History Music / TheSmiths

[[AC:Discography:]]

* ''The Queen Is Dead'' (1986)

* OnlyOneName: Morrissey.

** The band's practice of crediting "cover stars" on their album comes from Music/RoxyMusic doing the same thing.

** The line, "Throw your homework onto the fire" is taken from Bowie's "Kooks".

!!! "I'd go out tonight, but I haven't got a trope to wear...":

-->''So you go on your own''\\

''And you go home and you cry''\\
''And you want to die''

* DumbassDJ: "Panic" was inspired by Steve Wright at the BBC, who played Wham's "I'm Your Man" after announcing the Chernobyl disaster.

* LyricalDissonance: Sonically, they were like a slightly less murky Music/{{REM}}. Lyrically, they were like a funnier Music/TheCure.

After the break up, Music/{{Morrissey}} went on to have a successful solo career. Johnny formed Electronic with Music/JoyDivision[=/=]Music/NewOrder guitarist Bernard Sumner, and also formed the short-lived Johnny Marr & the Healers. He also played with cult alternative rockers The The and has done session work for too many artists to list. He was a member of the American indie rock band Music/ModestMouse from 2005 to 2008. After leaving Modest Mouse, he joined the British indie band The Cribs which he was a member of from 2008 to 2011.

* FiftiesHair: Morrissey's trademark pompadour.

* LesserStar: Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke. The band's contract apparently only listed Morrissey and Marr as the official members of the band. Joyce and Rourke even sued the other half of the band for royalties that were owed them. Although Rourke wound up settling amicably out of court with Morrissey and Marr, Joyce kept pushing his part of the lawsuit and received a 1 million pound settlement (which in turn alienated him from Rourke). Morrissey claims that Joyce is the main reason why the Smiths will never reunite, moreso than his rift with Marr.

** "Death of a Disco Dancer", "Meat is Murder", "Rubber Ring", "Rushholme Ruffians", "Shakespeare's Sister", "These Things Take Time",[[note]]Doubled down![[/note]] "Well I Wonder", "What's the World", "Wonderful Woman".

%%* AntiLoveSong: "Unhappy Birthday"
* AuthorAppeal: "This Charming Man" and "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" both mention leather car seats, which Morrissey admitted to finding "[[{{Fetish}} erotic]]." And then there's his interest in ruffians and criminals, which became even more pronounced in his solo work.
%%* AutoErotica: "You've Got Everything Now"
%%* BanisterSlide: "Vicar In A Tutu"

* CoolestClubEver: Subverted by "How Soon is Now?" The singer is told "''there's a club if you'd like to go / You could meet somebody who really loves you ...''" But what actually happens is:

%%* CovertPervert: [[FanNickname Moz]] himself.

* DeadpanSnarker: Morrissey is a RealLife example of this.
%%* DeanBitterman: "The Headmaster Ritual"
%%* DoubleEntendre: Too many lyrics to list.

** ''The Smiths'': Reel Around The Fountain (5:58) and Suffer Little Children (5:28)
** ''Meat Is Murder'': Barbarism Begins At Home (6:57) and the title track (6:06)
** ''The Queen Is Dead'': The title track (6:24) and I Know It's Over (5:48)
** ''Strangeways, Here We Come'': Death Of A Disco Dancer (5:26), Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (5:01), Paint A Vulgar Picture (5:35)
** ''Hatful Of Hollow'': How Soon Is Now? (6:44), Reel Around The Fountain (5:51, from The Peel Sessions)
** ''Rank'': Bigmouth Strikes Again (5:51)

%%* {{Gayngst}}
* {{Hypocrite}}: Even after releasing ''Meat is Murder'', Morrissey admitted to wearing leather shoes until synthetic leather shoes became more widespread years later.

%%* MadLove: A theme in some of their songs.

%%* MoneySong: "Frankly, Mr. Shankly".

** ''The Queen is Dead'', which featured more elaborate production than on their previous albums and singles.

* NonAppearingTitle: "Paint a Vulgar Picture," though the original demo version does include it ("and they paint a vulgar picture / of the way they say you were").
%%* ObsessionSong: "Paint a Vulgar Picture"

* SerialKiller: The song "Suffer Little Children" was written about RealLife killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Morrissey's fascination with serial killers continued in his solo career with songs like "UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper."

** ''Strangeways, Here We Come'' opens with the guitarless "A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours."

* SpoofAesop: The entirety of "Accept Yourself," but especially:

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: The narrator of "Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before" names off some of the injuries he received from his bicycle accident, then follows them with "Who said I lied to her?/Because I never".

* TruckDriversGearChange: Quite a few of them in "Paint A Vulgar Picture," so that each verse seems to ascend into the next one, finally building up to the climatic guitar solo (the only one the Smiths' musical catalogue).

* UrExample: "How Soon is Now?" is an UrExample of {{Shoegazing}}.
* TheVicar: The subject of the aptly named "Vicar In A Tutu."

* WholesomeCrossdresser: The title character of "Vicar in a Tutu."

* WriterOnBoard: ''Meat is Murder,'' as Morrissey supports PETA, and has stated he accepts the violent actions of {{Animal Wrongs Group}}s. Based on interviews they've given, the rest of the band seems to have reacted to his fervency with mild exasperation, but they are all vegetarians as well and avoid animal products.

Vote for your favourite Smiths album by heading over to the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/Sandbox/BestAlbumTheSmiths Best Album crowner]]!

After the break up, Music/{{Morrissey}} went on to have a successful solo career. Johnny formed Electronic with Music/JoyDivision[=/=]Music/NewOrder guitarist Bernard Sumner, and also formed the short-lived Johnny Marr & the Healers. He also played with cult alternative rockers The The and has done session work for too many artists to list. He was a member of the American indie rock band Modest Mouse from 2005 to 2008. After leaving Modest Mouse, he joined the British indie band The Cribs which he was a member of from 2008 to 2011.

* OopNorth: One of Manchester's beloved musical exports.

* SmokingIsCool: Johnny looked pretty damn cool with a cigarette.

''And somehow that really impressed me''\\

* [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys All Boys Want Bad Boys]]

I said: 'That's nothing - you should hear me play piano.'"''

** "Death of a Disco Dancer", "Meat is Murder", "Rubber Ring", "Rushholme Ruffians", "Shakespeare's Sister", "These Things Take Time", "Well I Wonder", "What's the World", "Wonderful Woman".

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Both Morrissey and Marr forbade the Prime Minister David Cameron from listening to The Smiths.

* CoolestClubEver: * Subverted by "How Soon is Now?" The singer is told "''there's a club if you'd like to go / You could meet somebody who really loves you ...''" But what actually happens is:

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Morrissey.

* AmusingInjuries: "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before."
* AntiLoveSong: "Unhappy Birthday"

* AutoErotica: "You've Got Everything Now"
* BanisterSlide: "Vicar In A Tutu"

* ClosetKey: "This Charming Man"

* CovertPervert: [[FanNickname Moz]] himself.

* DeanBitterman: "The Headmaster Ritual"
* DoubleEntendre: Too many lyrics to list.

-->Oh, so I drank one
-->It became four
-->And when I fell on the floor
-->...I drank more

* DudeShesLikeInAComa: "Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know, it's really serious." Alternate trope title.

* {{Gayngst}}

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Morrissey.

* MadLove: A theme in some of their songs.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: The Smiths never went very high up it, pushing a 3-4 at most in their most aggressive moments- the lyrics were where the darkness was, not the music. However, when asked in an [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/johnny-marr-has-no-negative-thoughts-about-the-smi,73276/ AV Club interview]], Johnny Marr [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] the trope by mentioning how he felt that bands that drew inspiration from the Smiths like Belle and Sebastian were too lightweight compared to them:
-->I’ve heard some records by bands that came after us who had their music been any more fey and lightweight, then I’d expect petals to come out of the speakers. [Laughs.] That’s kind of missing what we were about, because The Smiths were not all “Oscar Wilde at 3:30 in the afternoon” and feyness. The truth of it is, if you were to see any songs from any of our shows, we were, what I would say, quite heavy. Even the ballads were intense. We were a rock band, really, that played a type of pop music, if I care to analyze it. I don’t know very much about The Wedding Present’s music, but what I’ve heard of Belle & Sebastian was often quite fey, and light in a very deliberate way. I think they have their own thing, which is absolutely fine. But I don’t actually think they sound like The Smiths.
** "How Soon is Now?" is probably a 5 or 6
* MoneySong: "Frankly, Mr. Shankly".

--> I wish I could remember exactly how we did the slide part -- not writing it down is one of the banes of my life! We did it in three passes through a harmonizer, set to some weird interval, like a sixth. There was a different harmonization for each pass. For the line in harmonics, I retuned the guitar so that I could play it all at the 12th fret with natural harmonics. It's doubled several times.

* ObsessionSong: "Paint a Vulgar Picture"

* OopNorth
* ProtestSong: "The Headmaster Ritual", "Meat Is Murder", and "Barbarism Begins At Home"

* SmallNameBigEgo: Morrissey.
* SmokingIsCool: Admit it, Johnny looked pretty damn cool with a cigarette.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: To an extent. The band's music was generally intricate and melodic but the emphasis on guitar-based rock was a reaction against synthesizer-heavy Eighties pop music.

* WordSaladTitle: The band named themselves "The Smiths" as a [[AvertedTrope reaction, against]] the word salad band names of their contemporaries.
* WriterOnBoard: ''Meat is Murder,'' as Morrissey supports PETA, and has stated he accepts the violent actions of {{Animal Wrongs Group}}s. Based on interviews they've given, the rest of the band, seems to have reacted to his fervency with mild exasperation, but they are all vegetarians as well, and avoid animal products.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Both Morrissey and Marr, forbade the Prime Minister David Cameron, from listening to The Smiths.

* UnrequitedLove: A recurring lyrical theme, often going straight into ObsessionSong territory. Examples include "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", "I Want The One I Can't Have", and "I Know It's Over."