"Really awful is more interesting to listen to than pretty good" - Eno ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. welcome to the drivel blog of "music detractor, Simon Reynolds"
Probably still my favourite band today, if I had to pick just one.
It's great to see those early TOTP performances and be reminded just how incredibly alien they seemed. With other bands in the charts, you could get a rough idea of where they were coming from: Roxy, Kraftwerk, Chic. But the context for The Smiths seemed utterly obscure.
Even now, in fact, when I've heard about the NY Dolls and the Marvelettes, it's still very hard to hear any of those purported influences in their music.
An explosion that came from nowhere and also left very little trace. Alleged inheritors the Stone Roses and Oasis don't really have much in common with them. But the records are indelible.
Even before you get to the lyrics and the life stance and everything else, it's an incredibly original sound. The Other Two deserve some credit (and a bigger slice of the pie). But mostly it's the magic that happens between Marr's chords and the way that Morr's voice moves.
And then the magic goes. Neither separately and subsequently touch the heights they reached together. Moz gets closest, with Late Night Maudlin Street and I am Hated for Loving. But surely they must know what they've done since isn't in the same league.
2 comments:
Probably still my favourite band today, if I had to pick just one.
It's great to see those early TOTP performances and be reminded just how incredibly alien they seemed. With other bands in the charts, you could get a rough idea of where they were coming from: Roxy, Kraftwerk, Chic. But the context for The Smiths seemed utterly obscure.
Even now, in fact, when I've heard about the NY Dolls and the Marvelettes, it's still very hard to hear any of those purported influences in their music.
An explosion that came from nowhere and also left very little trace. Alleged inheritors the Stone Roses and Oasis don't really have much in common with them. But the records are indelible.
Even before you get to the lyrics and the life stance and everything else, it's an incredibly original sound. The Other Two deserve some credit (and a bigger slice of the pie). But mostly it's the magic that happens between Marr's chords and the way that Morr's voice moves.
And then the magic goes. Neither separately and subsequently touch the heights they reached together. Moz gets closest, with Late Night Maudlin Street and I am Hated for Loving. But surely they must know what they've done since isn't in the same league.
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