The Smiths - The Smiths
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 20.02.1984
The year is 1950, Los Angeles, USA. Seventeen-year-old Jerry Leiber leaves the record store where he worked on Fairfax Avenue and makes his way to the home of seventeen-year-old Mike Stoller. Earlier that day, while talking in the shop, they realized they shared a deep connection and a mutual love for rhythm and blues.
Leiber arrives at Stoller’s doorstep. That moment marked the beginning of a 61-year songwriting partnership that produced around 70 chart hits, including “Hound Dog” later recorded by Elvis Presley, “Stand By Me”, and “Jailhouse Rock.” Thirty-two years later, Johnny Marr would echo Leiber’s gesture. Together with his friend Steve Pomfret, he stood on the doorstep of Morrissey in Stratford, Manchester, determined to form a band.
Marr, then 18, had first met Morrissey at a Patti Smith concert at Manchester’s Apollo Theatre on August 31, 1978. They bonded over a shared love of poetry and literature. Marr, a fan of the New York Dolls, was impressed that Morrissey had written a book about the band. Inspired, he visited Morrissey at home, setting in motion a partnership that would last only four years but influence countless musicians. Their debut album, “The Smiths,” was released on February 20, 1984.
Morrissey and Marr held their first rehearsal in Marr’s rented attic room in Bowdon.
By the end of 1982, Morrissey had chosen the band’s name. He later said, “It was the most ordinary name and I thought it was time that the ordinary folk of the world should show their faces.”
Around the time the band formed, Morrissey decided he would be known publicly only by his surname. He forbade those around him from using “Steven,” a name he reportedly despised.
After a few rehearsals, Pomfret left and was replaced by bassist Dale Hibbert, who worked at Manchester’s Decibel Studios, where Marr met him while recording a Freak Party demo. Hibbert did not last long either, and Marr’s old school friend Andy Rourke was brought in to fill the role.
After several demo recordings and three shows at Manchester’s The Haçienda, the band secured a contract with Rough Trade Records, having previously been rejected by EMI.
In May 1983, the band released their debut single, “Hand in Glove,” which reached number three on the UK Indie Chart. Shortly afterward, John Walters, producer of broadcaster and journalist John Peel, saw them perform in London and invited them to record a session for his show.
Peel famously said: “You couldn’t quite work out which records The Smiths had been listening to. That’s fairly unusual, very rare indeed… and it was that aspect of The Smiths that I found most impressive.”If you would like, I can verify the exact wording from a primary source.
Following their exposure on Peel’s program, "The Smiths" received their first interviews in the music magazines NME and Sounds.
The band initially entered the studio with Troy Tate of The Teardrop Explodes producing. Rough Trade were dissatisfied with the result, and Morrissey hinted that the entire album should be shelved. The label insisted on further recording and mixing, this time with producer John Porter, known for work with "Roxy Music" and "Killing Joke".
Although the band were not fully satisfied with the second mix either, the label’s insistence on releasing the album proved correct. Critics hailed it as one of the most important albums of the 1980s. Not that it ever particularly mattered to Morrissey what people thought of him.
The album itself is simple, direct and grounded, filled with classic Smiths post-punk: bitter, cynical and melancholic. Morrissey stands at the center as an enigmatic, peacock-like poet, while Johnny Marr emerges as both modern guitar hero and astonishingly articulate instrumental architect.
The collection of songs balances pop immediacy with emotional weight, energetic bounce with lingering unease.
“Reel Around the Fountain” opens the album with themes of lost innocence. Some interpreted it as referencing child abuse, but Morrissey, characteristically, leaves meanings deliberately ambiguous. Johnny Marr has stated that the melody for the song came to him while he was attempting to play the 1959 R&B song "Handy Man" by Jimmy Jones.
On “You’ve Got Everything Now,” Morrissey looks sideways at former classmates who have climbed the social ladder since leaving school.
“Pretty Girls Make Graves” tells the story of a teenage boy and his girlfriend, set against the backdrop of their sexual relationship. The title is a quotation from Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel “The Dharma Bums.”
The closing tracks “What Difference Does It Make?” and “Suffer Little Children” focus on child murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. The band faced heavy criticism over the latter and were forced to clarify its true intent.
In October 1983, four months before the album’s release, the second single “This Charming Man” was issued. It did not appear on the earliest pressings of the album but was added later. It became The Smiths’ first UK Top 40 hit.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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