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Fuck.

one of the best bands ever...I got all their records.

occasionally, there is a cool night on in London where they only play Smiths and Morrissey songs all night long.

they usually have cover bands playing Smiths tunes too.




yes, I am a bit of a Smiths geek!

batchainpuller wrote: The Smiths

Fuck.

Except for Morrissey, apparently.

Marr is an excellent guitarist, although I suspect he's not been making the best use of himself lately. In the 80s it seemed he was about the only indie guitarist in the country who could play his instrument properly.

Coincidentally I was just reading an old MBV article yesterday .. Shields was talking about when they were looking for a singer in the late 80s:

Kevin Shields wrote:It was pretty dangerous, I made the mistake of mentioning The Smiths because we liked their melodies, the whole thing was disastrous and excruciating, you should have seen some of the fruitballs we got.

Heh ..

they couldn't have been worse than Dave Conway, though...

"It was pretty dangerous, I made the mistake of mentioning The Smiths because we liked their melodies, the whole thing was disastrous and excruciating, you should have seen some of the fruitballs we got."

seriously, there are far too many fruitballs that show up to audition...it's not just american idol that gets 'em. i should start a thread...i remember one guy that, while we played, sat in the corner with his bass  grinding his teeth.

There's a club here in DC that does the Smiths thing every other month or so.  Haven't been in for that, although I'm a HUGE J. Marr fan.  There are enough goofballs on my daily Metro commute, I don't have any inclination to go to the fruitball Mecca!

  Always loved that rhythm section of Rourke and Joyce too - killer stuff.  Morrissey I was hit or miss with.  It kind of grows on you, but he fits the music well.

A great band who never made a bad record.

Agreed.  All really good-even the stinkers are listenable.

I remember reading Marr once saying

Johnny Marr wrote:I remember writing this roaming, almost sublime piece of instrumental guitar music. I was really pleased with it, and played it to Andy and Mike, and we recorded it. Morrissey was just coming into the studio as we finished, so we left and went for a drink. When we came back in the morning, it turned out that the instrumental was now called "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others".

I'm paraphrasing a bit there - going from memory - but I just thought that summed up the whole reason the Smiths were so amazing.

Also, I was listening to Handsome Devil. That couplet "let me get my hands / on your mammary glands" just cracks me up every time. 

wow its nice to meet smith fans
i really dig morrisseys voice for some reason dont ask me why

What about "The The"? Johnny Marr...Matt Johnson...
"Time Bomb" remains something essential.

mezcalhead wrote:

batchainpuller wrote: The Smiths

Fuck.

Except for Morrissey, apparently.

Ha!

Yeah, Marr was something special.  I have a DVD of the Smiths on Rockpalast in 1984 or so.  His picking patterns and chord voicings are just amazing to watch.  Sounds like two guys playing at once, and he's just kind of casually tossing them off.
-J