Smiths

THE BAND IS DEAD:

(abridged)

AS the only great pop band of the eighties calls it a day, singer Steven Patrick Morrissey turns down a part in Brookside and is on the verge of embarking on a solo career with the aid of the “fifth Smith”, Stephen Street. The chances of this partnership equalling the stature of the Morrissey/ Marr collaborations are very low. Marr’s first work outside The Smiths will be available next month in the guise of the new Bryan Ferry album, having already made a live appearance with ancient Mancunian Factory group, A Certain Ratio, at the Brixton Fridge.

Even though the fab four have disbanded, there are two more important acts to be played in the history of The Smiths; the release of Strangeways Here We Come and an hour long South Bank Show special, which will probably serve as their epitaph.

All through their career it seemed unlikely that this was a band who would be around at the turn of the century. They were not a Mancunian parody of U2 in the sense of being four mates who were at school together and had some kind of special bond. In 1982 Steven Morrissey was on the verge of doing himself serious harm when Johnny Marr, intrigued by stories of the imaginative hermit who was friends with Kirk Brandon, main man in the Theatre of Hate, which also included Billy Duffy, turned up at Morrissey’s house, pressed his face against the window and left a large chocolate stain.

Johnny Marr was looking for a lyricist to write words for the tunes he came up with on his guitar. He got talking with Morrissey and they found they had similar musical tastes; mainly stuff from the 60s. They decided to form a band. Marr rung up Andy Rourke, an old school friend who played bass and he suggested Mike Joyce as drummer. Rourke was a dedicated fan of the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young while Joyce listened to bands such as The Undertones and Buzzcocks, giving the group an interesting musical diversity. From the start, Morrissey and Marr were determined to make The Smiths the most influential British band since The Sex Pistols.

Most of Morrissey’s lyrics are drawn from personal experience. You can tell he did not have a very pleasant early life in Manchester, as he sings “When you walk without ease on these the very streets where you were raised. I had a really bad dream, it lasted 20 years, 7 months and 27 days.” You can guess that this was how old he was when he left Manchester to go and live in London. However, lines like “I am human and I need to be loved”, “What a terrible mess I’ve made of my life” and “Life is very long when you’re lonely” are more comic than tragic in their melodrama. The Smiths are not a band for depressives. People can warm to and identify with the “clumsy, shy” Morrissey.

Throughout the last two years it seemed that The Smiths would split at any moment: Dispute with Rough Trade, guitarist with alcohol problem, bassist with heroin problem, departure of bassist, return of bassist, arrival of second guitarist, departure of second guitarist. But just when all these problems had passed and The Smiths seemed to have achieved stability, Marr quit.

Controversy is something The Smiths have had their fare share of. On their first album the track Suffer Little Children about the Moors murders received an unnecessary amount of media attention. With the release of Meat is Murder, Morrissey was villified for his vegetarian beliefs as he professed his support for the mars bar poisoning by the Animal Liberation Front. The worst came with The Queen is Dead and Panic. The Sun ran stories on how the band were attacked by outraged royalists on The Queen is Dead tour and that they were all obviously racists because of the line “Hang the DJ” in Panic.

15 singles in four years, seven of which made the top 20 have proven them to be one of the most consistent bands this decade, providing an alternative to the usual manufactured shit that the charts thrive on. But the end of The Smiths is by no means a complete tragedy. I would have hated to have seen them move into the yuppie U2/ Simple Minds market which they seemed to be doing. Rumour has it that Johnny Marr is forming another band, of which Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce will be members. Time will tell whether EMI have got themselves two useful new acts or two turkeys.

THE SOUND...

Illness As Art ran for 4 editions in 1986/'87. It had a readership of, oh, at least 100.



THE BAND IS DEAD: (abridged) AS the only great pop band of the eighties calls it a day, singer Steven Patrick Morrissey turns down a part in Brookside and is on the verge of embarking on a solo career with the aid of the “fifth Smith”, Stephen Street. The chances of this partnership equalling the stature of the Morrissey/ Marr collaborations are very low. Marr’s first work outside The Smiths will be available next month in the guise of the new Bryan Ferry album, having already made a live appearance with ancient Mancunian Factory group, A Certain Ratio, at the Brixton Fridge. Even though the fab four have disbanded, there are two more important acts to be played in the history of The Smiths; the release of Strangeways Here We Come and an hour long South Bank Show special, which will probably serve as their epitaph. All through their career it seemed unlikely that this was a band who would be around at the turn of the century. They were not a Mancunian parody of U2 in the sense of being four mates who were at school together and had some kind of special bond. In 1982 Steven Morrissey was on the verge of doing himself serious harm when Johnny Marr, intrigued by stories of the imaginative hermit who was friends with Kirk Brandon, main man in the Theatre of Hate, which also included Billy Duffy, turned up at Morrissey’s house, pressed his face against the window and left a large chocolate stain. Johnny Marr was looking for a lyricist to write words for the tunes he came up with on his guitar. He got talking with Morrissey and they found they had similar musical tastes; mainly stuff from the 60s. They decided to form a band. Marr rung up Andy Rourke, an old school friend who played bass and he suggested Mike Joyce as drummer. Rourke was a dedicated fan of the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young while Joyce listened to bands such as The Undertones and Buzzcocks, giving the group an interesting musical diversity. From the start, Morrissey and Marr were determined to make The Smiths the most influential British band since The Sex Pistols. Most of Morrissey’s lyrics are drawn from personal experience. You can tell he did not have a very pleasant early life in Manchester, as he sings “When you walk without ease on these the very streets where you were raised. I had a really bad dream, it lasted 20 years, 7 months and 27 days.” You can guess that this was how old he was when he left Manchester to go and live in London. However, lines like “I am human and I need to be loved”, “What a terrible mess I’ve made of my life” and “Life is very long when you’re lonely” are more comic than tragic in their melodrama. The Smiths are not a band for depressives. People can warm to and identify with the “clumsy, shy” Morrissey. Throughout the last two years it seemed that The Smiths would split at any moment: Dispute with Rough Trade, guitarist with alcohol problem, bassist with heroin problem, departure of bassist, return of bassist, arrival of second guitarist, departure of second guitarist. But just when all these problems had passed and The Smiths seemed to have achieved stability, Marr quit. Controversy is something The Smiths have had their fare share of. On their first album the track Suffer Little Children about the Moors murders received an unnecessary amount of media attention. With the release of Meat is Murder, Morrissey was villified for his vegetarian beliefs as he professed his support for the mars bar poisoning by the Animal Liberation Front. The worst came with The Queen is Dead and Panic. The Sun ran stories on how the band were attacked by outraged royalists on The Queen is Dead tour and that they were all obviously racists because of the line “Hang the DJ” in Panic. 15 singles in four years, seven of which made the top 20 have proven them to be one of the most consistent bands this decade, providing an alternative to the usual manufactured shit that the charts thrive on. But the end of The Smiths is by no means a complete tragedy. I would have hated to have seen them move into the yuppie U2/ Simple Minds market which they seemed to be doing. Rumour has it that Johnny Marr is forming another band, of which Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce will be members. Time will tell whether EMI have got themselves two useful new acts or two turkeys.

		*THE SOUND...*
	Illness As Art ran for 4 editions in 1986/'87. It had a readership of, oh, at least 100.