Saviors: The Smiths
November 22nd 2008 18:13
Emerging from Manchester circa 1982, The Smiths were the saviors of British guitar rock. The pairing of singer Morrissey with guitarist Johnny Marr provided a nose-thumbing to the synthesizer sounds of the day; instead, The Smiths combined Brill Building pop song structure with ringing guitars and Morrissey's literate sarcasm to create one of post punk's most daring bands.
At their best--as on 1986's epic The Queen Is Dead--Morissey and Marr used their stark contrasts to record arresting songs. The Smiths would reject the then-mandatory gothic look and sound of post punk. Yet their music was anything but cheery. "Sweetness, I was only joking when I said / by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed," Morrissey croons, tongue firmly in cheek. The juxtapostioning of hard-charging guitar sounds with the singer's decidedly feminine (but never exactly effeminate) outlook proved a shock. And the rock scene generally loves shocks.
Tension between Morrissey and Marr, not to mention members Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums) would lead to the band's breakup. This was probably inevitable, given the contrasts in personalities and styles of The Smith's principle songwriters.
But for four perfect albums, The Smith's shunted aside effete new wave in favor of dynamic guitar rock, solidifying post punk as a subgenre with sea legs. The Smiths would influence dozens of bands like Radiohead and Belle and Sebastian and even peers such as New Order. (After The Smith's breakup, Marr would join New Order's Bernard Sumner in the successful project, Electronic. In this and other outstanding collaborations with such groups as The The and, later, Modest Mouse, Marr continues to show his dedication and professionalism.)
Everything recorded by The Smiths is worth owning. But if you're a newcomer, start out with their swansong, 1987's brilliant Strangeways, Here We Come. Even in their dying breath, The Smiths had a breathtaking way with the 2 1/2 minute pop-song structure, detailing girlfriends in comas and dreams of elusive love with a resonance unmatched by other bands of the day.
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