              The Smiths
   Left to right: Andy Rourke, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce.
   Left to right: Andy Rourke, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce.
                        Background information
   Origin       Flag of England Manchester, England
   Genre(s)     Alternative rock
                Indie pop
   Years active 1982– 1987
   Label(s)     Rough Trade
                EMI
                Warner
   Associated
   acts         Morrissey (solo career)
                Johnny Marr & The Healers, Modest Mouse
                                Members
   Morrissey ( vocals)
   Johnny Marr (guitars)
   Andy Rourke ( bass guitar)
   Mike Joyce ( drums)
                            Former 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
   www.true-to-you.net. 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

Studio albums

                          The Smiths UK #2, US #150
                                   (1984)

                        Meat Is Murder UK #1, US #110
                                   (1985)

                       The Queen Is Dead UK #2, US #70
                                   (1986)

                   Strangeways, Here We Come UK #2, US #55
                                   (1987)

Compilations and live albums

                      Hatful of Hollow UK #7, US # n/a
                                   (1984)

              The World Won't Listen UK #2, not released in US
                                   (1987)

                  Louder Than Bombs US #62, UK(Import) #38
                                   (1987)

                       Rank live album, UK #2, US #77
                                   (1988)

UK singles (with chart positions)

                              " Hand in Glove"
                                 (1983 #124)

                            " This Charming Man"
                                 (1983 #25)

                      " What Difference Does It Make?"
                                 (1983 #12)

                      " Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"
                                 (1984 #10)

                      " William, It Was Really Nothing"
                                 (1984 #17)

                             " How Soon Is Now?"
                                 (1985 #24)

                           " Shakespeare's Sister"
                                 (1985 #26)

                      " That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore"
                                 (1985 #49)

                    " The Boy with the Thorn in His Side"
                                 (1985 #23)

                          " Bigmouth Strikes Again"
                                 (1986 #26)

                                  " Panic"
                                 (1986 #11)

                                   " Ask"
                                 (1986 #14)

                      " Shoplifters of the World Unite"
                                 (1987 #12)

                            " Sheila Take a Bow"
                                 (1987 #10)

                           " Girlfriend in a Coma"
                                 (1987 #13)

                  " I Started Something I Couldn't Finish"
                                 (1987 #23)

                " Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me"
                                 (1987 #30)

                   " There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"
                                 (1992 #25)

Re-issues

     * "This Charming Man" (1992 re-issue [1983] #8)
     * "How Soon Is Now?" (1992 re-issue [1984] #16)
     * "Ask" (1995 re-issue [1986] #62)

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