I chose the top songs from each of the Smiths’ album polls that I did, and present them now to you for your consideration.
Opinions? As for me, it clearly is “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”.
From this choice, I went for “There is a Light…”, but the top three are all great, and there’s loads from that era that are worthy. The Smiths were one of those bands that I got a bit disillusioned with during their career, towards the end they were essentially “Morrissey” rather than “The Smiths”. I’ve never liked much of Morrissey’s solo career.
Hey, anyone want to see a video of Moz on terrible 1980’s British show “Pop Quiz” from about two weeks after the debut album came out? He stars along side the frankly gorgeous Kim Wylde and Phil Lynott, as well as some random Simple Minds and Kajagoogoo members.
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Wow, I can’t believe “How Soon is Now?” is ranked so low! IMHO, that is their all-time classic song.
Eh, to me, it’s the Smiths’ equivalent of “Enter Sandman”: the song that even people who wouldn’t know the Smiths from Three Dog Night can usually hum along with, and is consequently rather overplayed (though not as overplayed as fucking “Enter Sandman”; can anything be as overplayed as that?).
No, most Smiths fans (at least the ones I’ve known throughout my life) are (quite correctly) in awe of “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”, especially as compared to “How Soon Is Now?” (though there’s not a thing wrong with that song, to be sure).
None of these are my favorites (that might be “Reel Around the Fountain” or “Half a Person” for me.) But of that bunch, it’s no contest for me: “How Soon Is Now.”
I was never really much of a Smiths fan, but I loved the cover of Panic that OK Go does.
‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ is just… words cannot express. It is untouchable. ‘How Soon Is Now?’ is the runner up but it really doesn’t even come close.
By the way, this is the YouTube clip of the month for me. As a Yank, who knew such an entity ever existed? Bravo, sir, for bringing it to my attention!
None of those are my favorites, although I’m surprised “Hand in Glove” isn’t on there as that song is the one that most people I know that had just discovered the Smiths raved about. I always had a soft spot for “Rushholm Ruffians” but if I had to pick a favorite it would be “Rubber Ring”. From that list, it’s clearly “There is a Light That Never Goes Out”
There’s something exalted about “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.” You can instantly put yourself in that song, riding in a car with someone you love, so happy you laugh in the face of death, “Take me anywhere I don’t care I don’t care I don’t caaare”… it’s just perfect, the end.
Heh, that was a TV highlight of the week when I were a lad. Ah, the '80s, so much to answer for…
Exactly.
I remember the first time I heard “How Soon is Now”. It was on the late-and-much-lamented John Peel’s BBC radio show and his intro was something like “You’re all going to need to brace yourselves for this”, and then this fantastic relentless wall of sound. Still miss that man, he was a dogged champion and promoter of bands that make up a very large proportion of my record collection.
How soon is now is the Daddy. Panic and *There is a light *have lyrics that are equal or better, which is saying something, but How soon is now has the best music IMO.
The Smiths are the antithesis of most great rock bands, in that their lyrics are consistently awesome, but the tunes are sometimes pedestrian (most rock bands are doing well if their lyrics reach the level of ‘laughable’). So when The Smiths got it right with the tunes you’re talking about all time great tracks.
I’m trying to think of other rock bands* with such consistently good lyrics. Joy Divison, certainly. Velvet Underground too. Ummm.
*excluding singer-songwriter types like Dylan and Neil Young
You’d surely agree that The Fall are lyrically great, but in a very non-accessible way. Although Mark E. Smith is often seen as a very obscure and impenetrable lyricist, he’s often being very plain.
*And the man who pretends he knows it all
is destined to a Mighty Fall.
Gets into your house with cheer,
then proceeds to take all you’ve got to offer.
This is not an autobahn
It’s an evil roundabout
That leads to the Haywain
And you’ll never see good trains again. *
Reasonably plain, anyhow.
Yes, The Fall. :smack:
Nigel Blackwell off of Half Man Half Biscuit too. One of the few very funny lyricists, but with the capacity to be seriously bitter and angry:
I try to put everything into perspective
Set it against the scale of human suffering
And I thought of the Mugabe government
And the children of the Calcutta railways
This works for a while
But then I encounter Primark FM
Overhead a rainbow appears
In black and white