I was staying with a friend's girlfriend in her studio apartment when I was 17. That summer the small place was a flop house for all of my skateboard and misfit friends. The central piece of her interior decor was a gigantic poster of Morrissey smugly lounging. We used to mimic the photographed pose in condescension. #thesmiths and Morrissey were chick-rock as far as we were concerned. Musical bedfellows to the other alt-girl rock bands like the Cure and the Violent Femmes, we had no time for that stuff and adorned the ceiling with a Dead Kennedys "DK" logo made out of electrical tape to "dude" up the place. We were so young and so damn opinionated. Many years later in my late 20s I actually listened to the Smiths and realised I loved them. Kind of missed the boat on the mopey tennage thing so I was determined to make it up.
I really liked this comp of BBC sessions, the production has just a little of the sheen rubbed off giving a lot of these songs a little bit of bite. When I did start listening I realized I knew of bunch of these songs from the John Hughes '80s Era of teen films and a band I loved Quicksand had covered "how soon is now?". Let's be clear: I still think Morrissey is a smug twat, but the alchemy of the band is undeniable. I've never been a fan of his solo work but the sum is greater than the parts on these CDs. On a lot of these live in the studio takes Andy Rourke's bass playing is a focal point and had a huge influence on my playing during my indie - rock band years.
I know back at that apartment we had snapped photographs of us parodying that giant poster. It'd be a fun keepsake of my musical journey (and Era-relevent memorabilia ) kids today will prob never know the struggles of photo - mat surprises.
