Manchester, so much to answer for
While you can still sense the professional ambitions within the songs there’s a certain roughness within the music, even though Porter originally tried to avoid this. The following SMITHS records were a bit slicker and way more on point, their debut was purer. It was full of bittersweet wisdom and interesting lyrical themes. Besides desperation and rejection, MORRISSEY sings bout sex (The Hand That Rocks The Cradle) or the Saddleworth Moor Murders in Manchester in the Mid-60s (Suffer Little Children). It wasn’t just about love and all that suffering that goes along with it. It was about poetry and breaking lyrical boundaries. After all, songs like This Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make? and Still Ill are great grooving indie rock songs, full of energy and wilderness.
Not meant to last – Joyce, Morrissey, Marr and Rourke
Although album’s like 1986’s The Queen Is Dead are more famous, The Smiths set the foundation for the band’s legacy that is still lasting, even three decades later. Two years ago Marr and THE SMITHS turn down the offers. With the huge amounts of money, you can see the importance and draw of this band and the desperation of fans for a nostalgic return to a better time. In 1987 THE SMITHS split up for various reasons. But just like in a good relationship, it was a mixture of growing apart, bad communication and different perspectives. You can say that life happened. It had its time and it was good and pure for a decent amount of years. But it just wasn’t meant to last.
And although THE SMITHS. The melodies and stories their songs offer are timeless, and their themes are universal, even after thirty years. And that’s what made the difference – then and now.
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THE SMITHS