Can someone explain The Smiths to me?

Options
2

Comments

  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    reeferchief wrote:
    You lie.:p

    me lie? NEVER!! :p:D

    i guess guyliner, warpaint, effeminate guys, some wearing dresses some carrying gladioli, could be seen as weird. but i was always dancing for inspiration. :p
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • AiCPearlJamWeen
    AiCPearlJamWeen Posts: 785
    Add to all the other recommendations:

    Hand in Glove
    Girlfriend in a Coma
  • wcsmith
    wcsmith Posts: 165
    I came into musical awareness at the tail end of the 80's (and just in time to remember the birth of grunge). I don't really remember the Smiths being popular, but I think I do remember seeing Morrisey on MTV. Along with The Cure, I find that kind of music to being very boring. Of course, during the late 80's I thought that Van Halen and Huey Lewis and the News were great, so who am I to pass judgment?
    "I'll ride the wave where it takes me"
  • Taft
    Taft Posts: 457
    If you play guitar, it is impossible not to like Marr's work in the Smiths.

    Overall, some of the songs are amazing, some of my favorites:

    Heaven Knows I am Miserable Now
    Cemetry Gates
    Girlfriend in a Coma
    Bigmouth Strikes Again
    Boy with a Thorn in His Side
    Unlovable
    Joke isn't Funny Anymore
    William, This Is Really Nothing
    Hand in Glove
    There is a Light and It Never Goes Out (one of the all time great songs)


    I implore anyone to listen to those 10 songs, 10 times and not fall in love...
  • redsdisease
    redsdisease Posts: 147
    Let's clear this up. Music has been emotional since the first music was ever made. "Emo" is short for emocore which is short for emotional hardcore. "Emo" music today, as shitty as it may be, is emotional music that descends from emocore bands from the late eighties and early nineties.
    Jimmy Carter has disco fever.
  • pjoasisrule
    pjoasisrule Posts: 3,412
    Taft wrote:
    If you play guitar, it is impossible not to like Marr's work in the Smiths.

    Overall, some of the songs are amazing, some of my favorites:

    Heaven Knows I am Miserable Now
    Cemetry Gates
    Girlfriend in a Coma
    Bigmouth Strikes Again
    Boy with a Thorn in His Side
    Unlovable
    Joke isn't Funny Anymore
    William, This Is Really Nothing
    Hand in Glove
    There is a Light and It Never Goes Out (one of the all time great songs)


    I implore anyone to listen to those 10 songs, 10 times and not fall in love...

    I think my ears would bleed
    Alpine Valley 2000
    Summerfest 2006

    "Why would they come to our concert just to boo us?" -Lisa Simpson
  • say_hi
    say_hi Posts: 313
    Check out their live album "RANK". Its got a lot of really great songs and IMO the best live versions of Still Ill and I Know Its Over. If anyone can listen to that live version of I Know Its Over and not feel something, then they are in trouble. :)
    4/30/03, 7/5/03, 7/6/03, 7/8/03, 7/9/03, 7/11/03, 7/12/03, 7/14/03, 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/1/04, 9/30/05, 10/1/05, 10/3/05, 5/4/06 (Letterman Mini-Concert), 5/5/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 6/19/08, 6/20/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08, 6/27/08, 6/28/08, 6/30/08, 10/27/09, 10/28/09, 10/30/09, 10/31/09, 5/15/10, 5/18/10, 5/20/10, 5/21/10
  • Handsome Devil
    Handsome Devil Posts: 143
    MILKwasAbadChoice wrote:
    sorry its early. can you recommend any stand out songs. its just i listen to them and the flow is so odd to me. i just can't imagine college kids in the early 80's blasting the smiths at a party. Do you know how big of arenas or halls they played?

    The Smiths - Suffer little Children ( 1960s Myra Hindley and lover Ian Brady abducted and murdered several small children in and around Manchester.Steven Patrick Morrissey was the same age as several of the victims.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zqg6ds4_GI&feature=related


    The Smiths - William it was Nothing ("i dont dream about anyone except myself)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeBbfJn4EqA&feature=related

    The Smiths - Back To The Old House (You never knew how much I really liked you cause I never even told you)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q41RWez9Krk


    The Smiths - Rusholme Ruffians ( Violent lovely song) :D
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIaURk_UKCs&feature=related


    The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (Live) ("Her very Lowness with a head in a sling I'm truly sorry - but it sounds like a wonderful thing")
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ5F9yQCu_Y


    Jeane - The Smiths ( "the lowlife has lost its appeal" )
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNRghlld8HU

    The Smiths Please please please let me get what I want ("Havent had a dream in a long time")
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRYpd3_roHg


    Morrissey- The Smiths- A Rush & A Push & The Land Is Ours (Live) ("HELLO I am the ghost of Troubled Joe")
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNPCB3zKzFA&feature=related


    Morrissey - The Smiths- Paint A Vulgar Picture (Anti Record company song)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRVTWgOMSIM
  • MILKwasAbadChoice
    MILKwasAbadChoice Posts: 285
    redsdisease wrote:
    Let's clear this up. Music has been emotional since the first music was ever made. "Emo" is short for emocore which is short for emotional hardcore. "Emo" music today, as shitty as it may be, is emotional music that descends from emocore bands from the late eighties and early nineties.

    and most of these bands the emocore stuff site the Smiths as one of their biggest influences.
    98- 9/8.9/10.9/11
    00- 8/3, 8/4, 9/1.9/2
    03- 4/28. 7/8. 7/9. 7/14
    04- 10/1
    05- 10/3
    06- 5/4!!!!, 5/12. 5/13. 5/27, 5/28, 6/1, 6/3
    08- 6/19, 6/20, 6/22, 6/25, 6/27, 8/4
  • Jeremy1012
    Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    MILKwasAbadChoice wrote:
    and most of these bands the emocore stuff site the Smiths as one of their biggest influences.
    No they don't. When it was called emocore it was a style of punk music. The new "emo" bands like Panic at the disco cite The Smiths as influences but they aren't emocore. I can't imagine bands like Rites of Spring or the original emo being into The Smiths particularly. The newer bands, yes.

    This is all irrelevant though. The Smiths were a great band but have fuck all to do with emo in any way, shape or form.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • 1STmammal2wearPants
    1STmammal2wearPants Worcester, MA Posts: 2,983
    reeferchief wrote:
    The difference being that the Smiths had talent and were original where as Nickleback were formulaic and dull?
    What a shit, insipid analogy and I'm by no means a fan of the Smiths.

    the fact that his screenname has oasis in it says a lot.
    2003 Mansfield III 
    2004 Boston I 
    2006 Boston I 
    2008 Bonnaroo, Hartford, Mansfield I 
    2010 Hartford 
    2013 Worcester I, Worcester II, Hartford 
    2016 Bonnaroo, Fenway I, Fenway II 
    2018 Fenway I, Fenway II 
    2021 Sea.Hear.Now
    2022 Camden
    2024 MSG I, Fenway I, Fenway II
  • wwfairfield
    wwfairfield Posts: 216
    take away the smiths , bauhaus & the echo & the bunnymen album ocean rain

    and the world does not exist today
  • gabers
    gabers Posts: 2,787
    Handsome Devil wrote:
    The Smiths - Suffer little Children ( 1960s Myra Hindley and lover Ian Brady abducted and murdered several small children in and around Manchester.Steven Patrick Morrissey was the same age as several of the victims.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zqg6ds4_GI&feature=related


    The Smiths - William it was Nothing ("i dont dream about anyone except myself)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeBbfJn4EqA&feature=related

    The Smiths - Back To The Old House (You never knew how much I really liked you cause I never even told you)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q41RWez9Krk


    The Smiths - Rusholme Ruffians ( Violent lovely song) :D
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIaURk_UKCs&feature=related


    The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (Live) ("Her very Lowness with a head in a sling I'm truly sorry - but it sounds like a wonderful thing")
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ5F9yQCu_Y


    Jeane - The Smiths ( "the lowlife has lost its appeal" )
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNRghlld8HU

    The Smiths Please please please let me get what I want ("Havent had a dream in a long time")
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRYpd3_roHg


    Morrissey- The Smiths- A Rush & A Push & The Land Is Ours (Live) ("HELLO I am the ghost of Troubled Joe")
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNPCB3zKzFA&feature=related


    Morrissey - The Smiths- Paint A Vulgar Picture (Anti Record company song)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRVTWgOMSIM

    What, no this???

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4w7zQpmqs

    :D

    OP, just buy all of the Smiths original studio albums, there are only four of them. Trade in some of your already outdated emo albums for these brilliant ones, and enjoy the enlightenment. Here are their four studio albums:

    The Smiths
    Meat is Murder
    The Queen is Dead
    Strangeways, Here We Come

    Out of all the compilations the best, easily IMO, is Hatful of Hollow. It's not only a compilation of some of their best songs (and one of the few places you can find Handsome Devil), but the song structures were altered a bit and to me sound better than the originals in many cases.
  • say_hi
    say_hi Posts: 313
    wwfairfield wrote:
    take away the smiths , bauhaus & the echo & the bunnymen album ocean rain

    and the world does not exist today

    Please recommend me some Echo & The Bunnymen. :)
    4/30/03, 7/5/03, 7/6/03, 7/8/03, 7/9/03, 7/11/03, 7/12/03, 7/14/03, 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/1/04, 9/30/05, 10/1/05, 10/3/05, 5/4/06 (Letterman Mini-Concert), 5/5/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 6/19/08, 6/20/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08, 6/27/08, 6/28/08, 6/30/08, 10/27/09, 10/28/09, 10/30/09, 10/31/09, 5/15/10, 5/18/10, 5/20/10, 5/21/10
  • libragirl
    libragirl Posts: 4,632
    You just need to listen to the music. I'm sure people already suggested albums. I started with the singles but you should definitely listen to the Queen is Dead.
    These cuts are leaving creases. Trace the scars to fit the pieces, to tell the story, you don't need to say a word.
  • Jeremy1012
    Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    there are witches wrote:
    Please recommend me some Echo & The Bunnymen. :)
    As he said, Ocean Rain :)
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • hguz73
    hguz73 Posts: 245
    Placebo - Bigmouth Strikes Again
    Muse & Deftones - Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want
    Love Spit Love & Everclear - How Soon Is Now
    Death Cab For Cutie - This Charming Man
    J Mascis and The Fog - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

    Other bands / artists that have covered them : Therapy?, Supergrass, Anthrax, Pete Yorn, The Decemberists, The Thrills, Afghan Whigs, Jeff Buckley, Belle and Sebastian, etc , etc

    There are also other live covers as well as Radiohead's livecast on the song "Headmaster Ritual"

    There must be some influence in their music, isn't it? Check out the diversity of bands in the above listing.
  • libragirl
    libragirl Posts: 4,632
    AFI covered Jack the Ripper And snake river conspiracy covered How Soon is Now
    These cuts are leaving creases. Trace the scars to fit the pieces, to tell the story, you don't need to say a word.
  • hrd2imgn
    hrd2imgn Southwest Burbs of Chicago Posts: 4,924
    Does anyone else think YOU ARE sounds a lot like How soon is now? Not the wailing main part asas but the rthym? 
  • thispureamericanriot
    thispureamericanriot California Posts: 514
    Great UK article on the perceived greatness of The Smith. All I have to say is "The Headmaster Ritual".
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQTc4GolJt4
    ZF0 on SoundCloud

Categories