The Smiths – The Smiths – Rough Trade – 1984

Well, somewhat inspired by this forum post, I thought I would try to cover some of the albums on the list here on the Throwback Thursday feature. First I thought I would hit up one of my favorite bands ever, and one that I feel that their influence is very poignant and prevalent in today’s indie music scene. Of course I refer to the great Smiths, one of the really great and I think still underappreciated bands of the 1980s.

The Smiths trademark is of course the combination of Morrissey’s clever/wicked lyrics with Johnny Marr’s incredible guitar licks and rhythms. I think the unconventional song construction and the way the guitar is used really laid a framework for a lot of the music we see today, where traditional “bluesy/riffy” songs are less prevalent than quirky guitar lick-laden tunes. I think they are also impressive in that they did not really sound like 99% of the other bands out there at the time, who opted for new wave/cock rock/or cheesy synth ballads. These songs all have a great rhythm and sense of style that just works incredibly well. Of course the band broke up after only a few years and 4 albums, and Morrissey went on to a very successful solo career that continues as we speak, and Johnny Marr has resurfaced lately as a strong collaborator on Modest Mouse’s latest album “We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank”, in addition to touring with the band through 2006-2007 (he was playing with them at Lollapalooza last year when I saw them).

This album is their debut album and still probably stands as my favorite of theirs, though they are all incredibly strong (though I think we have to put “Strangeways” in the #4 slot, right?). This album really covers all aspects of the Smiths sound pretty well, with upbeat/uptempo songs as well as some slower, more introspective moments. Some of these songs on here are just total classics in my book, like “Reel Around The Fountain”, “You’ve Got Everything Now”, “This Charming Man” and “Still Ill”. There is actually even a band that named themselves after the song “Pretty Girls Make Graves”.

Anyway, on this record you just have some incredibly brilliant songs and that trademark Smiths quirkiness that resulted from the Marr/Morrissey team, and brought us some of the great songs of the 80s. This is certainly one of those albums that everyone should have as it is one of the finest from the decade, and of all time as well.

The Smiths – This Charming Man – From The Smiths
The Smiths – What Difference Does It Make? – From The Smiths