The Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of singer Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and drummer Mike Joyce. Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwriting partnership. The Smiths are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerge from 1980s British independent music.
This article is about the band. For the album, see The Smiths (album). For other uses, see Smiths.
The Smiths
The Smiths signed to the independent label Rough Trade Records in 1983 and released their first album, The Smiths, in 1984. Their focus on a guitar, bass and drum sound, fusing 1960s rock and post-punk, was a rejection of the synth-pop sound predominant at the time. Several Smiths singles reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, and all their studio albums reached the top five of the UK Albums Chart, including the number-one album Meat Is Murder (1985). From that time, they bolstered their sound with the use of keyboards while still keeping guitar as the main instrument. They achieved mainstream success in Europe with The Queen Is Dead (1986) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987), which both entered the top 20 of the European Albums Chart.[6] In 1986, the band briefly became a five-piece with the addition of guitarist Craig Gannon.
Internal tensions led to the Smiths' breakup in 1987, followed by public lawsuits over royalties. The members each said that the band would never reunite and refused all offers to do so.
History[edit]
1982: Formation and early performances[edit]
In May 1982, Johnny Marr and his friend Steve Pomfret went to the home of Steven Morrissey in Stretford to invite him to form a band.[7] Marr and Morrissey had met at a Patti Smith gig at Manchester's Apollo Theatre on 31 August 1978, when Marr was 14 and Morrissey was 19.[7] They bonded through their love of poetry and literature.[8] A fan of the New York Dolls, Marr had been impressed that Morrissey had written a book on the band and was inspired to turn up on his doorstep following the example of Jerry Leiber, who had formed his working partnership with Mike Stoller after turning up at Stoller's door.[9] According to Morrissey: "We got on absolutely famously. We were very similar in drive."[10] The two found that they were fans of many of the same bands.[11] When Marr looked through Morrissey's singles collection, he found the Monochrome Set, a band they both admired.[12] The next day, Morrissey phoned Marr to confirm that he would be interested in forming a band with him.[11]
A few days later, Morrissey and Marr held their first rehearsal in Marr's rented attic room in Bowdon. Morrissey provided the lyrics for "Don't Blow Your Own Horn", the first song that they worked on; however, they decided against retaining the song, with Marr commenting that "neither of us liked it very much".[11] The next song that they worked on was "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", which again was based on lyrics produced by Morrissey. Marr based the tempo on the Patti Smith song "Kimberly", and they recorded it on Marr's TEAC three-track cassette recorder. The third track that the duo worked on was "Suffer Little Children".[13] Alongside these original compositions, Morrissey suggested that the band produce a cover of "I Want a Boy for My Birthday", a song by the 1960s American girl band the Cookies; although he had never heard of the song before, Marr agreed, enjoying the subversive element of having a male vocalist sing it, and the song was recorded on his TEAC machine.[14]
Musical style[edit]
Morrissey and Marr dictated the musical direction of the Smiths. Marr said in 1990 that it "was a 50/50 thing between Morrissey and me. We were completely in sync about which way we should go for each record".[119] The Smiths' "non-rhythm-and-blues, whiter-than-white fusion of 1960s rock and post-punk was a repudiation of contemporary dance pop",[5] and the band purposely rejected synthesisers and dance music.[65] However, from their second album Meat Is Murder, Marr embellished their songs with keyboards.[64]
Marr's jangly guitar-playing was influenced by Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, Neil Young's work with Crazy Horse, George Harrison (with the Beatles), James Honeyman-Scott of the Pretenders and Bert Jansch of Pentangle.[120] Marr often used a capo to tune his guitar up a full step to F-sharp to accommodate Morrissey's vocal range and also used open tunings. 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".[119] Marr's other favourite guitarists are James Williamson of the Stooges, Rory Gallagher, Pete Townshend of the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan of T. Rex, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees.[121] In a 2007 interview for the BBC, Marr reported that with the Smiths his goal was to "pare down" his style and avoid rock guitar clichés.[122] Marr forbade himself from using power chords, distortion, lengthy solos, or "big rock chord changes", instead relying on sophisticated arpeggios to create his signature chiming guitar work for the band. Although occasionally, Marr would disobey his own rules, such as his use of an overdrive pedal in "London".[123]
Morrissey's role was to create vocal melodies and lyrics.[124] Morrissey's songwriting was influenced by punk rock and post-punk bands such as New York Dolls, the Cramps, the Specials and the Cult, along with 1960s girl groups and singers such as Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithfull and Timi Yuro. 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 social realism of 1960s "kitchen sink" television plays, Morrissey wrote about ordinary people and their experiences with despair, rejection and death. While "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.'"[5] Julian Stringer characterised the Smiths as "one of Britain's most overtly political groups",[125] while in his study of their work, Andrew Warnes termed them "the most anti-capitalist of bands".[126]
Imagery[edit]
The group's cover artwork had a distinctive visual style and often featured images of film and pop stars, usually in duotone. Design was by Morrissey and Rough Trade art coordinator Jo Slee. The covers of singles rarely featured any text other than the band name and the band itself did not appear on the 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, actor Terence Stamp, after the latter objected to his picture being used.) The choice of cover subjects reflected Morrissey's interest in film stars (Stamp, Alain Delon, Jean Marais, Warhol protégé Joe Dallesandro, James Dean); figures from sixties British popular culture (Viv Nicholson, Pat Phoenix, Yootha Joyce, Shelagh Delaney); and anonymous images from old films and magazines.[127]
The Smiths dressed mainly in ordinary clothes – jeans and plain shirts – in keeping with 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. In 1986, when the Smiths performed on the British music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test, Morrissey wore a fake hearing-aid to support a hearing-impaired fan who was ashamed of using one,[128] and also frequently wore thick-rimmed National Health Service-style glasses. Morrissey also would often wave gladioli flowers onstage.
As frontman of the Smiths, Morrissey subverted many of the norms that were associated with pop and rock music.[129] The band's aesthetic simplicity was a reaction to the excess personified by the New Romantics,[130] and while Morrissey adopted an androgynous appearance like the New Romantics or earlier glam rockers, his was far more subtle and understated.[131] According to one commentator, "he was bookish; he wore NHS spectacles and a hearing aid on stage; he was celibate. Worst of all, he was sincere", with his music being "so intoxicatingly melancholic, so dangerously thoughtful, so seductively funny that it lured its listeners... into a relationship with him and his music instead of the world."[132]
Legacy[edit]
The Smiths have been widely influential. Ian Youngs of BBC News described them as "the band that inspired deeper devotion than any British group since the Beatles".[133] Marr's guitar playing "was a huge building block for more Manchester legends that followed the Smiths", including the Stone Roses, whose guitarist John Squire said Marr was an influence.[134] The Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher also cites the Smiths as an influence, especially Marr. Gallagher said that "when the Jam split, the Smiths started, and I totally went for them."[135] The singer Davey Havok of AFI cites the Smiths as an influence.[136] The Smiths were an early influence on Radiohead,[137] and in 2001 Marr said Radiohead were the act that had "come closest to the genuine influence of the Smiths".[138] Frontman and lead singer Alex Turner of English rock band Arctic Monkeys cited the Smiths as a key influence in the early days of the band just as the lineup solidified.[139] Canadian artist The Weeknd listed the Smiths as an inspiration during the making of his second studio album Beauty Behind the Madness[140] American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley according to his mother was a massive fan of the Smiths and Morrissey.[141] Buckley often covered Smiths songs such as I Know it's Over and The Boy with the Thorn in His Side. Morrissey even expressed admiration for Buckley's work listing Buckley's album Grace as his 12th favorite album in 2010.[142]
In Q, Simon Goddard argued in 2007 that the Smiths were "the one truly vital voice of the '80s" and "the most influential British guitar group of the decade". He continued: "As the first indie outsiders to achieve mainstream success on their own terms (their second album proper, 1985's Meat Is Murder, made Number 1 in the UK), they elevated rock's standard four-piece formula to new heights of magic and poetry. Their legacy can be traced down through the Stone Roses, Oasis and the Libertines to today's crop of artful young guitar bands."[143]
</ref>In Uncut, Simon Reynolds wrote: "Once upon a time, a band from the North came with a sound so fresh and vigorous it took the nation by storm. The sound was rock, but crucially it was pop, too: concise, punchy, melodic, shiny without being 'plastic'. The singer was a true original, delivering a blend of sensitivity and strength, defiance and tenderness, via a regionally inflected voice. The young man's lips spilled forth words that were realistic without being dour, full of sly humour and beautifully observed detail. Most recognised their debut album as a landmark, an instant classic."[144]
The "Britpop movement pre-empted 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."[145] Blur formed as a result of seeing the Smiths on The South Bank Show in 1987. Yet even while leading bands from the Britpop movement were influenced by the Smiths, they were at odds with the "basic anti-establishment philosophies of Morrissey and the Smiths", since Britpop "was an entirely commercial construct".[146] Mark Simpson suggested that "the whole point of Britpop was to airbrush Morrissey out of the picture ... Morrissey had to become an 'unperson' so that the Nineties and its centrally-planned and coordinated pop economy could happen."[147]
Rolling Stone included four Smiths albums on its 2012 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time",[148] and included "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "How Soon Is Now?" on its 2004 list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[149] Morrissey is included in its 2010 list of the greatest singers.[150] In 2014 and 2015, the Smiths were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[151][152]