Customer Reviews

The Queen is Dead

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The year is 1988 and three friends are hanging out in the high school library. Somehow they've conned their teachers into letting them do independent study during first period of their last semester of high school. I'm supposedly taking independent study physics, Chris is taking independent study German, and Cynthia is library assistant or some such nonsense. Anyway, all we do most mornings is sit around and talk. This morning is no different.

"I don't like that awful Led Zeppelin you listen to. I love the Smiths," declares Cynthia.

"The Smiths aren't any good", I sneer, hoping Cynthia doesn't know I've never heard a single song by them.

"Yeah, the Smiths suck," adds Chris, as unfamiliar with the Smiths as myself.

Sufficiently miffed, Cynthia rises, tugs on the front of her Meat Is Murder T-shirt, and strides purposefully out of the room. Chris and I just laugh at our poor misguided friend.

The year is now 2002 and I'm contemplating how closed-minded I was as a youth. If it wasn't classic rock, southern rock, or metal, I wasn't listening to it. But once I got to college, I started opening my mind to new types of music, and sure enough, I eventually got around to giving the Smiths a chance.

The first Smiths album I heard was the Queen Is Dead. The first four songs sounded odd, but not entirely offensive to my metal-trained ears. Then when I heard 'Cemetry Gates', I gave up all resistance. The jangly guitars of Johnny Marr and the gloriously over the top vocals and uniquely clever lyrics of Morrissey were almost too much for me. Imagine then, when 'Big Mouth Strikes Again' came on. It rocked as hard as anything else I was listening to at the time and was twice as clever. Believe me, I kept listening intently until the final fade out of the irresistibly catchy 'Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others', and then admitted to myself I'd made a dreadful mistake that day in high school. Hopefully, Cynthia has realized her mistake when it comes to Led Zeppelin since then as well.

One easy way to make a Smiths fan is to give them The Queen is Dead. It's a pop masterpiece that works as a collection of singles as well as a unified album. There are plenty of Smiths singles collections out there, but in my view they seem somewhat "random" in their cohesiveness. Not so with The Queen is Dead; it's simply one of the greatest albums of all time.

I still remember listening intently to "Bigmouth Strikes Again" on the radio just before this album was released here in the States. This has some of the Smiths' most powerful songs on it - "I Know It's Over", where Morrissey admits defeat at the hands of love and fate, "The Queen Is Dead", where Marr shows why he's one of his generation's best guitarists, "Bigmouth...", where Morrissey's self-deprecating lyrics match Marr's driving chords perfectly, and of course the classic "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", which has an unforgettable melody. This track is the favorite song of a lot of Smiths fans. "TQID" shows The Smiths at a turning point of sorts, leaving behind the jangly sound somewhat and mixing in a more glam-rock influence. "Some Girls Are Bigger..." is also an outstanding track. This album is already showing up at or near the top of a lot of 100 best albums' lists. It's not surprising, after just a couple of listens you'll see why. Also: notice the resemblance between the opening riffs on "Bigmouth..." with Heart's "Crazy On You"?

It is a harrowing task. One wants to do justice when writing a review of this album. Not only is it a flawless recording musically, but it is also an unequivocally important album to me personally. Morrissey and Marr, in my opinion, are the greatest songwriters of all time. I mean that. Lyrically, Morrissey is so much better than anyone else it's just silly. He is clever, witty, intelligent, controversial, and he understands that what makes an a song unforgettable is the writer's ability to touch the listener's heart. Seriously, does anyone do that better than Steven? His lyrical prowess combined with Johnny Marr's preternatural tunesmithing are perfection realized on "The Queen is Dead". All of The Smith's albums are at least very good, but this one is flawless. Part of what separates it from the rest is the fact that Morrissey's sense of humor is more present on this album than any other. That fact is established immediately with the title track which includes razor sharp barbs at the Queen and Prince Charles. The rhythm section is tighter than a flea's arse throughout, as it always was. Andy rourke's bass playing is so fluid and natural, and Mike Joyce is so good he's like a drumming android. The two keep time better than a rolex. The ballad "I know it's over" is beautiful, and features Morrissey's most heartfelt lyrics. He invokes such anguish that it's impossible not to get goosebumps. "Cemetry Gates" is an excellent, and somewhat underappreciated song. It has an upbeat tempo, and combines Johnny Marr's infectious acoustic guitar and more of Morissey's wit. Morrissey's love of Oscar Wilde is proclaimed on the song(as if we didn't know). "Bigmouth Srikes Again" and "The Boy with the Thorn in his Side" are two of the best Smiths songs ever. Marr uses an acoustic for the rhythm tracks once again along with electric leads. "Bigmouth" features an interesting effect in which Morrissey's vocals are sped up and used as a backing vocal during the chorus. The result is that the listener hears a very high backing vocal alongside Morrissey's normal lead vocal. It is the only time that The Smiths used this effect. "Vicar in a Tutu" is the most blatantly funny song on the album. Morrissey's lyrics are clever and poke fun at the church, as Morrisey is wont to do, as he sings about the precarious vicar. "Vicar..." is followed by "There is a Light that Never Goes Out", which is arguably the best Smiths song(and arguably the bet song by anyone). The song's narrator laments an unrealized love and goes so far to wish to die in an accident with this person because it would be the perfect ending. In the end however he just goes on with the knowledge that he shall be alone, which is a familiar theme for a Smiths song, but the notion is conveyed most effectively here. Obviously, any Smiths fan knows the importance of the band and the importance of "The Queen is Dead". But if you have yet to discover the band and have been intrigued by what you've heard or read, then you should start with the self titled debut album and then work your way through the second album "Meat is Murder", and then to "The Queen is Dead". That way you can grow as a listener the way The Smiths grew as a band. Hopefully, you will enjoy the experience as much as I have.

The Queen is Dead is one of those rare records that I can honestly changed my life. The first Smiths record I ever bought, this album made me realize what music could truly be like. Morrissey's lyrics were unlike anything I had ever heard. At 17, the words were like a bullet through my soul. Johnny Marr's riffs (not just on this record) will never be surpassed. The complete contrast in style between Johnny's incredibly melodic (happy) music and the unrelenting seriousness of Morrissey's lyrics creat a landscape which is hard to describe. At once exhilirating and contemplative, it's a match made in Heaven. To me this is the best album of the 80's. The Smiths were always a little too English to be Mega Stars in the U.S. but anybody with any sense realizes what huge gap there was (is) between them and every other pop group (U2 being the only exception-in a world/class of their own). If you refuse to buy this record, I have nothing I can say to you.

The Smiths really are the greatest pop band of all time. The Cure is my favourite band, but The Smiths are undeniably the best. I discovered "The Queen is Dead" when I was twenty (in 2000), and it served as my introduction to the band. I really was not a keen fan of the whole Brit-pop thing and thus had really glossed over this guys. I bought the album after 'Frankly, Mr. Shankly' made its way into repeat on my brain. My first response was disappointment with the rest of the album. Little by little different songs grew on me, and within two moths I was obsessed with the record. That summer I did not by another record for 4 months, and usually I buy about 20 records during the school break. Morrissey is the only singer whose words have the power to haunt me during a day. Right now 'The Queen...' is once again on constant repeat in my car. All the Smiths records are incredible and their abilitly to capture the hearts and minds of audiences really is unparalleled.

If you don't have this record and you loved early U2, New Order, Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode records, you need this in your collection. If you love the so-called 'indie-movement' of today and like bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Xiu Xiu, Interpol, Sufjan Stevens, you need this album. Actually you'll want this album. And I'm jealous of anyone who gets to fall in love with this album for the first time. But, then again falling in love with it all over again treats one pretty well too.

Definitely a gem in the Smiths anthology, The Queen is Dead is the album that launched the Smiths to international acclaim in contrast to the relegated cult following they enjoyed in Europe. As many fans of the Smiths, when I first became acquainted with the Smiths, I discovered a band that represented much more than an image or sound. As an alienated youth, Morrissey's whitty and heartfelt lyrics where ones that I readily clung to. Through the music of the Smith's I was able to conjure an image of what it was lke to be British. Perhaps to some residents of the U.K, gestures of national pride and cultural identity might appear to be vulgar or even jingoistic, but if there's anything lacking from music today, it would be the sense of urgeny and passion that a band like The Smiths conveyed to the world. Long live great music and Long live The Smiths.

The Smiths is the coolest possible name for a band because instead of going for the weirdest, wildest name they chose the most common, ordinary name around and made it cool. Also, many could identify with the image of everyday people with common problems that the name represented for some.

I probably shouldn't let on just how much this album meant to me as a floundering teen in the 80's so I won't. I just feel vindicated that it's now commonly considered to be the best Smiths album because I used to argue with a friend about it who thought MEAT IS MURDER to be the best. (While it has some great moments, that album would be my last choice).

This band really stirs some passionate feelings in people! Morrisey is indeed the Leper Messiah for the alienated, the shy, the ordinary, the depressed, the losers, the outsiders . . . he's also wickedly funny! And, of course, Johnny Marr is a certifiable guitar hero, king of the jangly melody.

Instead of trying to describe this music to you, allow me to give you a taste of Morrisey's lyrics from each song:

"Life is very long when you're lonely" - "The Queen is Dead"

"I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of" - "Franky Mr. Shankly"

"Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head" - "I Know It's Over"

"I had a really bad dream/ It lasted 20 years, 7 months and 27 days" - "Never Had No One Ever"

"All those people all those lives, where are they now?" - "Cemetary Gates"

"Sweetness, I was only joking when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head" - "Bigmouth Strikes Again"

"Behind the hatred there lies/ A murderous desire for love" - "The Boy with the Thorn in his Side"

"The fabric of a tutu/ Any man could get used to/ And I am a living sign." - "Vicar in a Tutu"

"If a double-decker bus/ Crashes into us/ To die by your side/ Is such a heavenly way to die" - "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"

"Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers" - "Some Girls are Bigger than Others"

An aside: I saw them for the Queen is Dead tour (Bronco Bowl - Ft. Worth). My friends and I bribed our way onto the floor which was an open pit in front of the stage. It quickly became a mosh pit, but not the kind where you knock people around. This moshing was more like a writhing mass of love, love from people brought together by a mutual adoration of the Smiths who were fantastic that night. It was the most fun I've ever had at a concert (with the exception of the Grateful Dead -!) and I still have an old jacket in the back of my closet with a strip from Morrisey's shirt on it.

I've only owned this album for a week, the first Smiths album I've ever listened to, and it has grabbed me with such force that I've become evangelical about it. It is a wonderful piece of music, matching superb tunes (catchy and exquisite at the same time) with hilarious and important lyrics.

I read in Q magazine that at the time of the Smiths in the 1980s someone said that, in twenty years time, they'd be compared to the Beatles. Well, here we are twenty years on, and they aren't. But while the Beatles have gone on to be pop music's Shakespeare - the unchallengable god, quoted and known everywhere - the Smiths are the Keats or Byron: that is, a highly respected and loved group, romantic and death-obsessed, with a smaller canon of work and with a greatness only a rank or two below the Untouchables on Mount Olympus. But you understand the Beatles comparison: a British foursome writing intelligent, socially observant but occasionally mockingly funny songs, in the Beatles traditional (also Queen and Syd Barrett come to mind: camp, surreal nonsense especially on Vicar in a Tutu and Frankly Mr Shankley). Like those other artists, though, they have the import to carry it off to a level away from campness and nursery rhyme-esque silliness - Frankly Mr Shankley, for instance, is a very funny song of unemployment and never-to-be-realised ambitions.

Don't have any qualms about buying this album - I can't imagine anyone who won't love it. The songs are basically pop or soft rock songs, but ratchetted up a notch or three by the lyrics, the style of singing, and the beauty with which the instruments are utilised. Almost every song opens with a pop tune you might expect to carry on for the next four minutes, but they aren't as simple as that: the tune always develops to go to a higher artistic plane, and that is their secret. Just the way Morrissey says a few things - "dressed in your muther's bridal veil", "the mentally ill", "handsome groom, give her room" - is enough to make me laugh or shiver with delight . . . he undulates his voice with a lyrical beauty that is unique. Certain lines stay with you as expressions of teenage worries about sexuality - "another climb into an empty bed, oh well, enough said" is surely every teenager's maxim.

On the social side, this album recorded in "England, Winter 1985" is a masterpiece of social discontent. This is what Thatcher was doing to the whole of Britain: "dear old Blighty" is mocked to high heaven by Morrissey's stark portrayal of a country in the grips of the "dole age", expressed through his almost apologetic republicanism ("her very Lowness with her head in a sling, I'm truly sorry but it sounds like a wonderful thing") and open-mindedness on a new morality (homosexuality, transvestism). Just like the Romantic poets they followed in so many ways, the Smiths' republicanism was brilliant and sadly doomed, but for those still living here it gives us pleasure and hope.

There's nothing more to say about this album - buy this and love it!

"The Queen is Dead" ranks as one of the finer Smiths recordings. It's lusher, denser and more baroque than either "Meat is Murder" or their self-titled debut album, but it retains Morrissey's uniquely melancholy view of life. His lettucehead laments are wonderfully undercut by Johnny Marr's jazzy, jangly guitar riffs (I think he outranks U-2's The Edge for sonic impression) and the band never sounded tighter. This is a collection of tunes to accompany a walk in the moss, dressed up like Oscar Wilde, and throwing one's velvet-gloved hand over one's head in mock-despair - and it's great fun if you understand Morrissey's dark humor.

The songs range from rollicking ("The Queen is Dead," "Bigmouth Strikes Again") to mopey ("Never Had No One Ever") to hopeful ("There is a Light That Never Goes Out") and all manner of navel-gazing themes. The imagery is rich: being buried alive ("I Know It's Over), naughty clergy ("Vicar in a Tutu"), and weathered tombstones ("Cemetry Gates"). In short, all the things that Morrissey loves best. His oft-times unsettling vocal makes the lyrics more personal than political, while Marr's deft chords prune the excess sentimentality.

Musically, The Smiths could rock out (listen to Mike Joyce's strong drumming in particular) and they could change from ballad to rockabilly on a dime. Although much of their magic was due to Morrissey's black-curtained self-pity, the band was unique for its day - only equaled by groups like The Cure. "The Queen is Dead" is a high point for The Smiths.