Theirs Is A Light That Will Never Go Out
Steven Patrick Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce. Affectionately known to you and me as The Smiths.
Now here comes the controversial bit, above is a fact. Those are the four members and they were in a band called The Smiths, now I also believe that there were in the most important British band ever!
Why do I think this? Well carry on reading and I will tell you!
These Charming Men
Pictured below: Johnny Marr and Morrissey
Songwriting partnerships were not a new thing when The Smiths came into exsitence John Lennon & Paul McCartney had been writing songs together 20 years previously, but there was something different with Morrissey & Marr.
The story of how they met, is almost mythical. Johnny Marr had been in bands since he was a child, and he seemed to know virtually every musician in Manchester. At the age of 18, he decided he wanted to form his own band. Morrissey meanwhile was 23, and a much more reclusive character. Yet he was known to be an amazing writer and his name had appeared on Marr's radar. One afternoon in May of 1982, Marr knocked on the door of 384 Kings Road, Stretford, Manchester, where he was invited inside and the pair listened to music, and talked, about pop culture. Although they were so different, they also had so many similarities. This first meeting was the catalyst for one of Britain's best songwriting alliances.
The two seemed to compliment each other perfectly, Morrissey was a keen writer, so lyrics would always be his terrority and lets face it, he wrote some very very good ones.
"I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving / England is mine - and it owes me a living." (Still Ill 1984)
"Good times for a change / See the luck I've had can make a good man turn bad."
(Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, 1984)
"Belligerent ghouls run Manchester schools"
(The Headmaster Ritual, 1985)
There are countless others, those are just some of my favourites, and that leads me onto Johnny Marr, the word genius gets thrown about a lot, but in the case of this man the use of that term is warranted. He is one of the best guitar players ever, his riffs are iconic, but there is so much more to him than that. Johnny is a keen harmonica player, which also became a sound associated with The Smiths, especially on their debut single 'Hand in Glove'. Where Morrissey's domain was the brilliant lyrics, Marr, was focused on the music and this dynamic worked perfectly. The songs still sound fresh and contemporary, 'How Soon is Now' for example sounds like it is from the future, that opening is enough to send shivers down your spine. They both played to each other's strengths and that is why the catalog of songs they left behind, is that good.
The Other Fab Four
It is sometimes easy to forget there were 4 members in The Smiths, of course Morrissey and Marr are geniuses but Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce had a huge part to play. They were 4 totally different individuals that came together to create something both musically and culturally significant. Johnny Marr put it best "We were a bunch of strangers to all intents and purposes – who then became incredible friends… we came together to make that music.”
Both Rourke and Joyce were brilliant musicians in there own right, they could play! Although Joyce had cut his teeth in the Manchester punk scene, he wasn't all style and no substance. Joyce's drumming became a tool that knitted the songs together, it gave them an edge, sometimes a dark edge, sometimes a more pop-orientated edge.
Rourke had also been around for a while. He had also been in bands with Marr, before The Smiths and they were and still are close friends, Rourke quickly blossomed into one of the best bass players of his era, and his bass lines are some of the most recognizable in musical history. The reason for this, well I'll let the man himself explain “I tried to do a tune within a tune,” Rourke told Bass Player in 2006, “I wouldn’t be happy with a bassline unless you could hum it.”
Louder than Bombs
The Smiths became such a creative force in the short amount of time they were together, it seems that they were never out of their purple patch.
As well as a run of legendary singles, four brilliant studio albums. The band released an astonishing selection of bonus material and b-sides. Songs like These Things Take Time, Half a Person, Shoplifters of the World Unite, Stretch Out and Wait, and even How Soon is Now were tucked away as b-sides and bonus tracks. Albums like Hatful of Hollow, Louder Than Bombs and The World Won't Listen, are just as important as the studio albums because they have these hidden gems on. In a decade filled with synthesiers, airbrushed mainstream pop acts, and mad haircuts. The Smiths offered something different and did things on their own terms. They became the first indie band to transcend, hitting the number one spot with 'Meat is Murder' they made the path for others to follow.
Oh Manchester, So Much to Answer for.....
The Smiths are from Manchester, and they couldn't have been from anywhere else. Manchester is echoed in The Smiths lyrics and the music, you can here the cities industrial nature in the songs, Morrissey sings about a bleak urban England of the past. He was writing about what he had seen and continued to see, some of the lyrics in songs, in 2013 Morrissey said this about Manchester ‘a place where everything remains where it was left 100 years ago’. The band made so subtle nods to the city and some more obvious ones, (the named an album after the cities prison, Strangeways Here we Come) it's a huge part of the bands sound and lyrics.
It's a city that has produced so many great bands both before and after The Smiths, a city with music at it's very core. Would London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Dublin or Cardiff have allowed Johnny Marr to knock on Morrissey's door in 1982 I'm not sure they would.
I Started Something I Couldn't Finish
The Smiths formed in May 1982 and broke up in June 1987, they were together for only 5 years. Now people say The Beatles career was short lived they were together for 10 years. 5 years is nothing, it took The Stone Roses 5 years to write and record their second album.
The Smiths did a lot in those 5 years though, releasing 4 studio albums, The Smiths, Meat is Murder, The Queen is Dead, Strangeways Here we Come. As well as these studio albums the band released 18 singles, which in my opinion rival any band ever, yes even The Beatles!
"Hand in Glove This Charming Man", "What Difference Does It Make?”, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", "William, It Was Really Nothing", "How Soon Is Now?", "Shakespeare's Sister", "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore","The Boy with the Thorn in His Side", "Bigmouth Strikes Again", "Panic", "Ask" "Shoplifters of the World Unite", "Sheila Take a Bow", "Girlfriend in a Coma", "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish", "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me", "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"
Quite the run isn't it, as well as those 18 singles and the 4 studio albums the band also released the compilations I mentioned earlier Hatful of Hollow, Louder Than Bombs and The World Won't Listen which are just as important ad the studio albums for fans of the band, because of the brilliant songs that cannot be found anywhere else. It's also worth remembering that the band broke up at it's peak. The groups last album 'Strangeways Here We Come.' is regarding as the best album by all 4 members of the band, and the one they enjoyed making the most. Imagine what could have been!
The legacy of The Smiths cannot be overlooked, and although all 4 members have continued to make music, from Morrissey's solo career, to Marr's collaborations and super groups. It is The Smiths they will be remembered for the most. Their sound echoes around Manchester, The Stone Roses and Oasis were greatly influenced by Morrissey's portrayal of and nostalgia for a bleak urban England of the past." Even more recent acts like Courteeners and Blossoms can thank The Smiths, and they do. Britpop was a huge musical phenomenon in the UK and The Smiths were a huge influence for all 3 main players, Blur formed as a result of seeing the Smiths on The South Bank Show in 1987. Noel Gallagher from Oasis, has stated on multiple occasions that The Smiths are one of his biggest influences, and it is clear to see that The Smiths and more specifically Morrissey had a profound effect on Pulp. Their wit, and tales of the mundane can be heard in the Arctic Monkey's early records. It is everywhere....
Their legacy can be traced down through the Stone Roses, Oasis and the Libertines to today's crop of artful young guitar bands.
I will end this post with a quote from the bands first manager
“They wrote some truly great songs,” The Smiths’ first manager, Joe Moss, told the BBC in 2013. “The songs were fantastic musically and great lyrically, and that’s a tricky thing to get right. It’s like a James Dean thing, the legend has remained intact ever since. They didn’t get to the point where they were making albums that nobody cared about.”
Thank you for reading x
For Andy Rourke