The Smiths' seminal album the Queen Is Dead was released on this day in 1986. Though the album wasn't a commercial success in the U.S., it is highly regarded by the music industry (and people with taste) as one of the best and most important albums of all time.
According to Johnny Marr, the legendary title track on the album was influenced by two bands that have also made an indelible mark on music history -- The Stooges and Velvet Underground. He told NME:
"I had an idea to do a song that had the aggression of the Detroit garage bands, ‘cos I’m such a Stooges fan. And it’s influenced by the Velvets too- it’s The Smiths does The Stooges does The Velvet Underground. ‘VU’ [compilation of Velvet Underground outtakes, released in 1985] had just been released, so there’s a little nod to ‘I Can’t Stand It’ in there. We chopped a couple of minutes off the song in the end. The long version felt more like us running a marathon, then doing a lap of honour!"
Read NME's feature on The Queen Is Dead, which includes song by song commentary by all the members of the Smiths here.
Happy 30th!
Published June 16th, 2016