I had a friend growing up that LOVED the Smiths. This was in 1986, so she was vanguard at the time. I had no clue who this group was, but she used to talk about them, Depeche Mode and The Cure. While I slowly understood the Depeche Mode (Violator is still a great album) and The Cure (Disintegration rocks), I never really got into The Smiths. I knew who Steven Morrissey was, of course, but had no clue as to Johnny Marr. These were the brains behind the group, and they're all that matter in this story.
The band is from Manchester, and were part of the scene that produced The Buzzcocks, Joy Division and others from that time period. In fact, Morrissey talked to Tony Wilson, of Factory Records, asking him to sign The Smiths. Tony passed, to his regret. (But he didn't sign Simply Red either, so 1 for 2 on right calls.)
Johnny Marr wrote the music, Morrissey wrote the words. They were songs of alienation and not quite fitting in. (Mostly taken as gay anthems, everyone believing Morrissey was gay.) Morrissey is also a vegetarian, as you can tell from the album "Meat is Murder." The Smiths wrote great music, but it was terribly maudlin to me.
The first I ever really came across Morrissey was in High School, when he released, "The More You Ignore Me the Closer I Get." Seemed quite pretentious really. He stated he was vegetarian and a-sexual. (Which lead to a great letter to the editor in Spin magazine, supposedly, stating that what he really needed was a cheeseburger and a good... well you get it.)
To be honest, I actually remember the first time I heard "How Soon Is Now?" It was on a road trip with my fraternity brothers to Old Dominion University to a party. We'd been invited, and my friend Espo (also called Yosarian) was driving us. He put this song on as we made the turn to Norfolk. (It was then he rear-ended a car and knocked the tape out of the radio.)
The first thing you hear on the song is the oscillating guitar. It's been run through a loop, and is continuous, which is then complimented with a slide guitar riff. It gives the song a dark feel, with the song moving quickly. Morrissey's voice comes in with one of the greatest opening lines in 1980s music: "I am the son, and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar. I am the son and heir, of nothing in particular." Then comes the chorus, "I am Human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does."
One of the most quoted lines of the song goes like this: "So you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home and you cry and you want to die." Now, for someone that is extremely shy, or unsure of themselves with low self-esteem (like I was during my high school and university years) that is powerful stuff. You know what it's like to be at a dance and not be able to ask anyone out, or to just feel like no one gets you. Again, did I listen to pop music because I was depressed, or was I depressed because I listened to pop music. (Nick Hornby, you're a genius. Call me, we'll chat.)
Listen, I still find Morrissey pretentious as hell, and think that he sometimes just dabbles with controversy to be controversial. But this is one heck of a good track. I mean, the cover version of it was used as the theme song for "Charmed" and fit perfectly. (Although I prefer the original.) It's probably one of the best songs from the 1980s, and definitely gets a turned up radio from me whenever I hear it.
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