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In which journalist, biographer and memoirist Tony Fletcher helps The Curmudgeons drop knowledge about one of the most important influential bands in rock history. Fletcher was a contemporary of The Smiths in the English music scene of the early-to-mid 1980s and had a front-row seat to their explosion into popular music consciousness. The Smiths' music gestated from the creative synergy between genius guitarist and songwriter Johnny Marr and enigmatic, myth-worthy vocalist and lyricist Morrissey. The band's brand of pop blended rich, jangly guitar, taut and surprisingly muscular rhythm and Morrissey's gorgeous, androgynously sexy voice. And that combination was viscerally exciting for fans who'd been wondering what Brtian's next big thing would be after punk. Well, here it was. Tony shares insights and analysis of the band's story and dynamics and helps draft a love letter to all of these great Smiths songs and albums during this episode.
Enjoy the brilliant music of The Smiths by accessing our special Spotify playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4yfTJuHpb9nXcyVjOTNYOA?si=6cc3ab11e71e4038
Buy Tony Fletcher's latest book, Pow! Whem Punk Became Pop, 1980-1984: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/pow-when-uk-punk-went-pop-1980-84/57899319/?resultid=09972a44-487c-402c-a1d4-9702fef48289#edition=74983906&idiq=87898196
Enjoy (and then purchase) The Dear Boys' super-fun album The Dear Boys Can't Say No: https://thedearboys.bandcamp.com/album/the-dear-boys-cant-say-no?search_item_id%3D234714450%26search_item_type%3Da%26search_match_part%3D%253F%26search_page_id%3D5925618174%26search_page_no%3D0%26search_rank%3D2=
Subscribe to Tony Fletcher's Substack content service: https://tonyfletcher.substack.com/
Here's a handy navigation companion to this this episode.
(00:52 - 05:21) - Arturo sets the parameters for our discussion on The Smiths
(06:46 - 18:13) - The Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from Rhiannon Giddens and Margo Cilker
(19:12 - 54:59) - Tony Fletcher joins us to reflect on his early interactions with The Smiths and to help us tell the band's origin story. We then begin to analyze the band's singles and albums, covering breakout singles "Hand in Glove," "This Charming Man," and the self-titled debut album.
(01:06:32 - 01:17:29) - We all discuss the amazing (and weirdly distributed) single "How Soon is Now" plus the band's second album Meat Is Murder
(01:18:37 - 01:52:28) - We continue our fond tour of the Smith's catalog as we discuss the classic album The Queen is Dead, their final album Strangeways, Here We Come and killer singles like "Panic" and "Sheila Take a Bow." We end by contextualizing the legacy of The Smiths.
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Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com
Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com
Subscribe to our show on these platforms:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911
https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb
Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons
