The Smiths
Just working my way through "A Light That Never Goes Out" - a biography about The Smiths.
One of (maybe 'the') greatest ever groups.
What comes across is the sheer talent of the members, Johnny Marr in particular (of course!) and the fact that they knew so much about music, musical history, different genres, etc
They were self taught and could just 'do it'.
A recommended read.
Comments
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Oh dear..... Morrissey. One of the best nights of my life was going to a David Bowie concert and finding out on arrival that Morrisey was too poorly to perform as warm up! Dirge master par excellence!
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I don't think that either Johnny Marr or Morrisey have done anything of much note since The Smiths split. Particularly strange in the case of JM.....one of tbe most talented, melodic, natural guitar talents ever.
I believe Andy Rourke (bass guitar) has been a member of various groups since The Smiths split.
Not sure about Mike Joyce (drummer).....he probably still lives on the £1m he was awarded in court during the legal battle.....together with on-going royalties.
Morrisey is still revered in some parts of the UK and the USA.
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Just working my way through "A Light That Never Goes Out" - a biography about The Smiths.
One of (maybe 'the') greatest ever groups.
What comes across is the sheer talent of the members, Johnny Marr in particular (of course!) and the fact that they knew so much about music, musical history, different genres, etc
They were self taught and could just 'do it'.
A recommended read.
certainly not disagreeing with the fact that The Smiths was maybe one of the greatest groups, just that there are other groups which were certainly as good if not better. The Housemartins for example, they 'evolved' into The Beautiful South, which, in my
opinion, topped the lot at that time!0 -
Thanks JS.
I got it from Amazon second hand for £1 plus the obligatory £2.80 postage. Not bad for a hard back of over 600 pages
Here's an example........when they first formed, they struggled to find a drummer but auditioned at least four before accepting Mick Joyce.
Their bass player was initially Dale Hibbert but there were problems with him.......so they reverted to Marr's best friend from school, Andy Rourke (who he probably wanted all along).
By then, they had the opportunity of a demo recording by EMI (who would have had first call on them for a recording contract, or otherwise they could use the recording to seek a contract elsewhere).
Anyway, Rourke went along to the studio for the recording. Marr played through the 4 songs a couple of times for Rourkes's benefit and then went straight into the recording, with Rourke playing by ear. When they finally recorded their first singles, very
little was changed from this first attempt.Class!
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Last time I saw Johnny Marr perform on stage was when he guested for the Charlatans at their Manchester concert.
He appears quite often though, pre match, in the "City Square" at the Etihad, but talking football, can't be persuaded to perform.
Pity I was too old for The Hacienda. But had some great nights at the Twisted Wheel in my much younger days. And, later, Northern Souling it at Wigan Casino's all nighters.
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Morrisey is still revered in some parts of the UK and the USA.
Certainly by those "Mopey Beggars" at Stockport Harriers.
You're not from Stockport are you Ian ?
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Continuity announcement:
We'd like to apologise for our members in the North.......
...it must be awful for you !!!
OK, nearly Victoria Wood as Seen on TV, but not quite.
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[quote]I don't think that either Johnny Marr or Morrisey have done anything of much note since The Smiths split. Particularly strange in the case of JM.....one of tbe most talented, melodic, natural guitar talents ever.[/quote]
Johnny Marr has toured quite a bit recently and released some good music. Gigs are a good night out. Check out "Easy Money" as a good example of recent stuff. Was also in groups The The, Electronic and The Cribs.
Morrissey also recorded quite a bit - some gems amongst his output. I like "first of the gand to die" from 2004.
Both played Glastonbury in recent years as well.
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