The Smiths are another of my favourite Manchester bands and as I have said before, you have to support your own. I think I initially started listening to The Smiths when What Difference Does It Make came out in 1983 and I thought Morrissey had one of the most interesting voices and lyrical styles which were not the usual sort popular at the time. Some people think that The Smiths were a depressing band with very boring lyrics but I think I connected with them because of that. I like to be unique and different which I think is reflected by some of the music I listen to. I do think some of the songs contain very emotional lyrics but I wouldn't say they were too depressing or boring and actually quite funny.
I also tend to sway more towards the bands who actually play instruments and are not all computer generated, but not always as I do listen to a very varied music library. I would have liked to have seen The Smiths live, but like when I was sneaked into the Hacienda to watch The Stone Roses I never got the opportunity to do this with The Smiths.
The Smiths were formed in 1992 in Manchester, England by Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce and Dave Hibbert. Dave was replaced after only a couple of gigs by one of Johnny's friends Andy Rourke. Craig Gannon also was one of the bands early guitarists. They named themselves The Smiths in a kind of retaliation to what other bands of the time were naming themselves and in an interview Morrissey said "I decided to call ourselves The Smiths because it was the most ordinary name, and I think it's time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces."
The self titled debut album "The Smiths" was released in 1984 and rose to #2 in the UK album chart. There were a couple of controversial songs on the album which met with some bad press like Reel Around The Fountain which some people believe is about pedophilia and the song Suffer Little Children which was related to the Moors Murders of the 1960's.
Meat Is Murder which was released in the early part of 1985 contained some more political and philosophical songs such as the song Meat Is Murder which obviously is about pro-vegetarianism, The Headmaster Ritual which was about anti-corporal punishment and also Barbarism Begins At Home. Meat Is Murder is the only studio album to reach #1 on the album chart.
There were 2 other studio albums released which were The Queen Is Dead which contained the hits Bigmouth Strikes Again, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side and Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others and also Strangeways, Here We Come which contained the controversial song Shoplifters Of The World Unite. Many parents objected to the song as they believed it was encouraging children to steal.
The Smiths have influenced many of todays groups including Radiohead, Bloc Party, The Cranberries, The Stone Roses, The Killers, Blur, Oasis, Doves, Belle And Sebastian and The Verve. Morrissey has also had his own very lucrative solo career.
My Top 10 The Smiths Songs are:
01. Panic
02. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
03. Still Ill
04. Shoplifters Of The World Unite
05. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
06. This Charming Man
07. Bigmouth Strikes Again
08. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
09. How Soon Is Now
10. Reel Around The Fountain
This is another band I have to thank my sis P for getting me into. When we were little kids my sister used to watch the Karen Carpenter Story over and over when we were on our 6 weeks holiday from school, and I used to pretend I didn't like it for a while because it was "girly" but eventually I gave in and then we used to sing all the songs together when they came on.
The Carpenters consisted of brother (Richard) and sister (Karen) and they were born in New Haven, Connecticut. Richard was born in 1946 and Karen in 1950. The Carpenters moved to California and it was at Downey High School where Karen joined the school marching band and her teacher had also previously taught her brother. They signed to A&M Records in 1969 under the name "Carpenters" (not "The Carpenters" which most people think they were called) and released their first album (Offering) which had a cover of the Beatles song "Ticket To Ride".
The Carpenters have had many popular singles over the years (We've Only Just Begun, Close To You, Rainy Days And Mondays, Yesterday Once More) and still get played regularly on radio even now. They won several awards during the early 1970's (Best New Artist - 1970, Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group - 1971) and were nominated for many more. Between 1971 and 1975 they played a total of 814 concerts and had 19 TV appearances.
Karen Carpenter became anorexic and died only a month before her 33rd birthday in 1983. She suffered from heart failure whilst at her parents home in California and was taken to Downey Community hospital where she passed away 20 minutes later. The cause of death was cardiac arrest and the coroner stated "heartbeat irregularities brought on by chemical imbalances associated with anorexia nervosa". Karen's death was possibly the starting point of the media publicising the actual effects of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia as diseases and not just mental problems and many other celebrities opened up and admitted they also had eating disorders such as Lady Diana, Princess Of Wales.
After Karen's death Richard released some new albums including some unreleased material and several compilation albums and as I mentioned there have also been several documentaries and TV shows over the years, my favourite being The Karen Carpenter Story.
Andy Jackson - Wisdom_mcr has sinced written about articles on various topics from Food And Drink, Music and Recreation and Sports. My name is Andy I'm 31 and I'm from Manchester, UK I like to read a lot (Discworld, Sci-Fantasy) and listen to music (The Doors, Wu-Tang, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs, Blondie, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix). I also try to be a skateboarder when I get time and. Andy Jackson - Wisdom_mcr's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.