IF IT'S NOT LOVE THEN IT'S THE POLL THAT WILL BRING US TOGETHER - ILM Artist Poll #72 - THE SMITHS - RESULTS THREAD

Surprised at how low that one is

yeah less than 1 in 4 ballots seems low

TOO LOW!

idg what's so special about This Night Has Opened My Eyes, a song that has never left an impression w me

First of mine to place and what Turrican said

"barbarism" just missed my ballot. it is funky as hell

Love Morrissey's yelps on this track

I love how Morrissey's lyric says so much but in so few words.

TBH, I can totally see most being fond of "Barbarism" while not struggling to find twenty songs they like more. It is a bit monotonous [in the most literal, not-necessarily-disparaging sense] and atypical after all.

Well, it's their version of funk, and funk is kinda meant to be
repetitive!

http://i.imgur.com/a2kC5h2.jpg

42. DEATH OF A DISCO DANCER (Album track from Strangeways, Here We Come)
350 points | 18 votes | 1 first place vote

xpost:

I do agree that it's atypical, though. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking "fuck, I didn't expect this!"

TOO LOW, AGAIN!

'Death of a Disco Dancer' is wonderful, IMO, and easily one of the highlights of that album. I love Morrissey's vocal melodies throughout and I often feel this one gets overlooked.

I really can't articulate why so many of the Strangeways songs went from "cool, a gateway into a new band" to "oh my god I would rather murder myself than listen to this" for me but I am trying to give "Death of a Disco Dancer" a fair shake right now and I am literally feeling my skin crawl, the urge to turn it off is so strong. The weird thing is that I can tell objectively that my phobic reaction to the song is wholly out of step with anything happening in the song itself; it's really not THAT bad! But my entire body is screaming "STOP TORTURING ME" at me while I listen to it. I can't explain why.

(especially considering that I still really enjoy "A Rush and A Push..." and, in certain moods, "Stop Me...")

Playing catch-up here, two comments:

1. I'm in the soref camp on the interpretation of "Suffer Little Children": I've always assumed that "we will haunt you when you laugh" etc. was directed at the parents. In fact I never considered that it might be directed at the killers. Thinking about it now, I'm guessing my tacit assumption was that Brady and Hindley must have been psychopaths, and therefore unlikely to feel haunted by what they did. The parents, on the other hand, absolutely would be haunted forever. The lyric always struck me as a bit cruel for that reason, as well as extremely, almost unbearably poignant.

2. It's interesting to me that people are so split on "Nowhere Fast", with some saying it's one of the band's best and others saying it's never made a strong impression. I'm firmly in the latter group: when it placed I had to look it up to remember how it went. I wonder how many other songs in the poll will get reactions like tat.

"death of a disco dancer" is amazing

love peace and harmony?
oh, very nice, very nice, very nice, very nice
but maybe in the next world

Pretty sure "Disco Dancer" was the only track from Strangeways to make my ballot. Love Morrissey's vocals on that one.

Surprised at how low the last two are, voted for both and had Death of a Disco Dancer at #6.

Strangeways came out about a month after the breakup was announced if I recall (or maybe us Yanks were late to get the news?), and that fact might have affected my perception of it. It felt like a band technically at the peak of their powers, but trying too hard to do something different, and ending up a bit of a dull dirge. All these years later I recognize "Death of A Disco..." "Last Night..." and a couple others as good, but will never get near my top 20.

great images btw

xxp

(or maybe us Yanks were late to get the news?)

I remember thinking, "Cool, a new album! Hope they tour!" So yeah, we (or at least, the less-hip of us) didn't hear about the breakup until well after the album was out.

"death" and "last night" are all about build and atmosphere in a way i think they were aiming for throughout their career, but they kinda perfected it on those songs imo

'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before' is one of their five best songs for me.

but i voted strangeways as my no. 1 album so imo don't trust me

Didn't Marr basically break up the band the moment the album was completed? I understand things had been simmering for a while, no doubt helped along by Morrissey's attitude to managers and not bothering to turn up for the 'Sheila Take a Bow' shoot.

The guitar in "Death...." reminds me of Gang of Four.

"death" and "last night" are all about build and atmosphere in a way i think they were aiming for throughout their career, but they kinda perfected it on those songs imo

agreed. Listening to a bunch of their songs the other day with middle-aged person ears and deciding i liked some of the songs I had loved as an adolescent less now because of production-related stuff (e.g. a lot of songs on the self-titled debut), and then listening to those two and liking them more.

"Nowhere Fast" was the last song I cut but maybe I should have kept it. Love Marr's layers on that.

I guess the thing with "Nowhere Fast" - why I ended up cutting it and maybe why people are divided on it - is that it has a great guitar part and lyrics but there is not much to it melodically.

Didn't vote but catching with it now.

Almost always listen to this group - if at all - through its compilations.

The stuff on Strangeaways is a bit out of place and just off, Marr's spiky guitar picking etc.

http://i.imgur.com/X2erEfa.jpg

41. STRETCH OUT AND WAIT (B-side of 'Shakespeare's Sister' 12" | Album track from The World Won't Listen)
361 points | 17 votes | 1 first place vote

oh, I'd hoped this would place higher. did they ever record anything more joyful than this track?

It's so much better than the A-side it isn't even funny.

'Shakespeare's Sister' remains one of those Smiths tracks that has never really grabbed me, in all honesty. See also: 'Shoplifters Of The World Unite'

'Nowhere Fast' was high on my list, I always associate it with 'Still Ill' because they were next to each other on Best II but also I think they're quite similar musically. I really like thee peppy early songs like those two, 'These Things Take Time' and 'You've Got Everything Now'.

"Shakespeare's Sister" and "London" always blur into the same song in my mind. Before checking, "Shakespeare's Sister" is the one that goes "young bones groan and the rocks below moan 'throw your skinny body down, son" and "London" is the one that goes "smoke lingers 'round your fingers"?

"Stretch Out and Wait" is a perfectly pleasant one, just not top 20 for me.

2xp

Shakespeare's Sister is easily their weakest A-side (xposts).

My #1

It's so much better than the A-side it isn't even funny.

I was going to say! but they seemed to make a habit out of releasing singles where the A-side was far superior to the B-side

Before checking, "Shakespeare's Sister" is the one that goes "young bones groan and the rocks below moan 'throw your skinny body down, son" and "London" is the one that goes "smoke lingers 'round your fingers"?

Nailed it! But yeah, obv, not my favourites.

sh. sister/ what she said/ stretch out is an amazing 12".

"Stretch Out and Wait" is pretty! That mandolin line. It's the first time on an early song that Moz's voice accompanies or improvises over a guitar/mandolin line without sound like a cat in a vacuum.

The Smiths have about 65+ good songs and maybe five bad ones, and for me these last three - Barbarism, Disco Dancer, Stretch Out and Wait - are near the bottom of the 65 good ones. They're still good, but I like a lot of less popular ones better. For me, Unhappy Birthday is better than any of them. And Never Had No One Never. And definitely, by miles, Shakespeare's Sister.

^ Pretty much exactly this. Nice time signature on this one though.

Haven't listened in a while but isn't it 12/8?

Seems so. Though any departure from 4/4 in rock is impressive enough for me, tbh.

I can't easily tell the difference between 12/8, 6/4 or 6/8 etc, but I recognise when something is in sixes rather than fours, and The Smiths have an unusually high number of things in sixes for a rock band.

Stretch Out And Wait and You've Got Everything Now were my biggest re-evaluations from going through everything again for this. Neither had left much of an impression on me before but Stretch Out and Wait is really lovely, just missed my ballot. You've Got Everything Now is fantastic, it made my top 10. The verse isn't their best but the chorus is thrilling, one of their very best from that period.