The Smiths: Classic or Dud?

can't wait!

I can't get excited about this Mojo thing, though. I mean, 1995? It all sounds kindof far fetched, or yeah, probably overblown.

x-post

Why does this make me think of Our Friends In The North?

there, i've always wanted to say that in a public place. i'm going to run away now and hide.

you know it's true, though. you KNOW it's true.

NOOOOO! No one is allowed to call that song to mind in my brain! OUCH!

I want to have surgery, pluck the cells involved with that song out of my brain forever please. I swear I'm innocent. I didn't know that was lurking in my memory. I'll even take...well no, I won't take "shiny happy people", it's not that bad, but..

How can The Smiths be a poor man's Wedding Present when the guitarists and their sound are so completely different? One would NEVER imagine Steve Albini producing The Smiths, for example. I wouldn't care to hear the grunge Smiths, come to think of it. Or the hardcore Smiths. Even if you hate the Smiths, let's just leave them as they are shall we? They're in a land quite a few hills away from the Wedding Present.

A major, major understatement.

Now if they had only ever made a song as beautifully melodic and harmonic as "Made Of Stone" or "Bye Bye Badman"...

Few bands evoke such strong feelings of loathing in me -- maybe it's just because I've had to have this argument so many times with incredulous fans who can't fathom someone not liking The Smiths. There is no band that I like that I can't at least fathom someone else not liking. But I cannot fathom the utter reverence for The Smiths. Dud Dud Dud Dud Dud.

Classic duh duh duh

it's more to do with the emotional milieu in which the bands work: the poor indie loser out of step with the world. mind you, even that's not much of a comparison, i admit. i'm not sure where my patented "poor man's weddding present" comparison came from, but it certainly winds people up in the pub. perhaps that's the only reason i came up with it, actually ;)

Now if they had only ever made a song as beautifully melodic and harmonic as "Made Of Stone" or "Bye Bye Badman"...

GREATEST. TROLL POST. EVER.

I say Classic.

could someone explain bo diddley in how soon is now (according to the nyt)? humming would be okay.

the rotochorus (or whatever it is) on the main guitar kind of does a bump babump babump babump-bump thing

that's less cringey than reuters' subhead of 'influenced rockers from elvis to u2'

yeah the accents resemble the Bo Diddley beat with all the swing taken out

one of the greatest bands in history. not just for the mystique or their singularly unique sound, but for the quality and depth of the songs.

haha i'm gonna hear them in a brand new way now that you've said that

was morrissey really that good a writer? or did he just have a distinct persona/writing voice?

NO/YES

eyeball,
look no further than 'i know it's over' when re-evaluating the smiths' work :)
listen for when those big drums enter and morrissey's delivery builds in intensity. it's that cascading, restrained guitar line that keeps everything in check and prevents the song from collapsing under its own weight. really powerful stuff. the song is really poignant and introspective with a sort of resigned, sad sense of humour underpinning it... one of many examples of the band's multi-dimensional approach to songwriting.

Morrissey was a good writer, yes. Why he doesn't seem to be such a good lyricist anymore, I don't know.

he's just lazier these days. still has some poignant insights every now and then

is he actually that funny? (in a good way) or is he still funny (in a bad, hahah, oh god that is so terrible but i cant believe he just said that old-timey bingo hall entertainer kind of way)?

(am debating this after listening to the song about americans on quarry).

For all the praise Morrissey and Marr get, it was quite often the Rhythm section that made The Smiths interesting. Morrissey's lyrics are intermittently quite witty, but he's not much cop at writing melodies, he just kind of wobbles up and down.

sometimes hes witty. other times his humour is just ropey.

i think he's a lot funnier (even when he's not trying particularly hard) than your average wordy joe schmuck fishing for laughs

I went to see Andy Rourke do a DJ set tonight. I had a great time. At the end of the night he let me put on his glasses! He has the coolest glasses, I'm sorry. They're prescription he said, but they're sortof...half sunglasses, half not. They make him look sortof Lennon-ish or Liam-ish from far away I guess. Just slightly square in shape. I love them. He played two Pixies tracks (both from Doolittle), Devo's "Whip It", T-Rex's "Telegram Sam", a mashup of Blondie's Rapture and Doors' Riders On The Storm, ended the set with Stone Roses "I Am The Resurrection" and Doves "M62". There was also a new-ish song I liked and didn't know and went to his computer screen to find out what it was. It was by The New Young Pony Club called "The Get Go". He also played a bunch of other dance music I didn't recognize but was fun to dance to.

Oh also, I asked him what was on his T-shirt because he had a sportcoat and you couldn't see it. So he showed me and it was an arty colorful silhouette pic of Betty Page with something else on top of it.

There were some pretty cool bands who played as well. That is all.

Also the only Smiths song he played was Bigmouth.

What I fail to understand, though, is Morrissey's new arrangement of some of the old Smiths songs. I don't even want to *link* to the new version of This Charming Man I heard the other day on youtube. It sounded like the fucking Jonas Brothers.