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

Does Manchester actually have anything to answer for or is just a good line?

Northside?

There's that but I'm not sure why these murders should be "be borne by the conscience of Manchester". Just sayin', like.

no more than Gloucester was responsible for Fred West I suppose, but I think lyrical or artistic responses don't therefore become invalid?

^^ Have you been to Gloucester?

No more than death with no reason is murder.

xp hah yeah it is "that kind of place" isn't it!

no more than Gloucester was responsible for Fred West I suppose, but I think lyrical or artistic responses don't therefore become invalid?

Of course not, it was the validity of the portentous interpretation of them I was calling into question.

http://i.imgur.com/4k67ccG.jpg

40. IS IT REALLY SO STRANGE? (B-side of 'Sheila Take a Bow')
365 points | 19 votes | 1 first place vote

i went through the queen is dead and the s/t in high school/college and thought, "oh I might be done with the smiths now." a few months later I listen to louder than bombs out of curiosity and this song knocks me flat

The girl I dated my senior year in high school asked a friend to make a video of this song with the girl stuck by the side of the road waiting for a bus that never came. Symbolic.

This was a great choice to kick off LTB with, except once it's gone by I never remember it.

Of the 11 tracks so far, 6 of them have had at least one first place vote

yeah i sort of love that, especially bc my no. 1 felt kinda weird when i submitted my ballot, but maybe others did the same

There was a big spread of no.1s, 40 songs had at least one no.1 vote

Occurred to me that over the many years I've barely spent time with any album as such save "Queen." Most of my listening has been to five or six comps. Hmm.

Re: Barbarism, amazing what influence the Go4 had on even effete/weedy/wimpy/whatever bands like REM and the Smiths.

Bought the Goddard book. Surprised but not Surprised how many Moz lyrics are responses to the press or fans or otherwise superficial stuff of the moment.

http://i.imgur.com/oul1mAz.jpg

39. BACK TO THE OLD HOUSE (B-side of 'What Difference Does It Make?')
391 points | 18 votes

I'mm not as enamored of HOH as most of you but this is one version I prefer.

Yeah, the Hatful version is one of their most beautiful tracks. The Louder than Bombs one not so much.

wow at 40 different #1 songs. over half the total catalogue getting #1 votes is a record that's unlikely to be challenged.

"Back to the Old House" is just sublime. Really affecting track, musically and lyrically. My #5.

yeah, that's insane. xp

but completely understandable. even the songs i don't like as much almost always have a memorable line that stands out and makes you do the "hmph!" face

Co-sign the praise for the images and the effort spent tabulating all this. Wishing I'd brought the iPod to work today to cycle through each track as it appears, but love how easily each comes to mind.

my suspicion is There is a Light is gonna get number 1 just by virtue of appearing fairly high on the most ballots

^^That's my token "Cut It Because Everybody Else Is Gonna Vote For It" for this poll.

I didn't vote for it either, but then 1/4 of what i voted for has already placed, so

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

38. RUSHOLME RUFFIANS (Album track from Meat Is Murder)
393 points | 18 votes

I didn't vote for this, but it might be my favorite of their stabs at rockabilly.

i might have voted for all their rockabilly stabs

My god, I love "Rusholme". So evocative. One of their sharpest 'I've been there' songs for me.

the grease in the hair
of a speedway operator
is all a tremulous heart requires

^ fav morrissey lyric when revisiting the discography last week

I nearly put this as my #1, specifically the version from Rank. I always think of it as a cousin of 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out', they remind me of teenage feeling of going out somewhere and being around lots of people and feeling 'this is finally it, my REAL LIFE is beginning!', also combination of love + sex + violence + death, and of this giddy exuberance that's could spill over into despair at any moment. and it's so shameless in that it's basically the lyrics from Victoria Wood's '14 Again' + the music from 'His latest Flame', but they manage to make something totally new from it! the bit on the Rank version where the band shifts from 'His latest Flame' to the more raucous opening to 'Rusholme Ruffians' might be my favourite single moment from any Smiths track

http://i.imgur.com/VzzXU2b.jpg

37 (TIE). A RUSH AND A PUSH AND THE LAND IS OURS (Album track from Strangeways, Here We Come)
395 points | 20 votes | 1 first place vote

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http://i.imgur.com/9lC1cWv.jpg

37 (TIE). LAST NIGHT I DREAMT THAT SOMEBODY LOVED ME (Single A-side | Album track from Strangeways, Here We Come)
395 points | 19 votes | 1 first place vote

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http://i.imgur.com/NV13iPY.jpg

37 (TIE). PAINT A VULGAR PICTURE (Album track from Strangeways, Here We Come)
395 points | 15 votes | 2 first place votes

ok lol

RR made my Top 25 but not my final ballot. Love it

the strangeways trio

i voted for the latter two. love the way "paint a vulgar picture" never seems to resolve, and of course the unbelievable sustained mood of "last night."

"a rush and a push" is a lot of fun

"A Rush..." was on my shortlist but didn't make it onto my ballot.

these are all too low

high five to other PAVP #1 voter

I would like to hug the person who voted Last Night #1. It was my #2. It really holds up ... the production is beautiful.

All great songs, although I only voted for "Rush". Such a brilliant arrangement, nothing else in their catalog sounds quite like it. In trying to describe it all I can think of is the phrase "mystical time zone" from the opening lines.

"Paint a Vulgar PIcture" is another example of how Strangeways boasts some of Marr's best guitar tones and worst songs. I do like the song, particularly the nylon string solo

i was listening to my tape of strangeways in the car yesterday, and the thing that gets me about most of the songs is how they seem to be a vocal melody (or non-melody) and lyrics just *plopped* on top of a backing track.

that's... most Smiths songs?

OTM

no, not really.

Yeah I mean, the melodies meander on TQID but also follow a strong pattern/template that feels better integrated with the music than most of what you get on Strangeways, which reads at times a little like Morrissey sat down to workshop wandering melodic line creation with Robert Smith but got bored 5 minutes into the conversation and wandered out of the room.

DJP otm

Shortlisted "A Rush..."--it has this cool European folk song influence not found as easily elsewhere in the catalogue.