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The wife has a playlist of The Smiths going in the other room, and it got me wondering - what's STW's favourite Smiths song?
Is it 'There Is a Light', perhaps 'Hand in Glove', or maybe something leftfield like 'Vicar in a Tutu'?
How Soon is Now for me.
The one that ends the quickest.
I should add that I struggle a bit with them now, because, as monumental racist bellends go, well, Morrissey.
How Soon is Now.
Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before.
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.
Played in that order. Find versions with Marr singing if you can’t stomach hearing Morrissey ever again (I can’t blame you at all if that’s the case).
Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before.
+1
There is a light...
Half a person
Still Ill
Reel around the fountain
May as well ask what's your favourite Garry Glitter song.
Whilst I may have liked the smiths in the past, wouldn't listen to any of their music now, less it put more money into the pocket of a utterly reprehensible human being.
or the B-side to This Charming Man; 'Jeane'
Edit: ha! Beaten by Kelvin and theotherjonv. Maar sings it really well, perhaps not a distinctive enough voice to have made it a hit in the first place but when you know the song his version works very well.
How soon is now for me I'd say.
Whilst I may have liked the smiths in the past, wouldn’t listen to any of their music now, less it put more money into the pocket of a utterly reprehensible human being.
I should add that I struggle a bit with them now, because, as monumental racist bellends go, well, Morrissey.
OK, so I might need some education here. I'm well aware of his very leftist views (even by STW standards) but what have I missed that takes him from slightly further left than average to utterly reprehensible?
As an aside, Girlfriend in a Coma is a highlight for me and I'd also go obvious and say Bigmouth Strikes Again.
What Difference does it Make
Largely due to Johnny Marr's playing. The best word I can think of to describe it on that track is threatening.
OK, so I might need some education here. I’m well aware of his very leftist views (even by STW standards) but what have I missed that takes him from slightly further left than average to utterly reprehensible?
He's a bit of a prick but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy the music.
Leftist? Sorry to break it to you, but it's quite the other way he's gone.
Open support for some far right groups - never quite sure if its trolling gone too far but there's been too many incidents for it to be coincidence.
From a bloke that was once so anti-thatcher, all a bit strange.
May as well ask what’s your favourite Garry Glitter song.
Get a grip.
‘There is a Light’ for me. Perhaps followed by ‘This Charming Man’, ‘Please, please, please’ and ‘The boy with a thorn’.
Is this a trick question?
None of them really
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out is the stand out but love most of them since I saw them when I was a teen.
The Smiths were more than that right wing melt Morrissey.
@theotherjonv that was an interesting read, but I'm trying to reconcile what is accepted as his deep-seated commitment to free-speech against the opinion pieces touting him as a racist etc.
I don't think I've read anything yet where he's actually 'saying' something racist? His support of Tommy Robinson et al (while definitely NOT something I share) seemed to be from a free-speech perspective as opposed to an endorsement of his views?
What Difference or Suffer Little Children.
Best to play on bass - Barbarism Begins (standard tuning for me though, unlike AR)
Oscilate Wildly
because of no vocals?
The Headmaster Ritual or Ask.
It's difficult to know, there's always been ambiguity, in his sexuality/celibacy for example, and I can see an argument could be made that he's making a case for free speech - but if you were to choose a hill to die on making a point, I wouldn't choose wearing the insignia of an organisation that Farage thinks is Nazi friendly to be that rallying point.
OTOH; to reject the Smiths is to reject the genius of the other three, and not something I can do any more than I can not be stirred by Ride of the Valkyries, or stand open mouthed looking at Guernica.
Not necessarily my fave song but i think the lyric from I know it’s over;
‘It’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate, it takes guts to be gentle and kind..’
Is profoundly beautiful, seems deeply incongruent with some of his rhetoric subsequently unfortunately!!
What about Hand in Glove with Sandie Shaw singing? That should solve the Morrissey issue!
From a bloke that was once so anti-thatcher, all a bit strange.
Is it really so?
Or Jeane with Sandie on vocals (although Morrissey does do backing)
because of no vocals?
Oscillate Wildly has always been my favourite Smiths track. Delicate hopelessness gives way to exuberance, then some melancholic wistfulness, then slightly more triumphant, then a breakdown that feels like it’s going nowhere… and it doesn’t… and you’re left wanting more. All that without words. But it’s not a song, otherwise I’d have also gone straight for it.
Anyway, that reminds me of another song. I might be changing my plea to You Just Haven’t Heard it Yet Baby… overly simple, but so so catchy.
If you can still cope with Morrissey’s voice… get The World Won’t Listen… a reminder that compilations can be real albums.
I think Strangeways is very underated too....
Last night I dreamt.......
and I won't share you are both favourites as well.
and in later years, Paint a Vulgar Picture but at the time I was that kid justifying the record company's decision to reissue the Double-pack with a photograph, Extra track (and a tacky badge)
I Know it’s Over.
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.
Reel Around the Fountain.
How soon is now is probably my favourite, and I rather like the cover of it by t.A.t.U.
Yes, Moz has expressed views that I thoroughly dislike, but he’s NOT a convicted paedofile.
Last Night I Dreamt… is right up there. The music on that final album is beautiful. I’d take an instrumental version of that to my desert island.
We’ve got this big Raid71 silk screen print up in the front room which is by far the best Smiths track
I went to the Jonny Marr gig at the deaf institute where he was trying out material for his first solo album and he played it for apparently the first time since the Smiths split up. It was emotional 😢
I do also love the daft stuff like Frankly Mr Shankley and You Just Haven’t Earned it Yet, Baby
I went to the Jonny Marr gig at the deaf institute where he was trying out material for his first solo album and he played it for apparently the first time since the Smiths split up. It was emotional
convoluted tale but wife's friend (singer in a covers band) married a recording studio producer / engineer, and among the evening invites were some of his musician friends, including Boz of The Polecats and also for sometime Morrissey guitarist.
For years they wouldn't play Smiths songs, but they frequently would propose to include them in the set including HSIN to which Morrissey's stock answer was always 'How Soon is Never?'
And then one day instead of saying no, he queried if they really wanted to, to which the answer was of course yes. 'OK, we'll open with it....'
....to walk on stage at the start of the show and play that opening riff must be equally amazing
Best guitar riff ever written
All of 'em?
Personal favourites not mentioned, That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, The Queen Is Dead (hence the user name) and Headmaster Ritual.
But, come on, there aren't any real duffers.
Cemetery Gates
Still ill or Sheila take a Bow for me
Best guitar riff ever written
We may agree about hair clippers and toastie machines but that's clearly horseshit 😂
Off the top of my head... Waterfall.
Personally I don't like the smiths because of Morrissey, I hate his singing. On top of that he's a raging bellend. It's a shame because there good music behind his crappy fronting.
It's not really my era though, to young. I can see how they could have a cut a place in history being a bit more emotional and thoughtful than their contemporaries.
It was very much my era, I was 15 when they started, had Meat is Murder and The Queen is Dead posters in my bedroom, bought all their music and played it all the time. While Morrissey was very polarising at the time he was someone I could understand and liked. Sadly can't say that today.
My second favourite group after The Fall
How soon is now.
If you want to enjoy the good bit without morrisey ,you can have this..
Thinking about it a bit overnight, is it worth considering that Morrissey may just be contrary to the extreme and likes taking stances very much against the current public opinion?
Reading some articles from the 80’s he said he was outwardly celibate and deliberately effeminate ‘because no one else was’, perhaps his current political positioning is of the same ilk - representing something he feels no one else is (in the public eye).
Anyway, some great tracks listed and linked to above. Am slightly surprised that The Queen is Dead hasn’t featured yet…
what difference does it makes
How Soon is Now.
Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before
In that order and I close my eyes to Morrissey's idiocy and focus on how good Johnny Marr is instead
Reading some articles from the 80’s he said he was outwardly celibate and deliberately effeminate ‘because no one else was’, perhaps his current political positioning is of the same ilk – representing something he feels no one else is (in the public eye).
Possibly, but it's hardly under represented - there's whole movements and news channels devoted to it nowadays, and as I said last night if he was taking a stance for free speech, I still wouldn't have chosen this one.
Am slightly surprised that The Queen is Dead hasn’t featured yet…
It has, rustyspanner firmly nailed his colours to that mast.
Does anyone else get the lyrics “Punctured bicycle on the hillside. Desolate.” ear-worming round in their head when sorting out tyres, or is it just me?
I don't disagree that Morrissey is a colossal bell end who really needs to have a think about some of his recent choices.
But where I do disagree is 1/ that he's anywhere near the Gary Glitter category; 2/ that
it’s a shame because there good music behind his crappy fronting.
he was never a crappy frontman, he was the perfect frontman and lyricist for the musicians behind him.
Anyway -
why do we expect our musicians to be absolute paragons? There's plenty of bellends out there, Gallagher anyone? And what about eg: Eric Clapton, who has a very nasty past before becoming an active and bankrolling vaccine sceptic. But is still a great musician......
If the answers aren't
How Soon Is Now
or
I can't stand the Smiths/Morrissey
there's something wrong with the forum
Reel around the Fountain not been mentioned yet?
That and How Soon is Now 🙂
@timmys - yes, regularly! And ‘under the iron bridge we kissed, although I ended up with sore lips’ gets lodged in my head too.
@theotherjonv - good point, well made. I entirely agree that I wouldn’t choose the right-wing-anti-immigration hill to die on either!
We used to have one of Mike Joyce's drumsticks sat on the mantlepiece at home and Johhny Marr once tried to buy my little brother's secondhand store jacket from him at an early gig.
I don't really have a favourite track, but There is a Light That Never Goes Out' reminds me of singing it on the - fairly narrow - summit ridge of Huayna Potosi in the Bolivian Andes.
I just ignore the new, not-improved, Morrissey. He's the musical eqivalent of one of those extraordinary footballers who, once retired, turns into a bit of a bell-end. It doesn't make them any less of a brilliant footballer. You know, like Diego Maradona for one. Or on a smaller scale Paul Merson.
he was never a crappy frontman, he was the perfect frontman and lyricist for the musicians behind him.
I rather thought my justification implied that comment was my opinion. For me he's a crappy front for the music because I detest how he sings but can appreciate the musicianship behind it.
And all this there are worse people they don't have to be perfect, for all that's true music is so tied to how you feel it's perfectly possible to feel a change in how you hear something without it being an active stance. If it triggers happy memories of a different time then that's fine but it's also possible to find you no longer enjoy music of its associated with repulsion for the singer having tainted how you feel while listening.
Maybe not their best song but Please let me get what I want is a favourite.
Honourable mention for Asleep too.
repulsion for the singer having tainted how you feel while listening
He’s just human and wants to be loved!
I never really clicked with them BITD, but can't deny that Ask is an absolute banger.
And the second half of Boy With the Thorn in His Side, when Morrissey stops singing and just harmonises over Marr's guitar is really lovely.
How Soon is Now is superb as well, but too atypical of their work?
Any that Morrissey isn't singing on
why do we expect our musicians to be absolute paragons?
That's a bit of a leap innit? I just expect them to make nice music and not be too objectionable.
Mozza is highly objectionable now, but that doesn't invalidate The Smiths music at all.
And fortunately nobody is interested in his contemporary material anyway.
How Soon is Now is superb as well, but too atypical of their work?
Yes I think so. But Morrisey's response to the TaTu version is the stuff of legends
Interviewer: Did you hear t.A.T.u's version of 'How Soon Is Now'?
Morrissey: Yes, it was magnificent. Absolutely. Again, I don't know much about them.
Interviewer: They're the teenage Russian lesbians.
Morrissey: Well, aren't we all?
As an aside, does anyone categorically know who the girl is in the HSIN video?
The name of the women in HSIN is unknown to a wider audience, simply known as A Girl.
rumoured to be
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Pressly but seems unlikely because she was born in 77 making her 8 at the time it was released
I can't believe no one has mentioned The Hand That Rocks the Cradle yet.
We may agree about hair clippers and toastie machines but that’s clearly horseshit 😂
@joshbegas - it’s a fair cop, guv 😂
My choices would be:
Bigmouth Strikes Again.
What Difference Does it Make?
There’s a Light That Never Goes Out.
Sheila Take a Bow.
Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before.
The Draize Train.
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.
William, It Was Really Nothing.
None.
And fortunately nobody is interested in his contemporary material anyway.
How contemporary are we allowed? This one's a classic imho.
They had a great sound but they just didn't quite do it for me - too bloody angst ridden by far..
How contemporary are we allowed? This one’s a classic imho.
I think we're safe with a 30-year-old song.
This was the only Smiths/Mozza song I liked when I was younger...
How soon is now.
If you want to enjoy the good bit without morrisey ,you can have this..
I think this is a better bigot-free HSIN option (and from only a couple of months ago);
I’m going for one from
There’s a Light That Never Goes Out.
Sheila Take a Bow.
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.
Or
Suffer Little Children
Depends on mood but There’s a light probably shades it.
Headmaster ritual, or Handsome Devil - the Peel session version is excellent.
I always felt that the fade-out on this song sounds amazing just as spring transitions into summer…
I would throw in Hand in Glove or, funny enough, Oscillate Wildly
I honestly don’t have a firm favourite I really like them all, last night I dreamt somebody loved me is doing it for me at the moment. I’ve listened to the albums all these years and never tire of them.