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The Smiths.


dont_do_it_doug.

The Smiths  

86 members have voted

  1. 1. The Smiths

    • Yes
      57
    • No
      30


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Blandy is right as per usual except for one thing, the Editors never did sound like Joy Division

Except that they did of course. Almost too similar at times.

I never saw (heard) that either. Now The Chameleons...

***EDIT Meh, Travis Bickle beat me to it*** :winkold:

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Blandy is right as per usual except for one thing, the Editors never did sound like Joy Division

Except that they did of course. Almost too similar at times.

Name me one song of theirs that sounds like Joy Division, seriously I've never found one and once you've found that song tell us how its like Joy Division. Now I like both bands, In fact I've seen both bands Live more than once (yes yes yes I know I'm showing my age :P ) but I just don't get any of the comparisons. There are a whole host of those post-punk bands that the Editors can sound like in places but Joy Division? nah think its a myth, it doesn't stand up to scrutiny

I'm serious btw, show me a song that sounds like Joy Division

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Blandy is right as per usual except for one thing, the Editors never did sound like Joy Division

Except that they did of course. Almost too similar at times.

I never saw (heard) that either. Now The Chameleons...

***EDIT Meh, Travis Bickle beat me to it*** :winkold:

YAY, I am not alone in knowing this :nod:

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A list I read years ago included Sandie Shaw, The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, The Cure, The New York Dolls, The Kinks, The Beatles, T. Rex, Buzzcocks, and David Bowie.

Sandie Shaw, T Rex and the New York Dolls were a huge influence on a young Morrisey. Not sure about the others but I'm sure he's slagged off Bowie in the past, he's also had a bit of a spat with Robert Smith.

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Few can rival Morrisey lyrically....but one name I'd drop into the hat would be Ray Davies. The Smiths were great.

Ray Davies was excellent I saw The Kinks live at the AVLC back in the early nineties and he was still excellent.

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I'm serious btw, show me a song that sounds like Joy Division

Would there be any point in me naming say, Munich for example? The whole world (including Peter Hook who probably recognises that Joy Division sound better than most) thinks that they do but you're not going to agree, so er, ho hum. Personally I think that even if they were introduced on stage by Matthew Kelly and announced "tonight Matthew, we're going to be playing Transmission" you'd say they didn't, so we might as well leave it there.

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So come on then, name all these bands that the Cure inspired if they were so influential?

the Cure ceased to be a great band the day they released Love Cats, they have had moments since but not many. Pornography is their finest moment and will never be bettered

The Cure, First 4 albums were Great and its been a long slide down since with the odd decent song along the way

I couldn't name any bands The Cure inspired but I'd bet my life they're out there, not just in England too. Pornography was a tremendous album yeah but the line up then was pretty weak, I still think they hit their very best from around 1987 - 1992. Personally I think their best 2 albums are Wish and Disintegration...funnily enough I think I preferred Bloodflowers to Pornography and Bloodflowers was around 2000 I think.

Knocking them just for Lovecats is daft though, that was more jazz than anything else...it's bad yeah but they released worse singles than that in their time.

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The Cure: One of the most under-rated bands of all time IMHO; although to me they were a singles band in the classic sense: so many great songs, but few if any really great albums. 'The Head on the Door' and 'Disintegration' are the ones that came the closest for me. One of the 5 best bands of the '80s, and maybe Top 10 of all time, but I wouldn't rate them as highly as the Smiths.

I know this is going to upset a few folks, but I believe that if Ian Curtis doesn't hang himself, Joy Division would not be as revered as they are today (I'll say the same for Nirvana). Don't get me wrong, I like them, but just never heard any overwhelming greatness there. For what it's worth, when I heard the first Strokes album circa 2001-02, some of the tracks immediately reminded me of Joy Division.

I wouldn't necesarily say that these bands were great, but the first Sundays album and the first couple of Primitives albums (and I'm sure many other lesser lights of the late '80s and early '90s) clearly borrowed from the Johnny Marr multi-layered guitar sound. I also hear a lot of the Smiths in Belle & Sebastian (not so much for the guitars, but more so the lyrcis, melodies and song structures).

Getting back to the Cure, I concede that I'm hard-pressed to name any bands that were influenced by or sound like them (maybe The Shins? at least parts of their first 2 albums), but I don't consider that a pre-requisite to calling a band great. Sure, the Sex Pistols influenced loads of band, and I respect and acknowledge what they did and represented. But would I kick back at home with a beer and put on, "Never Mind the Bollocks"? Uhh, no.

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I know this is going to upset a few folks, but I believe that if Ian Curtis doesn't hang himself, Joy Division would not be as revered as they are today .

One will never know; but if they had then gone on to continue in their trajectory they would have been even bigger. A few years ago I was driving down one of the many strips in LA and on KROQ on came Joy Division. In that moment under the LA sun, it made perfect, perfect sense. Had they had even had a quarter of the desire of the Irish foursome they would have undoubtly taken that mantle of the ‘biggest band in the world’. But thank God they didn’t

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I used to bloody LOVE 'The Smiths' back when I was a teenager in the 1980s. I remember when I first heard them back in 82/83 as an 11/12 year old I thought they were shit but got to 15 about the time of the release of 'The Queen Is Dead' and something just clicked - and to me they were the best thing since the Villa. I almost cried when I heard they were splitting up !!

I bought a 'Best Of' compilation of 'The Smiths' a year or so back and the tunes and the memories came flooding back. I had it on in my car and my wife asked what it was and why did the singer sound so miserable!? She's German bless her and just didn't get it.

How good would a Smiths reunion and a world tour be?! I would pay big bucks to see that.

Just for the record my favourite Smiths tunes are (apart from all of them!):

This Charming Man

What Difference Does It Make

William It was Really Nothing

The Headmaster Ritual

The Queen Is Dead

Cemetry Gates

Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others

Bigmouth Strikes Again

There's A Light That Never Goes Out

Favourite Album: The Queen Is Dead (by a country mile)

This thread has brought back so many memories - I might dig out some of my old LPs later for a listen.

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I'd just like to point out that I didn't say Editors "sounded like" Joy Division. I said they were influenced by them (and the bunnymen). Like Risso says, the first Album has clear sonic links to JD and Echo & B'men - "Let your good heart lead you home", for example - the first one that came up on my iPod - massive JD influence. Next song "Lights" more bunnymen influence and so on. I dunno how anyone can not see/hear it myself. It's crystal clear.

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Dear god who the hell voted no.....tut tut.
Well me, obviously. I loathe them (to be fair, I mainly loathe Morrissey - his backing band sound OK. Marr is a half decent guitarist - but still a clearing in the woods).

But several others seem to have seen through the emperor's new clothes though.

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Hmmm interesting.

The Smiths really weren't my cup of tea, but I'm a bit of a How Soon is Now fan.

The Cure. There's so many reasons to laugh at their fans; those floppy haired gaylords appearing out of the woodwork everytime the DJ plays "Lovecats" etc. But in fairness, they were the first band I saw live and played a 1.5 hour encore of requests. Top drawer and mucho VFM.

As for Morrissey, I used to hate him, but tip my hat to the fella following his comments about Madonna adopting that Malawian baby:

"I'm surprised she hasn't had him made into a coat, worn it for 5 minutes, then thrown it away."

****' full respect Mozza.

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