A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of the Smiths
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Reynolds, Simon. “Songs of Love and Hate.” Melody Maker, March 12 and 19, 1988.
Rimmer, Dave. “Hits and Myths.” Smash Hits, February 16, 1984.
Samuels, Tim, and Juliet Gellatley. “Meat Is Murder.” Greenscene (UK), issue 6, 1989.
Savage, Jon. “The Enemy Within.” Mojo, April 2011.
Shaw, William. “Glad All Over.” Zigzag (UK), February 1984.
Shelley, Jim. “The Smiths: Manchester Haçienda.” NME, March 26, 1983.
______. “Soul on Fire.” Blitz, May 1984.
Simpson, Dave. “Manchester’s Answer to the A-Bomb.” Uncut, August 1998.
Strikes, Andy. “Morrissey Dancing.” Record Mirror, February 11, 1984.
Swayne, Karen. “If I Ruled the World.” No. 1, January 7, 1984.
Thrills, Adrian. “Onto a Shaw Thing.” NME, April 1984.
Trakin, Roy. “The Smiths.” Musician (US), June 1984.
Unknown. Page 1 on Whit Walks. Manchester Evening News (UK), May 22, 1959.
Unknown. “Dogs Join in a Massive Comb-Out for Boy.” Manchester Evening News, p. 8, November 25, 1963.
Unknown. Page 10 on search for missing girl. Manchester Evening News, December 31, 1964.
Unknown. “Item 38—The Smiths.” i-D, February 1983.
Unknown. “The Smiths.” The Underground (UK), issue 2, 1983.
Unknown. “The Smiths: Manhattan Sound.” City Fun (UK), issue 13, spring 1983.
Unknown. “ ‘Ban Child-Sex Pop Song Plea to Beeb.’ ” Sun (UK), September 5, 1983.
Unknown. Interview CD. Ask Me, Ask Me, Ask Me, January 1984.
Unknown. “Blind Date.” No. 1, April 28, 1984.
Unknown. “Morrissey.” Square Peg (UK), 1984.
Unknown. “20 Questions.” Star Hits (US), 1985.
Unknown. “Smiths Sign to EMI.” NME, September 27, 1986.
Unknown. News item, page 3. Melody Maker, October 4, 1986.
Unknown. Hot Press, March, 1987.
Unknown. “Smiths to Split.” NME, August 1, 1987.
Unknown. “Marr Speaks.” NME, August 8, 1987.
Unknown. “Marr Quits.” Melody Maker, August 8, 1987.
Unknown. “Goodbye, Smiths.” NME, September 12, 1987.
Unknown. “Smiths Split!” Melody Maker, September 12, 1987.
Unknown. Billy Duffy interview. Spin, September 1989.
Unknown. “Morrissey Misery over Court Verdict.” BBC News, November 6, 1998. Archived at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/209224.stm.
Unknown. “Choirmaster Jailed for Indecent Assault.” BBC News, March 27, 2002. Archived at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1896961.stm.
Various. “The Smiths: Q Special Edition: The Inside Story of The Smiths & Morrissey.” Q, May 2004.
Various. “Q /Mojo Special Edition: Morrissey and the Story of Manchester.” Q /Mojo, April 2006.
Various. “The Queen Is Dead Anniversary Issue.” Mojo, April 2011.
Van Poznack, Elissa. “Morrissey.” Face, July, 1984.
Wilde, Jonh. “The Smiths.” Jamming! (UK), January 1984.
______. “Morrissey’s Year.” Jamming!, December 1984.
Worrall, Frank. “The Cradle Snatchers.” Melody Maker, September 3, 1983.
RADIO
BBC Radio 1, David Jensen interview with Morrissey, July 4, 1983.
BBC Radio 1, Roundtable, Morrissey reviews singles with Paul Weller, December 9, 1983.
BBC Radio 1, Roundtable, Morrissey reviews singles with Sandie Shaw, undated early 1984.
BBC Radio 2, Russell Brand interview with Morrissey, December 2, 2006.
BBC Radio London, Morrissey interview, September 17, 1983.
Picadilly Radio, Morrissey interview with Mark Radcliffe, November 30, 1986.
TELEVISION/DVD/FILM
Brit Girls. Channel 4, Morrissey interview with Len Brown, December 13, 1997.
Culture Show, The. Morrissey interview, BBC2, December 2006.
Datarun. Morrissey and Marr interview, ITV, April 7, 1984.
Do It Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade. BBC4, March 2009.Granada Reports. Granada Television, February 21, 1985.Importance of Being Morrissey, The. Directed by Tina Flintoff, Ricky Kelehar, Channel 4, June 2003.
Inside The Smiths. Rourke and Joyce interviews. Directed and produced by Stephen Petricco/Mark Standley, MVD Visual, 2007.
Les Enfants du Rock. Interview with Morrissey and Marr, May 18, 1984.
MTV. Interview with Morrissey (unedited tapes), conducted April 5, 1985.
Oxford Road Show. Morrissey interview, BBC2, March 22, 1985.
Pebble Mill at One. BBC1, Morrissey interview, February 21, 1985.
Pop Quiz. BBC1, early 1984.
South Bank Show, The. “The Smiths: From Start to Finish.” Produced and directed by Tony Knox, ITV, October 18, 1987.
Splat. “Charlie’s Bus,” TV-AM. Morrissey and Marr interview, June 16, 1984.
The Rise and Fall of the Smiths. Smiths documentary, BBC, 1999.
These Things Take Time. Smiths documentary, ITV, 2002.
The Tube. Geoff Travis interview, Smiths performance, November 4, 1983.
The Tube. Morrissey interview with Tony Fletcher, January 27, 1984.
The Tube. Morrissey interview with Margi Clarke, October 25, 1985.
TV-am. Morrissey interview with Paul Gambaccini, early 1984.
Whistle Test. Morrissey and Marr interview with Mark Ellen, BBC2, February 12, 1985.
World in Action. Hulme Crescents, 1978. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/S1qpf9hogI0.
Wrestle with Russell. Morrissey interview with Russell Brand, bonus DVD with Years of Refusal, February 2009.
Zane Lowe Meets Morrissey. MTV, February 2009.
INTERVIEW SOURCES
All interview quotes are from the author’s own interviews, except as follows. The sources are listed in order of first reference. Full citations for the periodical sources can be found in the bibliography section.
INTRODUCTION
Brown, Melody Maker, February 1988; Pye, Melody Maker, November 1984; Savage, Mojo, April 2011; BBC News, November 1998.
CHAPTER TWO
Kopf, NME, December 1984; Hoskyns, NME, February 1984.
CHAPTER THREE
Oxford Road Show, March 1985; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, p. 43; McCormick, Hot Press, May 1984; McKenzie, Guardian, August 1997; Black, Sounds, November 1983; Morrissey, In His Own Words, p. 33; Brit Girls, December 1997; Graham, City Life, Spring 1984; Morrissey, Sounds, December 1983; Lowe, MTV, February 2009; Barber, Observer, September 2002; Roach, The Right to Imagination & Madness, p. 311; Boyd, Irish Times, November 1999; South Bank Show, October 1987.
CHAPTER FOUR
Oxford Road Show, March 1985; Bracewell, ES, June 1992; Birch, Smash Hits, July 1984; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, pp. 58, 71; Greenscene, 1989; Goddard, Mozipedia, pp. 482–83; K, Record Mirror, November 1983.
CHAPTER FIVE
Nolan, Hot Press, July 2008; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, p. 65; Kemp, Select, July 1991; Goddard, Mozipedia, pp. 287–88; Brown, Meetings with Morrissey, p. 54; Morley, Blitz, April 1988; Boyd, Irish Times, November 1999.
CHAPTER SIX
Staugs.org/reaction.htm; Cummins, Looking for the Light, p. 149; Robb, The North Will Rise Again, p.53.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Morley, Blitz, April 1988; Robb, The North Will Rise Again, pp. 58–59; King, 032c, 2006; Rogan, A Visual Documentary, pp. 21, 22, 24, 25; Boyd, Irish Times, 1999; Jones, i-D, 1987; Jones, Melody Maker, March 1984; Brown, Meetings with Morrissey, p. 63.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Spin, September 1989, p. 66; Cummins, Looking for the Light, p. 150; Brown, NME, February 1988.
CHAPTER NINE
Rogan, The Severed Alliance, p.69.
CHAPTER TEN
Morley, Blitz, April 1988; Jensen, Radio 1, July 1983; Sterling, Works, 2006; South Bank Show, Oct 1987; Morris
sey, Interview, April 2010; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, p. 107; Pye, Melody Maker, November 1984; Van Poznack, Face, July 1984; Rimmer, Smash Hits, 1984.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Robb, The North Will Rise Again, p. 193.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jensen, Radio 1, July 1983; Robb, The North Will Rise Again, p. 195; Morrissey, In His Own Words, p.48; MTV Interview, April 1985; Black, Sounds, November 1983; Deevoy, GQ, October 2005.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Rogan, The Visual Documentary, pp. 36–38; The Rise and Fall of the Smiths, BBC, 2001; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, p. 147; Underground, issue 2, 1983; Black, Mojo, June 2004.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Black, Mojo, June 2004; Goddard, Mozipedia, p. 154.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Goddard, Songs That Saved Your Life, p. 58; Campbell, ed., Why Pamper Life’s Complexities?, p. 119.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Inside the Smiths, 2007 Deevoy, International Musician, October 1983.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Rise and Fall of the Smiths, BBC, 2001.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Harrison, Word, 2004.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Wilde, Jamming!, December 1984; Pye, Melody Maker, November 1983; Strikes, Record Mirror, February 1984.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Heath, Smash Hits, August 1987; Rogan, The Visual Documentary, p. 74.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Wilde, Jamming!, January 1984; Pop Quiz, BBC, 1984; TV-am, 1984; Datarun, April 1984; Unknown, No. 1, April 28, 1984; Morton, Debut, 1984; Shelley, Blitz, May 1984; Unknown, Square Peg, 1984; Shaw, Zigzag, February 1984; Wilde, Jamming!, December 1984; Hoskyns, NME, February 1984; Henke, Rolling Stone, June 1984; Trakin, Musician, June 1984.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jones, et al., Melody Maker, March 1985; Kopf, NME, December 1984.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Kelly, NME, June, 1985; Levy, Record Mirror, August, 1985; Jones, Melody Maker, March 1985; Wilde, Jamming!, December 1984; Garfield, Time Out, March 1985.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
http://stereogum.com/113481/meat_is_murder_turns_25/top-stories/; Taylor, Document & Eyewitness, p. 285; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, pp. 232, 235; Kent, Face, May 1985; Hauptfuhrer, People, June 1985.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
De Martino, Creem, May 1985; Levy, Record Mirror, August 1985.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Jones, Melody Maker, March 1985; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, p. 239; The Tube, October 25, 1985; Leboff, Melody Maker, September 1987; Pye, NME, June 1986; Aston, Oor, November 1986; The Tube, January 1984; Pye, Melody Maker, November 1984; Rogan, The Visual Documentary, p. 122.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Bailie, Record Mirror, February 1987; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, p. 242; Goddard, Uncut, January 2007; Unknown, Melody Maker, August 1985; Dessau, Oor, February 1987.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Goddard, Mozipedia, p. 345; Pye, NME, June 1986; Aston, Mojo, April 2011; Inside The Smiths, 2007; Taylor, Document & Eyewitness, pp. 288–89; Bell, No. 1, June 1986.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Various, Mojo, April 2011; Brown, NME, February 1988.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Kent, Face, April 1987; Unknown, Hot Press, March 1987.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Owen, Melody Maker, September 1986.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Kelly, NME, February 1987; Bailie, Record Mirror, February 1987; Radcliffe, Picadilly Radio, November 1986; Leboff, Melody Maker, September 1987; Inside the Smiths, 2007.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Nine, Melody Maker, August 1997; Jones, i-D, October 1987; Inside The Smiths, 2007; The Importance of Being Morrissey, 2002; Rogan, The Severed Alliance, p. 286; Reynolds, Melody Maker, March 1988; Goddard, Mozipedia, p. 296; Du Noyer, Q, September 1987; Brown, NME, May 1987; Unknown, NME, August 1 and 8, 1987.
CHAPTER FORTY
Gould, Can’t Buy Me Love, p. 371; Brown, NME, February 1988; Kemp, Select, July 1991; Cameron, Mojo, May 2004; Heath, Smash Hits, August 1987; Jones, i-D, October 1987; South Bank Show, October 1987; Cavanagh, Select, July 1991.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It was only when I started in on the actual process of writing this book that I realized just how much I had been asking of my subjects. When I wrote my first two biographies, on Echo & the Bunnymen and R.E.M., in the late 1980s, the process seemed relatively easy. I didn’t grasp at the time that this was in part because the two groups were very much ongoing entities, sufficiently secure in one another’s company as to only tell me about each other what they would want to hear about themselves, and young enough not to be especially protective of their legacies or to have left behind any especially bad memories. When I later wrote an enormous biography about Keith Moon, a necessarily complicated and controversial character, I was more determined to write an unadulterated account of his life, and I had the vantage point of history at my heels. But I also had on my side the (sad) fact that my subject had been dead for twenty years—and people who might not have spoken freely about him in the immediate aftermath of his demise felt that they could do so that long after his passing, in certain knowledge that he would not return to this world to punish them for it.
With the Smiths, the process is that much more complicated. (For one thing, thankfully, nobody within the band has passed on.) While hindsight absolutely has its advantages, and while the passing of time has only elevated the Smiths’ musical legacy, it has not been as kind to their personal relationships with one another. In fact, the quarter century since the group’s breakup has seen all kinds of unfortunate recriminations—to the point where many stories about the group concentrate on the negatives first, specifically the court case that has made it hard, perhaps even impossible, for four or five certain individuals to ever fully resume their former friendships. Those individuals have every right to be guarded about their personal story, and suspicious of anybody looking to come and tell it (yet again), especially in a format over which they have no editorial control.
So while I offer my thanks to everyone who allowed me to interview them, and all of whom did so with the full understanding that they would have no say whatsoever over the final words, I must offer special thanks to both Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke for allowing me to talk with them on several occasions, across a period of two years or more, without ever putting any limits or conditions on our conversations. I don’t take their cooperation lightly, and I hope that the finished book repays some of their trust. I also hope that they, as with all my interviewees, understand that the author of a biography like this is inevitably caught between trying to tell the story as it actually happened, and telling it with the benefit of the subjects’ hindsight. In this regard, Johnny Marr’s personality looms especially large. While it has retained its intensity and enthusiasm, and while his work ethic continues to inspire and occasionally frighten, he is now a teetotaling, marathon-running, vegan Buddhist. His perspective on the band’s history twenty-five to thirty years later, understandably, proved different from how he lived it at the time, and he appeared fully aware of this dichotomy. In quoting him throughout this book, I have tried to allow him the occasional opportunity to suggest how things could or should have been handled while ensuring that at no point are events rewritten as taking place in a different manner from how they did. I trust that I have gotten the balance right.
One of the great joys of undertaking this particular project was the opportunity to renew old acquaintances and friendships. As a teenage fanzine editor in London, I was in and out of Rough Trade on a weekly, often daily, basis from 1978 onward; as an aspiring musician in the very early 1980s, I met several of the producers, musicians, and A&R men featured in this story long before they themselves met the Smiths; as a music journalist and magazine editor in my late teens and early twenties, I got to know many of the media and industry figures and was privy to much of this story, if only ver
y occasionally an even minor part of it; as a resident of the United States since the late 1980s, I have also gotten to know many of the important American characters and, additionally and crucially, I hope, developed an understanding of the American music scene. All this may have made it somewhat easier for me to secure the cooperation of my interviewees, but it also raised the stakes regarding any contradictory perspectives or less-than-savory recollections. My loyalty in all these cases has been, first and foremost, to the finished biography, its accuracy and its fairness. I have dared to presume that those whose names crop up in this story, whether as walk-on characters or major players, have developed thick skins along the way and will recognize that none of us, as the author freely admits for his own part, have lived our lives perfectly—especially in the furious, unscripted, and often hedonistic environment of the music industry. Thank you for cooperating and trusting.
With only one exception, the interviews themselves were entirely pleasurable. Most were conducted in person, and in a multitude of locations that ranged from personal homes to public houses, private members’ clubs to public cafés, restaurants to record-company offices. They were also conducted by phone, by Skype, and, where absolutely necessary, by e-mail. Research is generally the “fun” part of the biography process, and can easily be extended ad infinitum if one is not careful. At some point, the writer has to get on with the process of writing, regardless of whether he has gathered up every last kernel of information or possible participation. To that end, I returned to many of my subjects by e-mail time and again over the period of writing this book, driving several to distraction, I don’t doubt. While I make no apology for pushing as hard as I did in my quest for accuracy, I do recognize that I occasionally tested the limits of my subjects’ patience.