The Smiths- Will This Madness Ever End?

[Guest]

Are you telling me you never talk about your favourite bands without resorting to hyperbole, then?

It's just more the attitude with which it is said.

[--]

I can understand that, because not agreeing that the Smiths are wonderful is reacted to like incest here.

So when did you admit to incest here? I must have missed that one. Shame...

[The Modernist]

Me too, and I liked them at the time a great deal, i was just the right age for them to actually seem like they meant something, lets face it even if they dont fit all the stereotypes (I agree about the humour) they were still tailor made for well read teenage boys weren't they.

But I can't quite get people still caring as anything more than nostalgia

But don't "well read teenage boys" (actually I would think The Smiths also had a much higher than average female following compared to the average indie band, but that's by the by) deserve to have their own culture too?
Whether there music can stand up today, I'm not sure as it's really not the kind of thing I listen to much today. However I can't see why not, they were fantastically melodic, inventive (admittedly within a traditional context) and with a wit rarely seen since.

[Nikki Gradual]

I can understand that, because not agreeing that the Smiths are wonderful is reacted to like incest here.

So when did you admit to incest here? I must have missed that one. Shame...

Lucky I toned it down from what I originally wrote then.

[Owen]

Me too, and I liked them at the time a great deal, i was just the right age for them to actually seem like they meant something, lets face it even if they dont fit all the stereotypes (I agree about the humour) they were still tailor made for well read teenage boys weren't they.

But I can't quite get people still caring as anything more than nostalgia

But don't "well read teenage boys" (actually I would think The Smiths also had a much higher than average female following compared to the average indie band, but that's by the by) deserve to have their own culture too?

um yeah, hence my comments about loving them at the time. it's the 40 somethings 20 years on still getting so worked up that i find strange.

Yes we talk about lots of old music here, some more than most admittedly, but it's the continued vehemence I find strange, not totally inexplicable or anything, i know how much they touched people at the time but still a bit weird.

But i dont really do the fandom thing generally

[The Prof]

I think you will find, if you look hard enough, lots of things were a long time ago. Some of them are good also

Most of them dont seem to be foisted on every following generation with the expectation that if you like music you will 'get it'.

Yes they do!

I would find it difficult to like a band and *not* foister it upon everyone else. That's why we do jolly-up CDs for isn't it?

[--]

I can understand that, because not agreeing that the Smiths are wonderful is reacted to like incest here.

So when did you admit to incest here? I must have missed that one. Shame...

Lucky I toned it down from what I originally wrote then.

Dammit! I always miss the really juicy stuff. S'not fair.

[The Modernist]

Nobodies said if you don't like The Smiths you don't get music or attacked people for not liking The Smiths. You're all imagining slights that weren't there. Get a grip people!

[Owen]

I think you will find, if you look hard enough, lots of things were a long time ago. Some of them are good also

Most of them dont seem to be foisted on every following generation with the expectation that if you like music you will 'get it'.

Yes they do!

I would find it difficult to like a band and *not* foister it upon everyone else. That's why we do jolly-up CDs for isn't it?

And yet you pick such moany shit

I get your point but the timespan and the hyperbole still seem a bit out of the ordinary. If people want to listen to the smiths in 2004 great but i can't imagine ever wanting to listen to the same band for that long. I've got whats there to have by now.

[The Prof]

it's the 40 somethings 20 years on still getting so worked up that i find strange.

Yeh, that's true actually Owen. It's like Vietnam veterans.

"You weren't there man, you didn't see the Smiths - you wouldn't understand"

[--]

Are you telling me you never talk about your favourite bands without resorting to hyperbole, then?

It's just more the attitude with which it is said.

Oh, bollocks. It's only a messageboard. You're just as capable of stating your opinion as anyone else.

People feel strongly about this band. I'm not sure why they get so singled out because people on this board feel strongly about lots of bands?

Oh well.

Let the sermons begin...

[Phenomenal Cat]

Me too, and I liked them at the time a great deal, i was just the right age for them to actually seem like they meant something, lets face it even if they dont fit all the stereotypes (I agree about the humour) they were still tailor made for well read teenage boys weren't they.

I could say the same about Belle & Sebastian, who I enjoy quite a bit (not all of it, but enough). I don't connect to the pretence and preciousness, but I enjoy them nonetheless. A well-done one CD Smiths compilation may work for me afterall.

[The Modernist]

Currently there are threads extolling The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Exile On Main Street amongst many other examples. Can we expect people joining these threads to criticise others for enthusiastically singing the praises of old music and foistering their tastes upon others?

[--]

Well, I could, but I don't...

[Guest]

Are you telling me you never talk about your favourite bands without resorting to hyperbole, then?

It's just more the attitude with which it is said.

Oh, bollocks. It's only a messageboard. You're just as capable of stating your opinion as anyone else.

People feel strongly about this band. I'm not sure why they get so singled out because people on this board feel strongly about lots of bands?

I'll put it this way, I have heard some Smiths and love half of it and find the other half laughable. I would like to discuss what other people find good and bad about them but it always seems impossible to do that with this band. I am just trying to figure out why the attitudes towards them are so much different.

[--]

Because the very things you dislike so and find so humourous are likely some of the very same things that others will love. You're not going to change each other's minds, chances are and it's often very difficult to be objective when you're dealing with subjects which are passionate.

[Clippernolan]

I'm getting a little lost by this debate, so I will ignore it!

The reasons I like the Smiths

1) The contrast between Morrisey's vocals, which are slightly monotone and "down", and Johnny Marr's guitar lines which are bright and melodic. I love contrast in music and this is the reason I like a lot of artists work.

2) A great rhythm section! I really think this part of their legacy has been seriously understated.

3) Sense of humour in the lyrics (best example for me is "There is a Light That Never Goes Out"), proving that you don't have to necessarily be earnest and po faced when trying to write about how dissatisfied you are.

As you were...

[Wet Blanket]

It's often very difficult to be objective when you're dealing with subjects which are passionate.

Well said, Ian.

Very passionate band, the Smiths.

"I wear black on the outside cause black is how I feel on the inside."

Speaks to me.

[The Modernist]

Are you telling me you never talk about your favourite bands without resorting to hyperbole, then?

It's just more the attitude with which it is said.

Oh, bollocks. It's only a messageboard. You're just as capable of stating your opinion as anyone else.

People feel strongly about this band. I'm not sure why they get so singled out because people on this board feel strongly about lots of bands?

I'll put it this way, I have heard some Smiths and love half of it and find the other half laughable. I would like to discuss what other people find good and bad about them but it always seems impossible to do that with this band. I am just trying to figure out why the attitudes towards them are so much different.

Fair enough nathan, maybe if you could say what the things you don't like about them are we can have a discussion. It's difficult to do this if people don't broach an opinion.

[yomptepi]

. If people want to listen to the smiths in 2004 great but i can't imagine ever wanting to listen to the same band for that long. I've got whats there to have by now.

I think its more a matter of the intensity of the impact the smiths, or more precisely,Morrissey, made upon the fertile and impressionable young lads who were drawn to his tune. I have written many times here, and on mojo, of the intense reaction I had on hearing Hand in Glove for the first time. I will never forget it. Here was a music that connected with every fibre of my being. Something that was going to change me, and stay with me. I knew that as soon as I heard the song.
20 years on, Morrissey still holds me like a rabbit in the spotlight. I dont do the fan thing either, and altho I like lots of music, and love a geat deal of music, Morrissey takes me somewhere else. You are the quarry has reignited my enthusiasm for his music, and I have been playing the Smiths and the solo albums a lot recently. In my opinion, time hasn't touched them , in the same way it hasn't touched the Beatles or Bob Dylan. The Smiths were that good. And I want everybody to feel the way i feel about that music. I want to share it, but , as griff said, I like the fact that so many people do not like it, it makes it special.

If I didn't like the Smiths tho, I can see how irritating all this obsessive bollox must be. A lot of fuss about nothing.