The 500 - #473 - The Smiths - The Smiths

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

My plan (amended). 

• 1 or 2 records per week & at least 2 complete listens.
• A quick blog post for each, highlighting the important details and a quick background story.
• No rating scale - just an effort to expand my appreciation.

Album # 473

Album Title: The Smiths
Artist: The Smiths
Released: February, 1984
My age at release: 18
How familiar am I with it: Very Little
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: This Charming Man
Great Lyric:
As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine
Ceiling shadows shimmy by
And when the wardrobe towers like a beast of prey
There's sadness in your beautiful eyes
Oh, your untouched, unsoiled, wondrous eyes
My life down I shall lie 
(The Hand that Rocks the Cradle)

"I hate The Smiths" ... I have said those words on more than one occasion, particularly between1984 and 1990.

That's odd for me to admit. I regularly tell my student that "hate is a word we reserve for truly awful things - like war, famine and racism".

But, it was a different time then and, real or imagined, I was on the opposite side of a divide between the people who liked bands like The Smiths ... and...people who liked...good music ;-). 

This record came out when I was in high school. My clique were, for the most part, into classic rock (Led Zeppelin, The Who) and heavy metal (Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath) with a few of us dabbling in progressive rock (Rush, Genesis), new wave (The Police) experimental rock (Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa) & folk rock (Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash).

As with most high school cliques - we rolled with an "Us & Them Attitude". It was a reality captured powerfully in both the film The Breakfast Club and the brilliant, but short-lived, series Freaks & Geeks. I still identify strongly with the latter because it nearly perfectly captures my entire high school experience...from my passion for Dungeons & Dragons to my singular obsession with the band Rush. 

There is an old yearbook picture that I wish I could find. It is from about 1982 and features me in my denim jacket, covered in Rush patches & pins. I am standing with the other members of the high school Dungeons & Dragons Club. It is the geeky me on the precipice of freakdom (skipping school, partying & experimenting...on all fronts). As one friend put it, "Grade 12 was the best three years of my life!" This picture might just be our friend Terry, the first of us to turn 19.

Being part of a clique that accepts you for who you are (or at least who you were trying to be at the time) is transcendent. It is probably the most important thing on every high school student's mind - other than the overwhelming desire to connect with a romantic partner. The feeling of belonging outside the family unit is at its zenith during the teenage years. Attaining it is sometimes challenging and often fleeting, or at the minimum, transient. Looking back, it is sometimes difficult to remember how powerfully important it was. As Guy Garvey of Elbow eloquently puts it, in the song Lippy Kids

Lippy kids on the corner again, settling like crows
Though I never perfected that simian stroll
The cigarette senate was everything then.

The cost of membership to the "cigarette senate" was loyalty. Collectively, we had somehow decided that navel-gazing, post-punk, misery-pop was an anathema. Posers, Preps and Popular kids liked it - so it was not for us. We painted with a wide brush and many acts I enjoy today were on our hit list - Depeche Mode, The Cure, Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen, Yaz...and without a doubt, The Smiths. 

My friend Steve, whom I mentioned in my Husker Du post, used to call it "I don't know why music". However, just typing those words does not nearly capture the cleverness and depth of the derogation. 

He was dating a girl who listened to bands like The Smiths. When he would borrow her car, the cassette in the player would always be an easy target for our scorn. He would turn it on and, in a profoundly melancholy, comical faux-British accent begin to sing "and I don't know why" at perfect intervals. It always seemed to fit and never failed to make me laugh.

So, The Smiths. We meet again.

While preparing this post, I spoke with a friend who was is a fan. He informs me that I am failing to appreciating this band. He wants to listen to it with me...so, I'll report back when that happens.

At this point - the guitar playing is growing on me...I won't say hate - but I really don't enjoy Morrissey - particularly when he uses that bizarrely comical yet still gloomily falsetto voice to sing lyrics that are sometimes morose, sometimes narcissistic and regularly disturbing.

I am open to feedback - Comment below

Stay tuned for Part Two