the smiths - it feels like a long story

you know how when you were at school there was always someone cooler than you were?
and whatever you did they always managed to trump you.

there was a guy i was at school with, a friend of mine in fact, who always seemed to have all the good records.
for a short time at least.
he'd come into school with microdisney's first album, the fall's "cruiser's creek", talking heads records, that kinda thing.

one day he came in with the smith's "hand in glove" single.
we listened to it in the music room and it sounded strange and exciting.
i bought it that same week and played it over and over.
then "this charming man" came out and so i bought that too.
when the debut album came out i had pre-ordered it from the local record shop.



the smiths became a massive thing.
not neccessarily my favourite band - though certainly for a time they were - they just seemed to always be there.
a constant companion.
perhaps it was because there seemed to be a new 7" out by them about every 8 or 9 weeks.

i saw them at wolverhampton civic hall on their ill-faited "queen is dead" tour and they were thrilling.

shortly afterwards they announced a split.
this resulted in a glut more singles and of course the final album, "strangeways, here we come".

i admit i cried when they split up.
yes - i cried.
i cried because this band that had been a daily and important part of my life had gone, but also the tears were shed because i HATED "girlfriend in a coma" and i LOATHED "strangeways, here we come" (i still do) and i felt let down that they had gone out on such a low.