Summary
The Smiths were one of the most successful guitar-pop bands of the late 1980s.
They scored with a style that was in many
ways the opposite of the fashionable music of their time: intimate and tender
instead of emphatic and/or macho. Their gentle melodies were grafted onto
Stephen Morrissey's ascetic and vulnerable muezzin-like crooning
and Johnny "Marr" Maher's transcendental guitar arpeggios.
The introverted and hyper-sensitive lyrics captured the imagination of
a generation that was locked into dark rooms, not roaming the streets,
a generation that identified with Morrissey's desolate world and lonely life.
The elegiac trance and gloom of Hand in Glove (1983),
This Charming Man (1983),
What Difference Does It Make (1984),
William It Was Really Nothing (1984),
How Soon Is Now (1984),
and of the entire The Smiths (1984)
was demanding in emotional, not musical, terms.
Despite being a content-oriented act, the Smiths ended their career with the
formal perfection of The Queen Is Dead (1986) and singles such as
Girlfriend In A Coma (1987).
The Smiths defined the term "post-punk" better than anyone else: they
had absolutely nothing in common with the punk civilization. In fact,
they were for punk-rock what the Beatles had been for rock'n'roll:
the antidote.
(Translated by M.Loran. from my original Italian text)
Inventors of 'intimate' post-punk rock, through which pop music regained
its power over the British recording industry, the Smiths are the cause,
for better or worse, of the hollowing-out of punk and the resurrection of
pop. They are also, for better or worse, not the cause but the result of
the decadence of punk rock and the rebirth of pop. From them the current
took off that would lead to the most aberrant phenomena of '90s Britpop.
At the same time, they appealed to the frustrations of a new generation of
teenagers, whose rituals of self-punishment were diametrically opposed
to
those of punk.
The sound of the Smiths was the essence of melodic simplicity. On the
one
hand, the guitar arpeggios of Johnny Marr (n‚ Maher), which took and
popularized the transcendental angst of Television and Joy Division; on the other, the ascetic and
wounded vocals, mediated by mantras and "dark" crooning, of Stephen
Morrissey. Of added fascination, at the same time tragic and polemical,
were the lyrics of Morrissey, an introverted and hypersensitive celibate.
The singles gave the group an immediate sound and personality.
Morrissey
sings the "noir" story of Hand in Glove (1983) like a Rabbin in a
trance over jangly, rapid folk-rock. The alter-ego of this elegiac gloom is
the spirited This Charming Man (1983), a rave-up in the tempo of
Tamla and of the Pretenders and with
atonal
counterpoints from the guitars a la The Fall.
What Difference Does It Make is almost a very loud boogie filled
with ringing on the guitar a la Chuck Berry, while the singer preaches in
the cold tones of Stan Ridgeway.
William, It Was Really Nothing (1984) contains frenetic
country-western finger picking and a Caribbean rhythm.
They were tunes that managed very well to absorb and break down the
roots
of rock and roll, despite being compositionally weak. People who did not
recognize themselves in the hysteria of punk did so in the serviceable
melodies of the Smiths. Their intimate melodic pop met the needs of a
generation that had tired of public protests and could no longer contain
its own existential desperation. The lightly degenerate lyrics added that
small bit of novelty that lends itself to worship.
If anything, the Smiths' real masterpiece was How Soon Is Now
(1984), a muezzin's litany propelled by voodoo tribalism in the style of
Bo Diddley,
and accompanied with the psychedelic quivering of one guitar and
the
atmospheric trill of another (as in the solitude ballads of Chris Isaak).
The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1984) documents the trials of
Morrissey in
a desolate world which is, in fact, a representation of the singer's
day-to-day microcosm.
Meat Is Murder (Rough Trade, 1985) has neither fantasy nor
spark,
but it has the merit of emphasizing the tragic tones of their songs. The
disc practically hinges on two pieces: the galloping country-gospel of
Shakespeare's Sister and the elegant and slightly dreamlike ballad
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore.
The paranoia of Morrissey was sublimated more than anywhere on
The Queen
Is Dead (Rough Trade, 1986), an album that is a formal milestone.
The
apocalyptic atmosphere of the title track recalls the goth-punk of some
years before and sets the stage for a sequence of high-class ballads.
There Is A Light that Never Goes Out could be an orchestral song
from the '50s. Boy With A Thorn In His Side is a melody worthy of an
operatic aria, and Morrissey sings it in an understated melisma. The
singer, in splendid form, repeats himself ever more softly in Big Mouth
Strikes Again, a vortex spinning in an almost Sufi manner,
counterpointed by an exotic voice and Marr's rapid finger picking. Marr,
for his part, lends spirit to the record guiding the rattling
country-western Vicar In A Tutu and the cadenced nursery-rhyme
Frankly Mr. Shankly. The record closes with the orchestral There
Is A Light and the fatalist boogie of Some Girls Are Bigger than
Others (which could be by Dire
Straits), like the fade-out to a film. Many ballads are simply tedious,
but the whole constitutes the precious gospel of a psychological martyr in
which many adolescents recognize themselves.
The cadenced Ask (1986) and the rustic Panic (1986) kept
the
myth alive, but in reality they represent a clear low point (if not a
tedious repetition of the elements in previous singles, from the
country-western to the arias). Perhaps aware that they had exhausted a
creative vein, the Smiths gave in Shoplifters of the World (1986)
one of the most durable tunes of their career, at the limit of southern
boogie and hard-rock.
Strangeways, Here We Come (Rough Trade, 1987) is a shrewd
collection
that offers only imitations of their other successes, but with the highest
degree of refinement. If Sheila Take A Bow and A Rush And A
Push are innocuous pieces to whistle to the supermarket, a small
universe of sounds inhabits the simple folk melancholy of Girlfriend In
A Coma (including orchestral movements) and Last Night I Dreamt
That
Somebody Loved Me begins with a sinister avant-garde mini-concert
through the ringing of a pianoforte and anguished vocals before launching
into a macabre waltz worthy of the Doors. In the middle of so many good
intentions, I Started Something I Couldn't Finish comes like a slap
in the face: a disco beat, distorted hard-rock riffs, rhythm and blues
horns and even a "dark" cry from Morrissey. Death Of A Disco
Dancer
closes, in the most gloomy and metaphysical manner, the band's career.
The
arrangements had caught up with formal perfection without ever
stretching
into sensationalism.
The single Shiela Take
A Bow is another of their detached arias.
With the Smiths gone, Johnny Marr formed Electronic with Bernard Sumner of New Order.
Steven Morrissey did not wait long before releasing his first solo album,
Viva Hate (EMI, 1988).
The album caused a stir and placed Morrissey among the stars of pop
music,
but more for personality than music. The album, in fact, preserves the
worst defects of the Smiths (the laconic crooning, the operatic melodies,
the pop arrangements) and few of its merits. The album collapses on
track
after track, going through the dreadfully pathetic Alsatian Cousin,
Everyday Is Like Sunday, Suedehead. They are refrains
without
punch, which not even the long, autobiographical reflection of Late
Night Maudlin Street can redeem. The scarcity of these songs shows
above all how important the role of Johnny Marr had been.
In the three succeeding years, Morrissey thought it better to concentrate
on singles, which, after all, had been the Smiths' strong point (as it is
for all pop singers): Interesting Drug (with Marr on guitar and
Kirsty MacCall on co-vocals), Ouija Board, Piccadilly Palare
(a ska tune a la Madness), November Spawned A Monster (the
disco
song), Yes, I Am Blind (an allegorical gospel a la Nick
Cave), Hairdresser On Fire (with one of the most ponderous
orchestral arrangements). These works were soon collected on Bona
Drag (Sire, 1990), by far his best solo album. It also contains a
notably single, The Last of the Famous International Playboys.
Kill Uncle (Sire, 1991) insists, instead, on putting forward pop
music and nauseating attitudes (Our Frank, Asian Rut).
Driving Your Girlfriend Home and Mute Witness are
interesting
stories (the second about rape), but musically without punch. His internal
laments take advantage of the tone underlain with tremolo, which,
nevertheless, in the long run results in truly frustrating monotony.
Your Arsenal (Sire, 1992) signals a return to the glam-rock of
David
Bowie (You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side). Morrissey
has become
practically a specialist in composing refrains that are at the same time
catchy and unlistenable (Tomorrow, Seasick). The record is
music that no longer sounds like music, and is to be listened to only for
lyrics, sometimes sharp (We Hate It When Our Friends Become
Successful and above all You're The One For Me Fatty)
sometimes
wooden (National Front Disco and We'll Let You Know). The
themes are always self-pitying (and a bit racist, coming from a white
man).
The record had, however, stratospheric success and re-launched the
career
of one of the most tiresome singers in the history of rock.
Every Morrissey album owed a great deal to the co-author: Vini Reilly (Durutti Column) on Viva Hate. Mark Nevin
on
Kill Uncle, Alain Whyte on Your Arsenal. It was them who put
the lyrics of Morrissey to music. The practice is even more evident on
Vauxhall and I (Sire, 1994), half of which was composed with
Whyte
and half with Boz Boorer. Morrissey concentrates on the stories, which
have
actually become little theatrical exercises, and the partner creates an
accompaniment to his "recitation". Stylistic incoherence is a congenital
fact. The More You Ignore Me and Lifeguard Sleeping Girl
Drowning are almost soap-operas. The narrative peak is found,
maybe, in
Now My Heart Is Full (only he could write an ode to his own
incapability of self-expression) and Tell All of My Friends. The
album closes with Speedway, a strangely "noisy" piece which is
practically heavy-metal for him. The problem is that, the more Morrissey
sings, the more the public realizes that he is always singing the same
song, and maybe some songs do not need to be sung even once.
The singles Hold On to Your Friends and Boxers follow in
the
same direction. Morrissey obtains more convincing results, perhaps, with
the single Interlude (Parlophone, 1994), recorded with Siouxsie.
The producer Steve Lillywhite joins Whyte and Boorer on Southpaw
Grammar (Sire, 1996), an album that stays faithful to the formula of
its predecessor. Morrissey exposes himself to a ridiculous degree in the
pompous eleven minutes of Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils, and
the
title track, on which he freely pays respects to his idols Henry Mancini
and Phil Spector. A slightly more forceful accompaniment produces Do
Your Best and Dagenham Dave, which, if nothing else, are alive
rather than moribund like the rest of his work, and there is even the
guitar-rock of Boy Racer and Best Friend On the Payroll.
Perhaps even he has realized that there is a limit to how many tears a
man
can cry before he starts hearing that he deserves it.
Morrissey has constructed a pathetic mask, like a Young Werther of pop,
which has indeed served for stardom, but which may also have been his
artistic undoing.
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Inventori del rock intimista del dopo-punk, con cui la musica leggera restaurava
il suo potere sull'industria discografica britannica, gli Smiths sono
responsabili, nel bene e nel male, dell'affossamento del punk-rock e della
resurrezione del pop. Sono anche, nel bene e nel male, non la causa ma
l'effetto della decadenza del punk-rock e della rinascita del pop.
Da loro prese l'abbrivo la corrente che avrebbe portato ai fenomeno piu`
aberranti del "Brit-pop" degli anni '90. Al tempo stesso soddisfarono le
frustrazioni di una nuova generazione di adolescenti che aveva bisogno
di rituali di auto-flagellazione diametralmente opposti a quelli del punk-rock.
Il sound degli Smiths era la quintessenza della semplicita` melodica.
Da un lato gli arpeggi chitarristici di Johnny Marr (Maher), che riassumevano e
popolarizzavano lo spleen trascendentale dei
Television
e dei Joy Division , e
dall'altro il canto ascetico e accorato, mediato dai
mantra e dal crooning "nero", di Stephen Morrissey. Ad aggiungere un fascino
al tempo stesso tragico e polemico all'operazione erano le liriche di
Morrissey, omosessuale introverso e iper-sensibile.
I singoli ne imposero subito sound e personalita`.
Morrissey salmodia come un rabbino in trance su un folk-rock tintinnante
e incalzante la storia "noir" di Hand In Glove (1983).
L'alter ego di quella tetra elegia e` la briosa
This Charming Man (1983), un rave-up con il tempo in levare della
Tamla e dei Pretenders e contrappunto atonale
della chitarra alla Fall .
What Difference Does It Make (1984) e` persino un boogie stentoreo
che la chitarra popola di scampanellii alla Chuck Berry mentre il cantante
predica nel tono freddo di Stan Ridgway.
William It Was Really Nothing (1984) sfodera invece il frenetico
finger-picking del country and western e un ritmo caraibico.
Erano brani abilissimi a fagocitare e metabolizzare le radici del rock and
roll, ma costituzionalmente deboli.
Il popolo che non si riconosceva nell'isteria dei punk si riconobbe comunque
nelle melodie perbene degli Smiths.
Il loro pop intimista e melodico venne incontro ai bisogni di una generazione
che aveva esaurito le proteste di strada e non riusciva piu` a contenere la
propria disperazione esistenziale.
I testi lievemente degenerati aggiunsero quel pizzico di notizia che fa bene
al culto.
Il vero capolavoro degli Smiths fu semmai How Soon Is Now (1984),
una litania da muezzin propulsa da un tribalismo voodoo alla Bo Diddley, e
accompagnata dal tremolo psichedelico di una chitarra e dal trillo atmosferico
di un'altra chitarra (come nelle ballate
della solitudine di Chris Isaak).
L'album Smiths (Rough Trade, 1984) ambienta il calvario di Morrissey
in un mondo desolato che e` in realta` una rappresentazione del
microcosmo quotidiano del cantante.
Meat Is Murder (Rough Trade, 1985) non ha ne' fantasia ne' nerbo, ma
ha il merito di accentuare i toni tragici delle loro canzoni.
Spicca la ballata elegante e un po' onirica di
That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore.
Intanto esce su singolo la cavalcata country-gospel di
Shakespeare's Sister (1985).
La paranoia di Morrissey si sublimo` semmai su
The Queen Is Dead (Rough Trade, 1986), un album che e` un traguardo
formale. L'atmosfera apocalittica della title-track si
riallaccia al dark-punk di qualche anno prima e prepara il terreno per una
sequenza di ballate d'alta classe.
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out potrebbe essere una canzone
orchestrale degli anni '50.
Boy With A Thorn In His Side e` una melodia degna di un'aria d'opera,
e Morrissey la canta in un melisma soffuso.
Il cantante, in splendida forma,
si ripete sempre piu` vellutato in Big Mouth Strikes Again, un vortice
che s'impennia in maniera quasi sufi, contrappuntato da una cantante esotica e
incalzato da un altro veloce finger-picking di Marr.
Marr, dal canto sua, da` brio al disco mettendo in pista il country &
western sferragliante di Vicar In A Tutu e la filastrocca cadenzata di
Frankly Mr Shankly.
Il disco si chiude con l'orchestrale There Is A Light
e il boogie fatalista di Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
(che potrebbe essere dei
Dire Straits),
come in una dissolvenza cinematografica.
Molte ballad sono semplicemente tediose, ma l'insieme costituisce il prezioso
vangelo di un martirio psicologico in cui molti adolescenti si riconoscono.
La cadenzata Ask (1986) e la rustica Panic (1986) tengono vivo il
mito, ma denotano in realta` una netta caduta di tono (se non altro, una tediosa
ripetizione degli elementi dei singoli precedenti, dal country & western
all'aria d'opera). Forse consci di aver esaurito un filone, gli Smiths
diedero con Shoplifters Of The World (1986) uno dei brani piu` duri
della loro carriera, al limite del boogie sudista e dell'hard-rock.
Strangeways Here We Come (Rough Trade, 1987) e` cosi` una raccolta
smaliziata che propone soltanto imitazioni dei loro successi, ma con il massimo
della raffinatezza.
Se A Rush And A Push e` l'ennesimo motivetto innocuo da fischiettare
al supermercato,
un piccolo universo di suoni popola
la semplice malinconia folk di Girlfriend In A Coma (comprese le
impennate orchestrali) e
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me comincia persino con
un sinitro mini-concerto d'avanguardia per rintocchi di pianoforte e voci
angosciate prima di lanciarsi in un valzer macabro degno dei Doors.
In mezzo a tanti buoni sentimenti
I Started Something I Couldn't Finish arriva come uno schiaffo:
battito da disco-music, riff distorto di hard-rock, fanfara rhythm and blues
di fiati e persino un ruggito "nero" di Morrissey.
Death Of A Disco Dancer chiuse nella maniera piu` tetra e metafisica
la loro carriera.
Gli arrangiamenti avevano raggiunto la perfezione formale senza mai eccedere
in sensazionalismo.
Questo disco cosi` diverso dal loro stereotipo potrebbe benissimo essere
ricordato come il loro capolavoro.
Il singolo Sheila Take A Bow (1987) e` invece un'altra delle loro
arie disimpegnate.
The Singles (Reprise, 1995) was possibly the only truly essential Smiths album.
The Sound Of The Smiths (2008) was an anthology of singles and rarities.
Sciolti gli Smiths, Johnny Marr diede vita agli
Electronic con Bernard Sumner dei
New Order.
Steven Morrissey non attese molto prima
di pubblicare il suo primo album solista, Viva Hate (EMI, 1988).
L'album fece scalpore e impose Morrisey fra le star della musica pop,
ma piu` per il personaggio che per la musica.
L'album, infatti, conserva i difetti peggiori degli Smiths
(il crooning lamentoso, le melodie operatiche, gli arrangiamenti da musica
leggera) e pochi dei pregi. La raccolta sprofonda traccia dopo traccia,
passando per le terribilmente patetiche
Alsatian Cousin,
Everyday Is Little Sunday, Suedehead.
Sono ritornelli senza nerbo, che neppure la lunga, autobiografica riflessione
di Late Night Maudlin Street riesce a redimere.
La pochezza di queste canzoni dimosta soprattutto quanto importante fosse il
ruolo di Johnny Marr.
Nei tre anni seguenti Morrissey penso` bene di concentrarsi sui singoli,
che in fondo erano sempre stati il forte degli Smiths (come di tutti i
cantanti di musica leggera): Interesting Drug (con Marr alla chitarra
e Kirsty MacCall al controcanto), Ouija Board,
Piccadilly Palare (uno ska alla Madness),
November Spawned A Monster (il brano da discoteca),
Yes, I Am Blind (un gospel allegorico alla Nick Cave),
Hairdresser On Fire (con uno degli arrangiamenti orchestrali piu`
pesanti). Quei brani vennero in seguito raccolti su
Bona Drag (Sire, 1990), di gran lunga il suo miglior album solista.
Kill Uncle (Sire, 1991) insiste invece nel proporre musica leggera
e atteggiamenti stucchevoli (Our Frank, Asian Rut).
Driving Your Girlfriend Home e Mute Witness sono storie interessanti (la seconda su uno
stupro), ma musicalmente senza nerbo.
I suoi salmi interiori fanno leva su quel tenore minato dal tremolo, che pero`
alla lunga risulta di una monotonia davvero angosciante.
Your Arsenal (Sire, 1992) segna persino una regressione al
glam-rock di David Bowie.
(You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side). Morrissey e` diventato
praticamente uno specialista nel comporre ritornelli che sono al tempo
stesso orecchiabili e insopportabili
(Tomorrow, Seasick). Il disco e` musica che non suona piu`
come musica, e si fa ascoltare pertanto soltanto per liriche, ora
argute
(We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful e soprattutto
You're The One For Me Fatty) e ora programmatiche
(National Front Disco e We'll Let You Know).
I temi sono sempre autocommiserativi (e un po' razzisti, da buon ariano, proprio
lui che e` omosessuale).
Il disco ebbe comunque un successo stratosferico e rilancio` la carriera di
uno dei cantanti piu` noiosi della storia del rock.
In realta` ogni album deve molto al coautore:
Vini Reilly (Durutti Column )
per Viva Hate, Mark Nevin per Kill Uncle,
Alain Whyte per Your Arsenal. Sono loro a mettere in musica i testi
di Morrissey.
La prassi e` ancor piu` evidente su
Vauxhall And I (Sire, 1994), che e` composto meta` con
Whyte e meta` con Boz Boorer. Morrissey si concentra sulle storie, che in
effetti sono diventate piccoli virtuosismi teatrali, e il partner imbastisce
un accompagnamento attorno alla sua "recitazione". L'incoerenza stilistica
e` un fatto congenito.
The More You Ignore Me e Lifeguard Sleeping Girl Drowning
sono quasi telenovele. L'apice narrativo lo tocca forse in
Now My Heart Is Full (soltanto lui poteva scrivere un'ode alla propria
incapacita` di esprimersi) e Tell All Of My Friends.
L'album si chiude con Speedway, un pezzo insolitamente "rumoroso", che
e` praticamente heavy-metal per lui.
Il problema e` che piu` Morrissey canta piu` il pubblico si rende
conto che canta sempre la stessa canzone, e forse alcune
non bisognerebbe cantarle neppure una volta.
I singoli Hold On To Your Friends e Boxers si attengono a quelle
direttive.
Forse Morrissey ottiene risultati piu` convincenti con il singolo
Interlude (Parlophone, 1994), registrato con Siouxsie.
Il produttore Steve Lillywhite si affianca a Whyte e Boorer su
Southpaw Grammar (Sire, 1996), album che rimane comunque ligio al
canone del precedente.
Morrissey si espone al ridicolo con i pomposi undici minuti
di Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils e della title-track, nei quali puo`
ossequiare liberamente i suoi idoli Henry Mancini e Phil Spector.
Un accompagnamento appena piu` grintoso sortisce Do Your
Best e Dagenham Dave, che se non altro sono vivi e non morti come il resto della sua opera, e
addirittura il rock chitarristico di Boy Racer e Best Friend On The Payroll.
Forse anche lui si e` reso conto che c'e` un limite a quante lacrime un uomo
puo` piangere prima di sentirsi dire che se lo merita.
Morrissey si e` costruito una maschera patetica, da "giovane Werther" del pop,
che gli e` valsa si` la "stardom" ma potrebbe diventare anche la sua condanna
artistica.
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