The Smiths: Classic or Dud?

As fer the last stereotype -- when I was an undergrad (early- to mid- nineties), the IT guy where I worked was a big-time metalhead -- though he liked a lot of eighties cheesy hair-metal as well as the good stuff. Big strapping country boy from the mountains of Pennsylvania, even had a pick-up truck. The only alternative/indie/whatever band he liked was the Smiths. Go figure.

As we were driving up to the Aragon in baking late-afternoon sun the group emerged; I went all 'driver, STOP THE CAR!' and rushed over to meet my heroes. Luckily, I managed to be blasé about this despite a complete freakout in the car - and weirdly, found Morrissey a bit slow on the uptake. Johnny Marr was hilarious, though - a bit like a chipmunk on speed. Calm in the face of the experience, when I returned to Mininoplace I had to be scraped off the ceiling or forced by my friends to SHUT THE FUCK UP. But I learned:

1. People in groups are not always as clever as you want them to be - or, indeed, as intelligent as they think they are.

2. I possessed the unique ability to perfectly apply liquid eyeliner in a moving vehicle.

The gig was great, by the way.

The fact that John Peel does the voiceover is even more predictable than everything else. Strange to hear his voice again on the old Radio 1 medium wave frequency, though.

Since I bought all of the Smiths albums on cassette *far too long ago*, I keep thinking of getting decent replacement copies of them on cd. It would be nice if the albums were all reissued nicely with the b-sides, etc. instead of forcing yet another illogical Best Of on the public.

I live in Canada, but my cousin is Adam Clayton. Now there's an over-rated band. Not to mention Daft Punk, you Punky-ass bitch!

Hahahahahahaha yes, this is actually quite true!

(This is not to justify what the fellow upthread says about anything else.)

The Smiths

These Things Take Time is, apparently, a Smiths documentary on Friday 8th November. It's on ITV but only in the Granada, Border and Tyne Tees regions

Don't know about other regions? buy the TV supplements in the Saturday
/Sunday papers to check.

Also, either way, they're one of the gayest bands ever.

I thought that was the formula of the Smiths.. they have ever known for what reasons they have been into music arena. And I also am thinking same thoughts for Manics and the other leading combinations of British Pop. They have always shown the same point, from the direction of every groups own artistic catches and daily routine . So they wanted to show us how capital city could be alianated people by prisoned the person into money based relations, the objection of no-mistake, obeyance for survival and etc. which are not illustrated with the ' freedom of reality '. For these reasons The Smiths and others couldn't have been Punk ever, because i believe they show everyone how to survive as humans in big cities. So new ones are using their terminology as proggressing its argument by placing it to more positively speak-out platform, because new indie-pop generation has much comformitted lives through post-modernism but they (also we) have much complicated future problems. I am offering ' The Queen Is Dead ', to who can't be introduced with The Smiths. It should also be given a chance to Cocteu Twins, Bauhaus, Joy Division and all other post-punk voices of British Island .

This Charming Man
What Difference Does It Make?
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
How Soon Is Now
Shakespeare's Sister
The Boy With the Thorn In His Side
Bigmouth Strikes Again
The Queen Is Dead (Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty)
Cemetary Gates
There is a Light That Never Goes Out
Panic
Ask
Shoplifters of the World Unite
Half a Person
Sheila Take a Bow
Is It Really So Strange?
Girlfriend In a Coma
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Suedehead
Hairdresser On Fire
Everyday Is Like Sunday
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get

(81:26 overburn! chronological by first appearance, missing key classics, but a decent single disc survey)

Then, along came Stone Roses, and UK indie was saviored.

Geir, you make my head hurt.

So, classic, then.

for a long time I have said "Geir's not so bad, give him a break".

but now I say GEIR MUST BE DESTROYED.

It means his pop life (from my POV) is irreversibly impoverished as a result, but it allows all manner of other material through for him to enjoy without the contextual baggage that might put other people off.

I don't have a problem with him at all - he just doesn't experience pop music in anything like the same way I do.

but when he disses the Smiths - that's out of order.