THE SMITHS were an English New Wave band formed in Manchester back in 1982 composed of STEVEN PATRICK MORRISSEY aka. "MORRISSEY" on vocals, JOHN MAHER aka. "JOHNNY MARR" on guitar, ANDY ROURKE on bass, and MIKE JOYCE on drums. Definitely,every PINOY NEW WAVER knows the name of all these guys. THE SMITHS was formed basically based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Marr. John Maher changed his name to Johnny Marr to avoid confusion with Buzzcocks drummer John Maher while Morrissey performed solely only under his surname and he his also known as "MOZ". Critics have branded them the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. In the autumn of 1982, the duo of Morrissey and Marr recruited drummer Mike Joyce who has been a member of punk bands "The Hoax" and "Victim" as well as bass player Dale Hibbert who also provided the group with demo recording facilities at the studio where he worked as a recording engineer. However after one gig, Andy Rourke who was a good friend of Marr replaced Hibbert on bass because Marr felt that neither Hibbert's bass playing nor his personality fit in with the group thus this Legendary Line-up of MOZ, MARR, JOYCE, and ROURKE was finally set to invade the Indie Scene of British Music and even made waves here in MANILA. The group were signed to the famous independent ROUGH TRADE record label for whom they released four studio albums and several compilations as well as numerous non-LP singles. Although THE SMITHS had limited commercial success outside the UK while they were still together and never released a single that charted higher than number 10 in their home country, the band won a growing cult following around the globe. The band broke up in 1987 and have turned down several offers to reunite since then.
THE SMITHS were first introduced here in MANILA by WXB 102 back in 1985 by playing their classic song "THIS CHARMING MAN". It was the very first song I've heard from the band. Of course POWER 105 DZBM wasn't behind that much because they immediately played most of the songs of THE SMITHS' "MEAT IS MURDER" album. The very first song I heard from THE SMITHS at POWER 105 was "WELL I WONDER" and It became a so-called POWER EXCLUSIVE back then. More THE SMITHS songs were played by both XB and BM and it just became a sort of "who will play this SMITHS song first" thing. YUP!! from the obscure ones like "REEL AROUND THE FOUNTAIN" and "PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES" up to their singles like "WILLIAM IT WAS REALLY NOTHING", "THE BOY WITH THORN ON HIS SIDE", "THERE'S A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT", "PANIC", and "ASK" just to name a few. When WXB 102 played "HEAVEN KNOWS I'M MISERABLE NOW", other Pop Radio Stations played it too like 93.9 WKC and 97.1 WLS and became the most popular song of THE SMITHS here in MANILA if you're talking about the common people since this song invaded other pop stations aside from WKC and WLS. Actually, a lot of THE SMITHS songs from their albums were played on XB and BM which made the band very popular among PINOY NEW WAVERS. By the time their album "STRANGE WAYS HERE WE COME" finally arrive in MANILA's airwaves then it was the turn of NU 107 to bring on THE SMITHS new and fresh songs on air on late 1987 and early 1988. YUP!! XB was gone and BM was just about to return their New Wave Greatness while NU was on it's way to the top. NU 107 introduced "GIRLFRIEND IN A COMA", "I STARTED SOMETHING I COULDN'T FINISH" and would you believe made a non-single a hit which was "WORK IS A FOUR LETTER WORD". Well, I didn't mention all THE SMITHS songs that made it to XB,BM, and NU because that's too many to enumerate okay.
"THE SMITHS: Singles" is an 18-Track compilation CD which was released back in 1995 by WEA RECORDS that included the band's well loved singles that they released back in the 80s. This CD became more popular than The Best Of The Smiths I & II and considered an addition to every The Smiths catalog. A must-have for every "THE SMITHS" fan and of course PINOY NEW WAVERS which I didn't missed out buying the original copy. The packaging of the CD was also great since it has all the photos of the 18 singles in a complete fold-up page which included the names of the models of the art covers from every singles. It also included photos of THE SMITHS album from their entire music career. I included the photos of those pages in the inlet of the CD here in my special "THE SMITHS" blogpost so that you will see how interesting the packaging of the CD was. For this exclusive "The Doctor Is In" "THE SMITHS" blogpost I decided to place all photos of their singles and included the names of the models on the corresponding artwork covers and what New Wave Radio Station played it first here in MANILA. YUP!! This is to spice up this THE SMITHS feature of mine. You will also notice that there are two covers for "WILLIAM IT WAS REALLY NOTHING" because the original artwork which came from an early 80s advertisement for A.D.S. speakers wherein the speaker was the object on the bed had legal problems and so later pressings were produced with new artwork wherein Billie Whitelaw was the model. This arrangement of course is "The Dr. Stirring Rhod Way" again!! I made my CD available for download just in case you are interested even though I know most of you guys have a lot of THE SMITHS songs already. I still encourage everyone to support the original Music Formats be it Vinyl Records or Compact Discs and don't just be contented to have the so-called "mp3 collection" which is not a REAL Music Collection however which way it's brag about. ENJOY THE MUZIC!!
THE SMITHS "Singles"
TRACKLIST:
1) Hand In Glove
Model: Unknown
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
2) This Charming Man
Model: Jean Marais
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
3) What Difference Does It Make
Model: Terence Stump
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
4) Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Model: Viv Nicholson
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
5) William It Was Really Nothing
Model: Early 80s A.D.S ad model/Billie Whitelaw
First Played in MANILA by POWER 105 DZBM
6) How Soon Is Now
Model: Sean Barrett
First Played in MANILA by POWER 105 DZBM
7) Shakespeare's Sister
Model: Pat Phoenix
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
8) That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
Model: Unknown Italian Child Actor
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
9) The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Model: Truman Capote
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
10)Bigmouth Strikes Again
Model: James Dean
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
11)Panic
Model: Richard Bradford
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
12)Ask
Model: Yootha Joyce
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
13)Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Model: Elvis Presley
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
14)Sheila Take A Bow
Model: Candy Darling
First Played in MANILA by POWER 105 DZBM
15)Girlfriend In A Coma
Model: Sjelagh Delany
First Played in MANILA by NU 107
16)I Started Something I Couldn't Finish
Model: Avril Angers
First Played in MANILA by NU 107
17)Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Model: Billy Fury
First Played in MANILA by NU 107
18)There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Model: Sandie Shaw
First Played in MANILA by WXB 102
Btw, DIAN DORS was the model in this "THE SMITHS: Singles" CD.
DOWNLOAD MY CD HERE:
PASSWORD: http://docmuzic.blogspot.com/
Shortly after the release of "Strangeways Here We Come", THE SMITHS were the subject of a documentary in LWT's arts strand The South Bank Show, broadcast on ITV back in October 1987. Following the group's demise, Morrissey began to pursue a solo recording career and his very first solo album was entitled "VIVA HATE" which was a reference to the end of THE SMITHS. I will also feature that U.K. # 1 album also here in my blog so stay tune. MORRISSEY actually released a lot of albums as a Solo Artist and there were some sectors who were encouraging the guys to have THE SMITHS Reunion with a large amount of money involve but there seem no chance for that to happen. There were even Court Cases that involved the splitting of Royalties which really made it very impossible for that reunion.
I'll leave you with Two Music Videos from THE SMITHS namely "THERE'S A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT" and "THIS CHARMING MAN" and the Lyrics if you wanna sing-along with me. I hope you enjoyed another trip down memory lane only here on "The Doctor Is In". THANKS for dropping by!!
WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO OF
"THERE'S A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT"
and SING-ALONG with it HERE:
Lyrics | Smiths lyrics - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out lyrics
WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO OF "THIS CHARMING MAN"
and SING-ALONG with it HERE:
Lyrics | Smiths lyrics - This Charming Man lyrics
These Charming Men called
......THE SMITHS!!
-DR. STIRRING RHOD
