When people say "80's music" they usual talk about the cheesy, cheerful music that dominated the US music scene during the penultimate decade of the last millennium. I love a lot of that stuff, but at the same time, across the pond in the UK, things were much darker. And no band represents that than the one I'll be covering this week. It's Music Monday, and it's all about The Smiths.
A note: I am extremely well aware of Morrissey's current racism and overall awfulness, and I won't be covering his solo career. This is about the four years in the mid 80s when he and Johnny Marr were making the best music in the world, in four studio albums and three compilations. It's also kinda about how much I dislike Morrissey.
This story will have some similarities to that of the Pixies. Both bands were active for a relatively short time, and left a huge mark. Both band split in serious acrimony. The two most prominent members of both bands really dislike each other now. But it is different in that while Black Francis was the dominating factor in the Pixies, this was a partnership between two men: Morrissey and Marr.
The Smiths (ie, the self titled album)
In February of 1984, less than two years after the band formed, the Smiths released their first, self titled album. That album included one of the very first songs composed by Marr with lyrics by Morrissey (the same writing credits as every Smiths song), and the first they recorded. It's a love song, of a sort. Most of the song proclaims the greatness of the couple's love, and how they don't care if people stare. But it ends like a classic Morrissey song, with the repeated line "I'll probably never see you again." This is Hand In Glove.
Sample lyric:
So stay on my arm, you little charmer
But I know my luck too well
Yes, I know my luck too well
And I'll probably never see you again
To my mind, though, the first really great Smiths song was their third single. It has so many of their signatures, with Marr's amazing guitar, a super strong bass line, and a Morrissey wailing. This one is about confiding in a trusted friend, only to be met with rejection. It is definitely not about coming out to a friend, as Morrissey has been denying that he's gay for decades now. Well, okay. It is totally, one hundred percent about coming out. This is What Difference Does It Make?
I think I can rely on you...
And yet you start to recoil
Heavy words are so lightly thrown
But still I'd leap in front of a flying bullet for you
Hatful of Hollow
You know what usually doesn't happen? A compilation album released on the same year as a band's debut album. But that's what Hatful of Hollow is. Most of the songs here were actually recorded before the debut album, for various BBC radio programs. And the album has a bunch of songs that were not released on any other studio album - as well as different recordings of some songs from the debut album. Compilation or not, this album contains some of the band's very best songs. The first one I'll feature here is about a love triangle with two men and one women, but not the one you'll read about in many YA novels. The person in the middle is one of the men, and the story is told from the point of view of the other one. The one who was rejected. This is a song of hurt, and it's also a super mean song. This is William It Was Really Nothing.
Sample lyric:
She doesn't care about anything
"Would you like to marry me?
And if you like you can buy the ring"
I don't dream about anyone
Except myself
The next song is actually charming. Like, possibly in an unironic way. It's about a bicycle rider with a flat tire who is picked up by a possibly older man, who is definitely flirting with him. He doesn't quite know how to handle the situation. He doesn't know how to handle This Charming Man:
It is almost inconceivable that this next song was released as a B-side, and didn't chart well. It is an enduring classic, and it is so sad it hurts. For me, a decade later, the experience described in this song, of going out and striking out - to the extent one can strike out without striking a conversation - was kinda my life. So, yeah. This one hits it hard. This is How Soon Is Now:
Sample lyric
There's a club, if you'd like to go
You could meet somebody who really loves you
So you go and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
One of the reasons The Smiths became so iconic is just how direct the depression was, how accessible to goths and sad teens. You can think of this song as a song of depression, or as the song of someone who is a complete and utter asshole. For me, I think it's both. This is **Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now."
Sample lyric
I was looking for a job and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
Hatful of Hollow ends with a song that's short and poignant, with a beautiful melody and the deepest sadness. This is
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want:
Sample lyric:
So for once in my life let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time
Meat Is Murder
The band's second studio album was their only one to reach no.1 in the UK charts. Which is a shame, because it is the least of their works. It is their least personal album, and their most political. And you know me. I love political art! But this one falls flat. I'll only put one song from that album, and it may be the Morrissey statement I agree with most, which is that kicking down is shitty. This is That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore:
Sample lyric:
When you laugh about people who feel so very lonely
Their only desire is to die
Well, I'm afraid it doesn't make me smile
I wish I could laugh
The Queen Is Dead
As lackluster as Meat Is Murder was, that's how amazing the band's third studio album was. NME ranked it as the greatest album of all time, and it is a legit claim. It is a complex work, full of awesome songs. It is an album about how fame and fortune can bring bitterness and depression. And I'll start it with one of the band's most cheerful melodies backing up lyrics that basically make up a resignation letter sent to the band's label - the one that released this very album - Rough Trade. Yikes. This is Frankly, Mr. Shankly:
Still, I must speak frankly, Mr. Shankly
Oh, give us money!
The next song is about Morrissey being a dick. There's no other way to interpret the lyrics. It may be my favorite of the band's songs, possibly because it is more about anger than about sadness. And also, because the music is amazing. And also? Because Morrissey is a dick. This is Bigmouth Strikes Again:
Sample lyric:
Oh... sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking when I said
By rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
Why don't people understand Morrissey? He just wants to be loved and understood and also doesn't want any of that. He wants to be straight forward and ironic. And people don't believe him. Especially that darn music industry. Okay, I dislike the lyrics here, but the music is so great. That Johny Marr is a great composer. This is The Boy With The Thorn In His Side:
Sample lyric:
A murderous desire for love
How can they look into my eyes
And still they don't believe me?
You may have noticed that I don't like Morrissey. But sometimes you gotta give it up. Because sometimes you write a perfect song, and sing it perfectly and all I can say is DAMN that's good. It is pain, it is beauty, it is love and sacrifice. This is There Is a Light That Never Goes Out:
Sample lyric:
Oh, please don't drop me home
Because it's not my home, it's their home and I'm welcome no more
The last song in the album is... I mean. I mean it's either about people's obsession with the size of boobs or it is about the different sizes of boobs. And, yeah, this is an opportunity to mention that there is quite a bit of mysoginy strewn about in Smiths lyrics. This is Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others:
Sample lyric:
As Anthony said to Cleopatra
As he opened a crate of ale:
Oh I say
The World Won't Listen/Louder Than Bombs
Yup, it's another compilation album. Well, actually, it's two compilation albums, the first released in the UK and the second in the US, in the early months of 1987. Most of the songs that appear on one album also appear on the other, so I'm gonna treat them as one. As with Hatful of Hollow, this album is a mix of songs already released in albums and songs only previously released as singles. I'm gonna go by the order of appearance in Louder Than Bombs, because it has more songs, and all the songs I want to highlight. It is the only one that has this next song, possibly the most positive one they've ever written, and maybe the most ironic, with Morrissey taking the eponymous "Sheila" to task for singing such sad words. This is Sheila Take a Bow:
Sample lyric:
Sheila take a, Sheila take a bow
Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear
Next up is a song about how everyone should love Morrissey. And also about cultural appropriation being awesome. From an interview: "It’s more or less spiritual shoplifting, cultural shoplifting, taking things and using them to your own advantage."
Sample lyric:
Tried living in the real world instead of a shell
But before I began...
I was bored before I even began
When I was 16, clumsy and shy, I went to London. This is a true thing that happened to me and also a lyric from this song. But I'd like to think I've never been this bitter. This is a very bitter song claiming that it's about bitterness. It's about having a crush and also possibly stalking? This is Half A Person:
Sample lyric:
She was left behind and sour
And she wrote to me equally dour
She said "In the days when you were hopelessly poor
I just liked you more"
Possibly Marr's catchiest music come with some of Morrissey's most odious lyrics. And I gonna admit it, these lyrics spoke to a much younger me. I'm sorry, awesome pop and disco musicians! I was young and an idiot. You may know this as "Hang The DJ," but this is Panic:
Sample lyric:
Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
It says nothing to me about my life
While I have made the case that Morrissey is - in addition to being a racist xenophobe - a misogynist, he would strongly disagree, and in fact claim to be a feminist. I mean, didn't he write a song about Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own"? He sure did. Well, sort of. It's more about "The Glass Menagerie," and the lyrics are a hodgepodge. In any case, this is Shakespeare's Sister:
Sample lyric:
Young bones groan and the rocks below say
"Throw your white body down"
But I'm going to meet the one I love
At last, at last, at last
You should, like, as Morrissey out, okay? He'd really like you to. If you don't, we'll all die in an atomic blast. I think that's the message here. The music's great. This is Ask:
Sample lyrics:
So, if there's something you'd like to try
If there's something you'd like to try
Ask me, I won't say "no"
How could I?
Strangeways Here We Come
Less than four and a half years after their first album, the Smiths final album was released. Between the time it was recorded and the time of release, they had already broken up, never to return. Artistic differences have long been cited as the reason for the split. But you know what I think, right? I think they split because Morrissey is an asshole. Which leads straight to the first song in the album, and the one which certainly foreshadowed the singer's current political garbage. It's about love, and mundanity, and suddenly, about xenophobia. This is A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours:
Sample lyric:
A rush and a push and the land that
We stand on is ours
It has been before
So it shall be again
And we go on with another "hey, I'm a terrible person" song by Morrissey coupled with lovely music by Marr. I actually really like Morrissey's singing here. This is a song about pushing forward with a relationship and then having second thoughts. This is I Started Something I Couldn't Finish:
Sample lyric:
And I doused another venture
With a gesture
That was... absolutely vile
Cheerful music and dark lyrics meet again in this next song, another of the band's most iconic. So iconic that author Douglas Coupland (he was a really big deal in the 1990s, trust me) took its title for one of his books. It's a song about a guy whose girlfriend is in a vegetative state. I mean, if you know it, you know what it is. This is Girlfriend In A Coma:
Sample lyric:
There were times when I could
Have "strangled" her
(but you know, I would hate
Anything to happen to her)
The next song is about a bad relationship, and while it is written about a romantic relationship, it kinda feels like it's about the relationship between Morrissey and Marr. This is Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before:
Sample lyric:
Nothing's changed
I still love you, oh, I still love you
...Only
Slightly, only slightly less
Than I used to, my love
Being dumped is sad. And as we've seen with **William It Was Really Nothing," When you're Morrissey, being dumped may lead to absolute meanness. This is Unhappy Birthday:
Sample lyric:
I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday
Cause you're evil
And you lie
I end this overview with the saddest song ever. I've written earlier about how being straight up miserable has made the Smiths' songs relateable to angsty teens, and that has never been more true than in this song of abject sadness and loneliness. This is Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me:
Sample lyric:
Last night I dreamt
That somebody loved me
No hope, no harm
Just another false alarm
To sum up
I started writing this thinking of myself as a Smiths fan who has grown to dislike Morrissey in later years. But as I brushed up on the lyrics over on genius dot com and followed links from wikipedia and google, I realized something: I just really dislike Morrissey, from then till now. Should I tell my SO this? She really loves him. Don't get me wrong, he's a great singer, and sometimes his lyrics are amazing. But his entire thing has always been toxic.
If you want to listen to these albums, I've got two ways you can do that, because this is newer stuff and all of my stuff is in the cloud now. Spotify has the complete catalog in one compilation, and here's the same album on Google Music. Enjoy!
Related posts
Music Monday: Janelle Monáe
Music Monday: Garfunkel and Oates
Music Monday: Jonathan Coulton
Music Monday: Amanda Palmer
