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

absolutely nuts guitar on this

if we're talking about Smiths we dislike, I always thought that The Boy With The Thorn In His Side was one of the worst things they ever did and that the Bis cover is much better, I know this sounds like challops but I don't care

Is that the last one for today?

that off-pitch keening "I NEED ADVICE I NEED ADVICE I NEED ADVIIIIICE" blech

Wah! That bit's brilliant!

"London" has become a firm favourite of mine over time. "Train, heave on to Euston." I've been on such a train, leaving the past behind, or attempting to, at various points in my life.

range of opinions here rivals XTC fandom

Yes that's it for tonight. Sleep well.

Good. I'm tired and I... I want to go to bed.

Oh God, "Miserable Lie" is so embarrassing.

"London" is a latter-day Smiths song I like a lot. Top 10 for me. Love the live version on Rank.

Catching up here... 'London' is great although I didn't vote for it - love the instrumental coda. Not a fan of 'Sweet and Tender Hooligan' at all, the lyrics are a bit Daily Mail and it's not a great tune. 'Well I Wonder' was #3 or 4 on my ballot, when I got around to hearing Meat Is Murder that was the real standout, just a beautiful song.

"London" is totally minor Smiths for me.

Backtracking a bit, "Well I Wonder" is so great. It's maybe the most melodramatic of the great Smiths tearjerkers--even all the soil-falling-over-my-head talk in "I Know It's Over" can't top "gasping, dying, but somehow still alive / this is the fierce last stand of all I am". But somehow following a line like that with a meek, modest "please keep me in mind" makes it work. And as cheap a trick as it is, I love when the rainfall comes in for the outro.

3. I was the other #1 vote for "These Things Take Time." "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" is better than this song?!?! I fucking think not.

― lingereffect (Kent Burt), Friday, March 4, 2016 2:54 PM

lol i thought the exact same thing

Really thought (or hoped) "Paint a Vulgar Picture" would be one of those surprise songs that vaulted into the top ten. There was a bit of enthusiasm for it in the noms thread. Was my #2, it's a remarkable song.

Both London and Handsome Devil are way too low

I wish there were 15 songs that sounded like "London."

OH SHIT... just realized due to clerical error "that joke isn't funny anymore" is not on the ballot I sent in. counting on y'all to bring it in top 10...

Hooligan nearly ruined for me by Moz singing "ex cetera" instead of "et". But not enough to keep it off my ballot.

"London" is totally minor Smiths for me.

Word. It may even be the only track that I can't immediately bring to mind without an auditory cue. The lyrics are quite good though. I feel like I've said that in relation to other tracks already. In general, Morrissey's lyrics probably didn't match the gentle decline in interestingness/consistency that Marr's tunes/production choices displayed. (Maybe. I should really subject this theory to more rigorous testing before typing it on the interwebs...)

Collaborative Spotify playlist here https://open.spotify.com/user/jona-uh/playlist/48hb3M4vKm8Ts2V23jOrAF

Reading the Goddard book and apparently Well I Wonder is the only song from their first three studio albums that they never played live.

Oh yeah I bought the Goddard book the other day, still haven't started reading it yet...

without that nimble baseline that runs throughout the whole track... and to think they fired the guy at one point!

can't believe they'd fire the nimble bassplayer for later being incapable of playing bass!

also thanks to whoever mentioned that live version of Giant, because dancing Johnny is adorable there

a friend had a beat up old VW Rabbit with blown-out speakers that played pure treble with Meat Is Murder stuck in the tape deck & as a result I think "Rusholme Ruffians" is the essence of the Smiths. I didn't vote for it.

Hooligan nearly ruined for me by Moz singing "ex cetera" instead of "et".

If it's mocking the person lazily dropping that line it could be in keeping with that. He's laughing at this bathetic half-assed gesture at profundity. Something like that.

^ way to kill a joke, Noel.

I do get the impression he read that as a quote and found it almost literally hysterical.

I finished the Goddard book yesterday. This is an excellent time to read it! It really is well done and researched, highly recommended. "A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of the Smiths" by Tony Fletcher might be a better narrative read (I haven't read it yet), but this is perfect to read along with the poll -- either front to back or read the entry for each song as it comes up in the poll.

That sounds like a cue to start today's rundown.

http://i.imgur.com/RyYL6lw.jpg

30. ASLEEP (B-side of 'The Boy with the Thorn in His Side')
488 points | 23 votes

I'm going to go down to no. 16 today and finish it off tomorrow.

too low!

This was the last song I cut off my list. Happy to see it place.

Kicking myself for leaving "London" off. Should've been in my top 10.

I suspect the cries of "TOO LOW" are going to increase a fuckload from this point on.

http://i.imgur.com/YHYL8P3.jpg

29. GIRLFRIEND IN A COMA (Single A-side | Album track from Strangeways, Here We Come)
496 points | 25 votes

Too high

Aw, it's a pretty tune. This is about the right placement imo.

This is kind of their Left Banke song.

Hahaha! Funnily enough, I agree... there's a fair few tracks that have already placed that I prefer over this. I don't mind it, of course, but I think that there have been superior songs that have placed below it.

I love the feeling of the chorus in Girlfriend in a Coma, and voted for it. It's effortlessly catchy but no way is it better than Asleep.

In terms of tracks from this album, it's probably mid-table for me, below 'Death of a Disco Dancer' and 'Stop Me...' etc.

It ended up being the highest I put anything from Strangeways, which surprised me. Listening to it again I didn't find the atmosphere of Last Night I Dreamt or Death of a Disco Dancer as engaging as I'd thought, though I voted for those as well.

This was the last song I cut off my list. Happy to see it place.

― Kitchen Person, Saturday, 5 March 2016 15:20 (42 minutes ago) Permalink

Asleep was mine too. Great song, but I can't vote for a Smiths song without guitar

http://i.imgur.com/Unihgk2.jpg

28. RUBBER RING (B-side of 'The Boy with the Thorn in His Side' 12")
549 points | 26 votes | 1 first place vote

Great song

Asleep is generic Smiths to me. Well I Wonder is prettier.

One of their best. Book mentions shared tempo with "Green Onions," then a shift in key and a more disjointed, Chic influenced funk and wraithlike strings.

Among the most original and emotionally potent tracks of their career, the title was Morrissey's metaphor for The Smiths' repertoire, as perceived by their most ardent admirers who were emotionally dependent on his every word...

..his ruthless rebuke 'hear my voice in your head and think of me kindly' assumes an unsettlingly spectral timbre; a haunting reprimand from the other side. Morrissey's own voice from the dead is echoed in the sample culled from an obscure EP originally distributed with Dr Konstantin Raudive's 1971 book Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment In Electronic Communication With The Dead...

On the 12 inch, this was blended together with "Asleep." It's too bad these and some of the other singles weren't included on TQID.

whoever gave "rubber ring" a first place vote: i like your ideas