Still shouting at the devil 44 years later! Happy birthday MÖTLEY CRÜE (who formed on January 17th, 1981).
23 years ago today (January 17th, 2021) JASON NEWSTED announced that he was leaving METALLICA.
HEAVY BIRTHDAYS
Happy 62nd Kai Hansen (GAMMA RAY, IRON SAVIOR, HELLOWEEN) – January 17th, 1963
Happy 76th Michael Kevin “Mick” Taylor (JOHN MAYALL’S BLUES BREAKERS, THE ROLLING STONES) – January 17th, 1949
Happy 72nd Fernando Von Arb (KROKUS) – January 17th, 1953
Happy 50th Eirik Saltroe (THEATRE OF TRAGEDY) – January 17, 1975
Happy 40th Simone Johanna Maria Simons (EPICA) – January 17th, 1985
Happy 43rd Ektor Alex Varkatzas (ATREYU) – January 17, 1982
HEAVY RELEASES
Happy 30th UNCLE SLAM’s When God Dies – January 17th, 1995
Happy 25th DISMEMBER’s Hate Campaign – January 17th, 2000 SENTENCED’s Crimson – January 17th, 2000
Happy 14th Birthday DESULTORY’s Counting Our Scars – January 17th, 2011 SILENT STREAM OF GODLESS ELEGY’s Navaz – January 17th, 2011
Happy 11th AXEL RUDI PELL’s Into The Storm – January 17th, 2014 CHROME DIVISION’s Infernal Rock Eternal – January 17th, 2014 NASHVILLE PUSSY’s Up The Dosage – January 17th, 2014
Happy 5th ANTAGONIST A.D. – Through Fire (EP) – January 17th, 2020 BLEED THE SKY – This Way Lies Madness – January 17th, 2020 BRITISH LION – The Burning – January 17th, 2020 KAOTEON – Kaoteon – January 17th, 2020 MARK MORTON – Ether (EP) – January 17th, 2020 ODIOUS MORTEM – Synesthesia – January 17th, 2020 SONS OF APOLLO – MMXX – January 17th, 2020
Classic Rock is reporting that Rush guitarist, Alex Lifeson, has revealed he and longtime bandmate Geddy Lee jam on a weekly basis – but they have no plans to resurrect the Canadian prog icons with a new drummer to replace the late Neil Peart.
Speaking exclusively in the brand new issue of Classic Rock in an interview to celebrate 50 years of Rush, Lifeson said that he and bassist/vocalist Lee still play together and even record their jams.
“It’s good to jam with friends as you get older,” says the guitarist. “I need to play. Once a week I go to Ged’s – it’s in the calendar – keep my fingers moving, play Rush stuff, new jams. We do record it, but I couldn’t even begin to tell you where it’ll go.”
Rush played their final show on August 1, 2015 at the of the R40 tour, and Neil Peart died in 2020. Lee and Lifeson reunited in 2022 to play at a pair of shows in London and LA in honour of late Foo Fighrers drummer and Rush fan Taylor Hawkins. They peformed three Rush songs: the “Overture” part of 2112 plus “Working Man” and “YYZ”, with various drummers sitting in, including Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Tool’s Danny Carey and former David Bowie drummer Omar Hakim.
“The energy was fantastic around that show, I know, and some days I wake up wanting to go out and tour again and some days I don’t,” says Lifeson. “For forty years Rush included Neil, and I don’t think putting some new version together would have the same magic.
“After those two gigs and the months of prep Ged and I went through, I was excited by the response and to be in the dressing room again with so many fellow artists in Wembley and LA I respected and felt a kinship towards. But after a few weeks that wore off and it occurred to me that despite all the pain of loss, Rush went out on a high note playing as well as ever with one of our best stage shows on R40. I guess I’d rather be remembered for that legacy than returning as the top Rush tribute band.”
Read more at Classic Rock, and purchase the new issue of Classic Rock magazine here.
In 2023, after an illustrious cult career spanning more than 20 years, German melodic black metallers, Dark Fortress, came to an end.
The Germans have made one final offering to their fans with Anthems From Beyond The Grave – Live In Europe 2023, a recording during the band’s final European run, The Cosmic End Tour, in 2023. The album is out new via Century Media and official live video for “The Silver Gate”, the opening track from 2008’s Eidolon, has been released.
“I never thought Dark Fortress would have a live album,” says V. Santura (guitars). “The technical situation – we had multi-track recordings of two shows [Rotterdam and Bochum] – allowed for Anthems From Beyond The Grave to happen. I didn’t even listen to the recordings for months after the tour. When I finally did, I thought, ‘Holy shit!’ We sounded incredible, and I’m hardly ever happy with our shows. All of our hard work had finally fallen into place on that tour. When Century Media heard it, they said, ‘We’ve gotta release it – it’s too good not to!’ If this is our end and it definitely is, then it’s a fitting end to Dark Fortress.”
Anthems From Beyond The Grave – Live In Europe 2023 can be ordered here.
Formats:
– Ltd. CD Digipak – Gatefold black 2LP & LP-Booklet – Digital album
Tracklisting:
CD Intro “CataWomb” “The Silver Gate” “Isa” “Pulling At Threads” “Crimson Tears” “Cohorror” “Self Mutilation” “Chrysalis” “Ylem” “Insomnia” “Evenfall” “Baphomet”
2LP/Digital Album
Intro “CataWomb” “The Silver Gate” “Isa” “Pulling At Threads” “Crimson Tears” “Cohorror” “Self Mutilation” “Chrysalis” “To Harvest The Artefacts Of Mockery” “Ylem” “Insomnia” “Evenfall” “Baphomet” “Sycamore Trees” (Outro)
“The Silver Gate” (Live In 2023) video:
“Pulling At Threads” (Live In 2023) video:
Dark Fortress’ march to the grave was inevitable. The journey from signing with American independent Red Stream Records in 2001 to The Cosmic End Tour (with The Spirit and Asphagor) in 2023 was circuitous, full of highs and lows and rife with raw potential. Ultimately, Dark Fortress ended life after releasing their lauded final album, Spectres From The Old World, in 2020. By all metrics, self-imposed death is better than zombie-lurching into oblivion.
Dark Fortress 2023 Lineup:
Morean – Lead Vocals V. Santura – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals Asvargr – Guitar Hannes Grossmann – Drums Michael Zech – Bass Linus Klausenitzer – Keyboards
Polish death metal legion Vader will have new editions of Black To The Blind and De Profundis out through Nuclear Blast on March 14.
Black To The Blind remastered will be out on digipak CD and red/black sunburst vinyl. The 1997 album was originally released through System Shock and features 10 tracks at a compact 28 minutes.
De Profundis will be available on transparent yellow vinyl. The band’s second full-length album was originally released July 1995 through Croon Records.
Gene Simmons Band, the touring act around KISS singer/bassist, Gene Simmons, recently announced a string of 2025 tour dates. The Demon has even more dates to his tour – including stops in Northfield, OH, Uncasville, CT, and Temecula, CA.
Simmons’ tour dates can be found below, and tickets are available via genesimmons.com.
Tour dates:
April 3 – House Of Blues – Anaheim, CA 4 – Pechanga Resort Casino – Temecula, CA 5 – The Event at Graton Resort & Casino – Rohnert Park, CA 8 – Muckleshoot Casino Resort – Auburn, WA 10 – The Great Saltair – Magna, UT 11 – Paramount Theatre – Denver, CO 25 – Ruth Eckerd Hall – Clearwater, FL 26 – Miami Beach, FL – Fillmore 28 – The Moon – Tallahassee, FL 29 – Florida Theater – Jacksonville, FL 30 – Hard Rock Live – Orlando, FL
May 3 – Beaver Dam Amphitheater – Beaver Dam, KY 5 – Basie – Red Bank, NJ 6 – Wellmont – Montclair, NJ 8 – Wind Creek Casino – Bethlehem, PA 9 – The Paramount – Huntington, NY 11 – Mohegan Sun Arena – Uncasville, CT 14 – MGM – Northfield, OH 15 – Fallsview Casino – Niagara Falls, ON 17 – The Horseshoe – Hammond, IN 18 – Hard Rock – Rockford, IL 20 – Brown County Music Center – Nashville, IN 22 – House Of Blues – Dallas, TX 23 – Tobin Center – San Antonio, TX 24 – House Of Blues – Houston, TX
Simmons is featured on the soundtrack for the 2024 film, Regan, performing the jazz standard, “Stormy Weather”, written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. The official video for the song can be found below.
About Reagan:
From dusty small-town roots, to the glitter of Hollywood, and then on to commanding the world stage, Reagan is a cinematic journey of overcoming the odds. Told through the voice of Viktor Petrovich, a former KGB agent whose life becomes inextricably linked with Ronald Reagan’s when Reagan first caught the Soviets’ attention as an actor in Hollywood, this film offers a perspective as unique as it is captivating.
Dennis Quaid brings to life a story that transcends the boundaries of a traditional biopic, offering a profound exploration of the enduring impact of the power of one man who overcame the odds, sustained by the love of a woman who supported him in his journey.
Tulsa-based metalheads Blind Oath have released a new single, “Riteous Hunt”, accompanied by a black & white cartoon/storyboard lyric video. The track features appearances by four of the underground’s iconic female vocalists: Stacey Savage of Savage Master, Madeline Michelle of Blood Star, Deborah Levine of Lady Beast, and Amy Lee Carlson of Sölicitör.
The song was recorded and mixed by Night Demon guitarist Armand John Anthony. Eventually available via Bandcamp, the epic single will be accompanied by a limited-edition, 8-page comic.
In the throwback video below from AXS TV, late rock legend Meat Loaf tells Dan Rather wild stories behind his hits “Bat Out Of Hell”, “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”, “I’d Do Anything For Love”, and more.
Meat Loaf died in Nashville, Tennessee on January 20, 2022 at the age of 74. No official cause of death was released.
By 1988, rude dudeness (tattoos included) was an established fact of life on Sunset Strip. What had begun a few years before as the scum also rising in sleazy Hollywood flea havens like the Starwood and Gazzarri’s was now the mainstream. Millions were being made out of what these days is called hair-metal. Living a block away, at the time, from where the twin meccas of the scene – the Rainbow and the Roxy – sat side-by-side on the boulevard, I assure you, ‘hair-metal’ was not a term used by anyone back then. We simply revelled in it as shameless LA-style rock with a capital ‘R’, into which the terms glam-metal, popmetal, punk-metal and – much later – hair-metal, fitted snugly.
This was make-up and metal, built on the gleefully recycled meet-cute riffs of original English glam-rockers like Sweet, Slade, David Bowie and T.Rex, delivered with a thumping-headache Gary Glitter beat and full-fat chorus of mascaraed males in silvery space-boots. The exemplars appeared like hastily chopped rails of coke on a toilet seat at The Whisky: Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Poison, Guns N’ Roses.
They were chased by a hairsprayed horde of coulda-wouldas: W.A.S.P., Vixen, Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns… The second-bananas had occasional hits that rotated briefly on MTV. But the big boys stormed the palace of Tower Records, and the biggest multiplatinums were now anything by Whitesnake and Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses and Def Leppard. Or Poison. Or Ozzy. Or Van Halen. Or…
By the summer of 1988 it was official: LA metal didn’t just rock, it ruled, dude.
The shrapnel hit everywhere. The Cathouse, co-owned by soon-to-be Headbangers’ Ball host Riki Rachtman and Faster Pussycat singer Taime Downe, took over from the Rainbow as the place where rock stars mingled freely with duded-up scenesters. Slash and Duff leering from the balcony, CC Deville and Tracii Guns on a couch surrounded by eager admirers, not all of whom were strippers and mud wrestlers from the Tropicana.
LA-based magazine RIP was now the place for 80s-age metal fanatics to get their vicarious kicks. The first non-porn magazine published by Larry Flint, creator of Hustler, the worst-selling issue of RIP had the Rolling Stones on the cover; their best-selling cover: Axl Rose in full-bearded Charlie Manson mode, aiming a shotgun at you, with the headline: ‘THIS INTERVIEW WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!’
Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris freeze-framed the scene with her 1988 documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years. Tawn Mastrey, aka The Leather Nun, was the hottest DJ at KNAC, the LA metal station with a traffic reporter named Headbangin’ Barb and car insurance ads for “dudes” with questionable driving records.
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“Everyone wants to look like Nikki Sixx now,” said Melissa Lopez, a local hairdresser who specialised in “rock’n’roll hair”. By 1988 everyone did look like Nikki Sixx.
Sixx days till Christmas, 1987. The third sold-out night of Mötley Crüe at the 14,500-capacity Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. The last night of what has been a catastrophic Japanese tour and, although they didn’t know it yet, the final night of the Girls, Girls, Girls world tour.
Mick Mars, their corpse-faced guitarist, stumbles around. Long, tall Tommy Lee, stripped to the waist, stands and leers, a badass twirling sticks of dynamite. Blond-bimbo singer Vince Neil – Baby Lee Roth – does his every-frontmanyou’ve-ever-seen shtick. But this is Nikki’s ride. Lean, and blood-famished as a vampire, he’s so strung out from heroin withdrawal that he doesn’t even remember throwing a whisky bottle at someone’s head and being thrown in jail. High instead on bourbon and bile, Nikki is a blurred vision of debauched splendour, cradling his white bass like a dead body.
Every band needs a leader, a whip-cracker, someone to kick ass. Van Halen had Diamond Dave. Ozzy has Sharon. Mötley have Nikki. Sixx-feet-plus of baaad attitude built on zero self-worth and hard-won street smarts. Where would the other three be without him?
The Girls, Girls, Girls album was Mötley Crüe’s biggest yet, reaching No.2 in the US. The sleaze-classic title track, with its singsong chorus that sounded like the Beach Boys detoxing, was also a big chart hit. There was one other killer track: Wild Side. The rest, not so much.
It had been the same story for every Mötley album. A couple of built-in-the-lab hits floating like dead flies in a toilet. Tom Werman, producer of three quadruple-platinum Mötley albums in a row, had developed a fastmoving style suited to a band that treated recording sessions like another night at the Tropicana, filling it with groupies, dealers, hangers-on. To get as many as two decent tracks out of them was considered near-genius.
(Image credit: Ross Halfin)
The success of Girls, Girls, Girls was meant to herald the next step in world domination. Instead it signalled the end. The same month, Guns N’ Roses released Appetite For Destruction. LA rocknoir at its apotheosis. Suddenly easy-action popcorn metal didn’t cut it any more and Mötley Crüe were no longer the big dogs of the scene. In fact they were already dead. They just didn’t know it.
When Nikki got back to LA and immediately OD-ed on smack while “partying” at the Plaza hotel with Slash and members of Ratt and Megadeth – he was pronounced dead at the scene when his heart stopped beating for two minutes – manager Doc McGhee cancelled the rest of the tour and issued an ultimatum: get straight. Or Doc was out.
First to volunteer for rehab, ironically, was Mick Mars. Mick didn’t have a drug problem, he had a drink problem, getting so rotted on tour that he’d wake up in closets, where Tommy had dumped him in disgust. Mick thought the rehab thing was stoopid. Just wanted to get it over with. “The only bad habit we had was therapy,” he later claimed.
Then Tommy said yes to rehab and everyone paid attention. Tommy loved cocaine, sex, Jack Daniel’s, weed and breaking shit. But lately, he confessed, he’d taken to shooting smack with Nikki “once in a while”.
For Nikki it was always drugs. Nikki was addicted to everything. A multiple-overdose overlord. Vince liked to drink a lot and do drugs a lot and fuck and fight a lot, pausing only for restorative blackouts. He’d killed his friend Razzle three years earlier when wasted-at-the-wheel Vince crashed his orange-red ’72 Ford Pantera sports car with the Hanoi Rocks drummer in the passenger seat. Vince ultimately got off with a $2.6 million compensation payment and three weeks in jail. Vince in rehab, though? But he had no choice. None of them did.
Aerosmith had recently gone into group rehab. But they were oldsters compared to the Crüe. When word got out that Mötley were now part of the hugs-not-drugs brigade, their image took a hit. “Dude, tell me again: Nikki and Tommy and Vince and even Mick have gone away together to get clean and sober? You must be tripping, man!”
Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil onstage (Image credit: Ross Halfin)
It was a million-to-one shot. But it worked. The four came out so clean they squeaked when they walked. With nothing left to do with their time, they came out energised and eager to kick ass in the studio with their new producer, Bob Rock. Hot from producing Kingdom Come’s platinum debut and The Cult’s first multi-platinum US album, Sonic Temple, not only was Bob on a winning streak, best of all he had his own studio, Little Mountain, in Vancouver, about as far from the Wild Side of LA as a bunch of newly sober, emotionally fragile, bitchy and freaked-out freaks could possibly get.
Talking via Zoom from the Wyoming farmstead where he lives with his 39-year-old wife Courtney and their five-year-old daughter Ruby, Nikki remembers recording at Little Mountain as “a special experience”. He says Bob Rock told them: “Look, you guys all have lives, and it’s hard to have this much focus for this big of an initiative.”
“That’s why we changed producers. Bob said: ‘I would like you guys to come to Vancouver and just… you get up every day, you do whatever your morning ritual is. Then come into the studio ready to work.”
They would meet every morning in the gym. Aerosmith were also recording at Little Mountain, working with Rock’s mentor, Bruce Fairbairn, on their album Pump.
“They’d be in the gym too,” says Nikki. “Then we’d be outside, taking in nature, jump on our motorcycles, drive over to the studio. Be there by eleven-thirty or noon and be creative all day, and then go back to our apartment and listen to mix-down tapes, and rewrite lyrics.”
If that sounds a little dull, for Mötley Crüe it provided two things they had never known before: discipline and structure. And a bulletproof shield from the outside world.
“It was a complete submersive experience,” he says. “That’s what gave us the ability to kind of dodge and weave with some of the different kinds of tracks we had in there.”
Nikki recalls Bob telling him to “take a shot at rewriting the lyrics” to a new number Mick had conjured up a thundering riff for.
“I had a little room that I’d go in and sit on the floor. No computer to pull information from, just books and magazines. I’d work on lyrics then come out and show Bob, who would be like: ‘I think you could do better.’ I’d go back in the room, come back out again. Bob would go: ‘You’re halfway there.’
“Eight times I rewrote that song. He kept saying: ‘More Springsteen! More Ian Hunter! You know how to do this. You’re a storyteller!’”
Mötley Crüe – Dr. Feelgood (Official Music Video) – YouTube
The end result was something Nikki called Dr. Feelgood, which zeroed in on true-life tales of Hollyweird madness. The tank-rolling, sirens-wailing Dr. Feelgood concerned ‘a second-hand hood’ named ‘Rat-tailed Jimmy’ who traded his ’65 Chevy ‘for some powdered goods’. The same ‘Jigsaw Jimmy’ who ‘got a cozy little job selling for the Mexican mob’.
It wasn’t just the lyrics Bob pushed them on, says Nikki. “He’s pushing Vince to sing better. Nobody had done that before. He’s pushing Tommy to change up the beat. He’s pushing Mick: ‘I want to re-do the guitars, double them, triple them, quadruple them…’ Bob focused on the little things. You do enough little things right and you make big change.”
Rock insisted the band record their parts alone with him, so they didn’t have to suffer the others waiting impatiently while Bob drilled them forensically, take after take after take. “You’d get home at night exhausted, but it was a special experience, which then turned into a special album. We learned something that we still apply today: ignore everything else, forget whatever’s going on outside the studio. You follow the creativity, and then magic moments happen. And that inspires the artwork and a whole theme.”
Unlike previous albums, this time the Crüe had more than one ace up their tattooed sleeve. The furious Kickstart My Heart referenced Nikki’s near-fatal OD before rehab, not in a mawkish way but utterly defiant. Vince middle-fingering America: ‘Always got the cops coming after me/Custom-built bike doing 103…’
Any fans that feared a straight-no-chaser Crüe would lose their edge were proved wrong yet again as stake-thru-the-heart rocker monsters like Rattlesnake Shake and Same Ol’ Situation (both rare full-band compositions) exploded like gunfire in a Barrio turf war. There was a deep Zeppelin swagger to Slice Of Your Pie and Sticky Sweet, and whiplash AC/DC wit to She Goes Down. There was even a true-blue Springsteen-level ballad, Without You, by Nikki and Mick, which was pure street-symphony gold. Even some wry Crüe-style philosophy in the glorious chugalug Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away).
“I got the title from a movie or somewhere and built it from there,” says Nikki. Or rather, Mick built on Nikki’s street poetry with exquisite guitar chorusing and solos. Plus, Vince’s unexpectedly heartfelt vocals. That summed up the album in a nutshell. Nobody expected Mötley Crüe to ever give up drugs. Nobody expected Mötley Crüe to ever have a No.1 album. Or to ever make music as impressive as this.
But they did. Yes they fuckin’ did.
Named after its statement song, Dr. Feelgood would become the biggest and still the best album Mötley Crüe ever made. As a result, it also became Mötley’s first US No.1 album; the title track their US Top 10 single – followed by Without You, which also rode the US Top 10 like a pretty pony.
In the UK, where the Crüe lived on the covers of Kerrang! and the other dedicated metal mags but received zero daytime radio play and therefore had no hit singles at all, the Dr. Feelgood album zoomed into the Top 5, and is now acclaimed as one of the greatest albums of the hair-metal era. Second only, perhaps, to Appetite For Destruction. But then everything would be second to that album for years to come.
Motley Crue – Without You – Official Music Video Clip – YouTube
Last year marked the 35th anniversary of the release of Dr. Feelgood.
“I know,” says Nikki. “How crazy is that? I mean, how the fuck did we both get here?” he says with a laugh. (We are the same age.) “I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve seen the Dr. Feelgood ‘RX’ symbol tattooed on people.”
He acknowledges, however, that the special sauce that went into making such a peerless monument to the late-80s LA metal scene – he jokingly refers to it now as “hairspray metal” – contained almost none of the ingredients that had previously defined everything about it. No drugs, no booze, no chicks with or without dicks to distract them. As he observes wryly: “First time being sober was a real different experience from a band that was always wrecked.”
One that, sadly, was never to be repeated. It would be another five years until the next Mötley Crüe album, and by then Vince Neil had been fired, as had Doc McGhee, and the corpse of LA metal had become entombed beneath the Tower Of Babel that was grunge.
Vince would eventually return, and Tommy Lee would then leave for a period before he also returned. These days it’s Mick Mars who is now AWOL from the band, his spot taken – for now – by John 5.
When their official group biography The Dirt: Confessions Of The World’s Most Notorious Rock Band became an international bestseller in 2001, however – followed in 2019 by the equally celebrated Netflix movie of the same name – it propelled Mötley Crüe into a realm of fame where music hardly matters any more. With one exception: the one they call Dr. Feelgood.
The 35th anniversary edition of Mötley Crüe’s Dr. Feelgood is out now.
Mick Wall is the UK’s best-known rock writer, author and TV and radio programme maker, and is the author of numerous critically-acclaimed books, including definitive, bestselling titles on Led Zeppelin (When Giants Walked the Earth), Metallica (Enter Night), AC/DC (Hell Ain’t a Bad Place To Be), Black Sabbath (Symptom of the Universe), Lou Reed, The Doors (Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre), Guns N’ Roses and Lemmy. He lives in England.
Feature Photo: Paul Cox; Distributed by Sire Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Emerging from the industrial backdrop of 1980s Manchester, The Smiths ignited a cultural movement that turned introspection and wit into hallmarks of their music. Formed in 1982 by the visionary duo of guitarist Johnny Marr and lyricist Morrissey, the band redefined alternative rock with their deeply personal yet universally resonant songs. Far from following trends, The Smiths carved a path that celebrated the complexities of human emotion, setting them apart from the pop-heavy charts of the time.
The Smiths’ inception marked the beginning of a seismic shift in British music. Johnny Marr’s jangling, melodic guitar paired with Morrissey’s poignant and often sardonic lyricism created a sound that felt both timeless and revolutionary. Rounding out the lineup were bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce, whose rhythmic foundation provided the perfect balance to Marr and Morrissey’s creative dynamic. The band’s debut single, “Hand in Glove,” released in 1983, set the stage for their ascent, showcasing the raw authenticity that would become their trademark.
Their self-titled debut album, The Smiths (1984), introduced the world to the band’s unique blend of melancholy and rebellion. Songs like “This Charming Man” and “Still Ill” highlighted their ability to marry Morrissey’s introspective and socially aware lyrics with Marr’s shimmering guitar work. This release not only charted well but also established The Smiths as the voice of disenchanted youth, earning them critical acclaim and a devoted following.
Building on this success, Meat Is Murder (1985) expanded their artistic vision, tackling themes like animal rights and social inequality. The album became their first number-one record in the UK, solidifying their status as icons of the alternative music scene. Tracks such as “The Headmaster Ritual” and “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore” showcased their evolving sound and lyrical depth, with Morrissey’s advocacy for vegetarianism making headlines and sparking discussions far beyond the music.
Their 1986 release, The Queen Is Dead, is often considered their magnum opus. With tracks like “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” the album captured the tension between romantic longing and biting social commentary. Johnny Marr’s innovative guitar work reached new heights, blending classical influences with modern textures, while Morrissey’s lyrics oscillated between heartache and defiance. The record’s influence on subsequent generations of musicians cannot be overstated.
Strangeways, Here We Come (1987), their final studio album, reflected a band at the peak of their creative powers, despite internal tensions. Songs such as “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” and “I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish” hinted at both vulnerability and resilience, making their eventual breakup all the more poignant. The Smiths disbanded later that year, leaving fans mourning the loss of a band that had redefined the musical landscape in just five years.
Though their time together was brief, The Smiths’ impact is immeasurable. They released four studio albums, a handful of compilations, and an array of singles that remain staples of alternative playlists. Their music resonated not only with listeners but also with critics, earning them accolades that endure to this day. While they never officially reunited, the legacy of their music continues to grow, with their influence evident in countless artists across genres.
Beyond the music, Morrissey and Marr’s lyrical and musical partnership has become legendary, representing the epitome of creative synergy. Their willingness to address taboo subjects and challenge societal norms set a precedent for authenticity in music. Even after the band’s dissolution, both artists pursued successful solo careers, further cementing their place in music history.
(A – H)
“Accept Yourself” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “Ask” – The World Won’t Listen (1986) “Asleep” – The World Won’t Listen (1985) “Back to the Old House” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “Barbarism Begins at Home” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “Bigmouth Strikes Again” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “Cemetry Gates” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “Death at One’s Elbow” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “Death of a Disco Dancer” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “The Draize Train” – Non-album single (1986) “Frankly, Mr. Shankly” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “Girl Afraid” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “Girlfriend in a Coma” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “Golden Lights” – Louder Than Bombs (1987) “Half a Person” – The World Won’t Listen (1987) “Hand in Glove” – The Smiths (1984) “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” – The Smiths (1984) “Handsome Devil” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “The Headmaster Ritual” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “His Latest Flame” (live) – Rank (1988) “How Soon Is Now?” – Hatful of Hollow (1984)
(I – S)
“I Don’t Owe You Anything” – The Smiths (1984) “I Keep Mine Hidden” – Non-album single (1987) “I Know It’s Over” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “I Want the One I Can’t Have” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “I Won’t Share You” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “Is It Really So Strange?” – Louder Than Bombs (1987) “Jeane” – Non-album single (1983) “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “London” – The World Won’t Listen (1987) “Meat Is Murder” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “Miserable Lie” – The Smiths (1984) “Money Changes Everything” – The World Won’t Listen (1986) “Never Had No One Ever” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “Nowhere Fast” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “Oscillate Wildly” – The World Won’t Listen (1985) “Paint a Vulgar Picture” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “Panic” – The World Won’t Listen (1986) “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “Pretty Girls Make Graves” – The Smiths (1984) “The Queen Is Dead” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “Reel Around the Fountain” – The Smiths (1984) “Rubber Ring” – The World Won’t Listen (1985) “A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “Rusholme Ruffians” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “Shakespeare’s Sister” – The World Won’t Listen (1985) “Sheila Take a Bow” – Louder Than Bombs (1987) “Shoplifters of the World Unite” – The World Won’t Listen (1986) “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “Still Ill” – The Smiths (1984) “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “Stretch Out and Wait” – The World Won’t Listen (1985) “Suffer Little Children” – The Smiths (1984) “Sweet and Tender Hooligan” – Louder Than Bombs (1987)
(T – Z)
“That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “These Things Take Time” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “This Charming Man” – Hatful of Hollow (1983) “This Night Has Opened My Eyes” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “Unhappy Birthday” – Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) “Unloveable” – The World Won’t Listen (1987) “Vicar in a Tutu” – The Queen Is Dead (1986) “Well I Wonder” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “What Difference Does It Make?” – The Smiths (1984) “What She Said” – Meat Is Murder (1985) “What’s the World” (live) – Non-album single (1987) “William, It Was Really Nothing” – Hatful of Hollow (1984) “Wonderful Woman” – Non-album single (1983) “Work is a Four Letter Word” – Non-album single (1987) “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby” – The World Won’t Listen (1987) “You’ve Got Everything Now” – The Smiths (1984)
Check out our fantastic and entertaining The Smiths articles, detailing in-depth the band’s albums, songs, band members, and more…all on ClassicRockHistory.com
Hypocrisy mastermind Peter Tägtgren has released an official lyric video for “Trapped” by his industrial metal project, Pain. The song is a bonus track taken from the 2008 Russian edition of band’s fourth studio album, Dancing With The Dead, which was originally released in 2005 and is now freshly remastered. It is now available on CD, and finally on vinyl LP for the first time ever.
“Don’t Count Me Out” (Remaster 2025) “Same Old Song” (Remaster 2025) “Nothing” (Remaster 2025) “The Tables Have Turned” (Remaster 2025) “Not Afraid To Die” (Remaster 2025) “Dancing With The Dead” (Remaster 2025) “Tear It Up” (Remaster 2025) “Bye/Die” (Remaster 2025) “My Misery” (Remaster 2025) “A Good Day To Die” (Remaster 2025) “Stay Away” (Remaster 2025) “The Third Wave” (Remaster 2025)
