The Smiths : Rolling Stone

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From the Archives

October 9, 1986

Keeping Up With the Smiths

The British group has spawned a new generation of evocative rock bands

Recordings and Reviews

The Sound of the Smiths

Overseen by Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, this compilation emphasizes the compositional might behind the miserablism of England's most idiosyncratic and influential Eighties band. Sound traces the quartet's four-year evolution from savage tenderness to refined despair: Morrissey articulates...

2008 RS: 5of 5 Stars

The Smiths

1993

Rank

1988

Louder Than Bombs

1987

Strangeways, Here We Come

1987

The Queen Is Dead

1986

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Biography

Articulate, broodingly charismatic frontman Morrissey and supple guitarist Johnny Marr made the Smiths one of the most significant English bands of the '80s. An avowed celibate whose lyrics disclosed a sexually ambiguous point of view, Morrissey was given to controversy, whether advocating animal rights or trashing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and disco. The band's trancelike, guitar-based mus...

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