0:00:02 > 0:00:04Hello, you little charmers!
0:00:04 > 0:00:06We're The Smiths - how d'you do?
0:00:08 > 0:00:13This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15They're the most important, most intelligent,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19most idiosyncratically English and most sorely missed
0:00:19 > 0:00:21pop band of the 1980s.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24If you don't agree with that, you probably think
0:00:24 > 0:00:26they're the most miserable act of the era.
0:00:26 > 0:00:27Each to their own.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31# You shut your mouth
0:00:31 > 0:00:33# How can you say
0:00:33 > 0:00:36# I go about things the wrong way... #
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It was 30 years ago this week that Hand In Glove hit the airwaves,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43announcing the arrival of four lads from Manchester
0:00:43 > 0:00:47who couldn't easily be placed in the pop pigeonholes of the day.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50# Hand in glove
0:00:50 > 0:00:55# The sun shines out of our behinds... #
0:00:55 > 0:00:58The Smiths produced four studio albums in as many years,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01crammed with 16 hit singles.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Their music made you laugh, cry and think,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07and it left an indelible mark on a generation,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09before taking a bow in 1987,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12leaving behind an exquisite corpse of words,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14images and sounds.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19For me, growing up in Manchester in the 1980s,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22The Smiths were my band. Morrissey was my idol.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26There I am, aged 13, the budding reporter, with him -
0:01:26 > 0:01:30the day I wangled an interview with Morrissey for my school newspaper.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34The Smiths came to mean so much more to me than your average pop group -
0:01:34 > 0:01:36and I wasn't alone.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38They were IT.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42They were as big and as important as The Jam and the Sex Pistols -
0:01:42 > 0:01:44and The Beatles.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46It was just something really refreshing,
0:01:46 > 0:01:48really new, really simple... and beautiful.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51You try to pass on good things to your kids, and a good thing
0:01:51 > 0:01:53to pass on is The Smiths' music and what they stood for.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57There's a lot of guff, romantic guff, talked about rock'n'roll.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00But I do think that The Smiths were a life-changing band -
0:02:00 > 0:02:02certainly changed my life.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16The Smiths were the product of a specific time and place.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19They formed in Manchester in 1982,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22when the post-punk generation were still facing no future,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25as the Iron Lady advanced on the north's traditional industries.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Unemployment topped 3 million for the first time since the 1930s,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32and if that wasn't bad enough,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Eurovision was the hot ticket in Harrogate that spring.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39# I could have taken one step further and I would have been there... #
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Against this dismal backdrop of hardship and crap pop music,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47for a lost generation, The Smiths arrived like an answered prayer.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53You've got to see them, for me, anyway,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56in the context of the darkest point of the long, dark night
0:02:56 > 0:02:58of the northern soul, under Thatcher's
0:02:58 > 0:03:01kind of one-woman social experiment
0:03:01 > 0:03:04to crush the north of England underfoot.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07That alienation of people in the north feeling that
0:03:07 > 0:03:11the establishment was against them, the government was against them,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13that was very, very pronounced.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16And then you hear that sound, that sparkling, iridescent guitar sound.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20And that voice, that operatic voice...
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate...
0:03:23 > 0:03:25As a way of saying to the world, "Here we are,"
0:03:25 > 0:03:27it's hard to beat This Charming Man.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30# Punctured bicycle
0:03:30 > 0:03:33# On a hillside desolate
0:03:35 > 0:03:38# Will nature make a man of me yet?
0:03:41 > 0:03:43# When in this charming car
0:03:44 > 0:03:48# This cha-arming man... #
0:03:50 > 0:03:53When I first seen them on Top Of The Pops,
0:03:53 > 0:03:54they were just so odd.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Johnny Marr looked like this classic rock star -
0:03:57 > 0:04:00you know, the big, red semi-acoustic guitar
0:04:00 > 0:04:04and a turtle-neck, and I was like, wow! And he had a...
0:04:04 > 0:04:06the Brian Jones hairdo.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Yet Morrissey just looked like
0:04:08 > 0:04:11something that had never been seen before, with the hearing aid
0:04:11 > 0:04:13and flowers hanging out of his back pocket.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16They just kind of exploded, didn't they?
0:04:16 > 0:04:18# I would go out tonight
0:04:18 > 0:04:23# But I haven't got a stitch to wear... #
0:04:23 > 0:04:25The Smiths emerged into this uncertain arena
0:04:25 > 0:04:28that was early '80s Britain like a fully-formed gang,
0:04:28 > 0:04:33and invited you to join - to enter another world, their world.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37And the invitation came directly from their gladioli-wielding leader.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41I feel The Smiths create their world,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43and not many groups do that.
0:04:43 > 0:04:44And you can either go in,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47or you can say, "No, I want Diana Ross instead."
0:04:47 > 0:04:49And it's your choice.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Here was no ordinary alpha male rock front man.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55Morrissey fearlessly broke the mould,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59and was a beacon to all those struggling to fit
0:04:59 > 0:05:01into the existing '80s stereotypes,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04like market trader and aspiring fashion designer
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Lancashire lad Wayne Hemingway.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12# This charming man... #
0:05:12 > 0:05:1530 years ago, Camden market, you were here with your first stall?
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Yeah, the first stall was just over there in the corner.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Er, it was a place where...
0:05:21 > 0:05:24All the club culture from all around the UK and Europe
0:05:24 > 0:05:26would come here to buy their old DMs,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29to buy their second-hand long coats, their National Health specs -
0:05:29 > 0:05:33the whole thing of the Morrissey look.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35This was the first time where the idea that you could wear
0:05:35 > 0:05:38your dad's and your mum's or your grandma's clothes
0:05:38 > 0:05:41and mix it with a bit of new, and mix all these different decades,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44and come up with something that was different.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Who did that speak to at the time,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49who did that allow to come into the tribe?
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Whatever persuasion you were, you know. If you were gay,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54you could like the way that he unbuttoned his shirt,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57and the gladioli. If you were a bit hard, you could like
0:05:57 > 0:06:00the quiff, but it all kind of crossed,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02and he knew what he was doing, but it was how he put it together.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04That's the whole secret of cool,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06is how you take things and you put it together.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11He may have been down with the underground,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14but Morrissey's effortless ascent to pop idol status
0:06:14 > 0:06:17also won the hearts of mainstream kids in Britain.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19But unlike other chart pin-ups,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Morrissey was also after their minds.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26In Marsden, North Yorkshire, it was the words rather than the image
0:06:26 > 0:06:30that captured the imagination of Simon Armitage.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33The moment I start listening to them,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37I'm transported back to, you know, '83, '84.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42Did it speak to you and where you were in your life at that time?
0:06:42 > 0:06:46It absolutely did. I mean, I don't think I realised it then,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50erm, but...you know, it was the language.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55And I remember listening to Reel Around The Fountain,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58not quite sure what it was about, but thinking,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00nobody else is this smart.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03# It's time the tale were told
0:07:05 > 0:07:07# Of how you took a child
0:07:07 > 0:07:14# And you made him old... #
0:07:14 > 0:07:18It's such a peculiar song. It starts with a confession,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22almost an allegation, you know, "It's time the tale were told..."
0:07:22 > 0:07:27But then it develops into this slightly subversive celebration of,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30you know, sexual awakening and a loss of innocence.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34# 15 minutes with you
0:07:34 > 0:07:39# Well, I wouldn't say no... #
0:07:39 > 0:07:42And it's like a lot of the great Smiths songs, it's a fantasy,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44and it never actually happened.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48It's all about imagining what something would have been like.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51And on that level, it's hugely appealing to anybody
0:07:51 > 0:07:54who's ever felt any kind of loneliness, or...
0:07:54 > 0:07:56that they're on the margin somewhere.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00# Oh, reel around the fountain... #
0:08:00 > 0:08:04The Smiths gave you a sense of, "You're not on your own."
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Well, it was like they were saying "You are on your own,
0:08:08 > 0:08:09"but there's a lot of you out there."
0:08:09 > 0:08:12MUSIC: "Cemetery Gates" by The Smiths
0:08:20 > 0:08:24A song like Cemetery Gates in the hands of another band
0:08:24 > 0:08:27would be a terrible, sort of morbid piece of work.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32What you get instead is two speccy intellectuals
0:08:32 > 0:08:34trying to out-quote each other.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54It's the opposite of what you would expect from somebody of that age
0:08:54 > 0:08:58in a cemetery writing a song.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Morrissey's songs were packed with hidden meaning for fans
0:09:05 > 0:09:09to discover and debate as his fantasy worlds collided with a very
0:09:09 > 0:09:13real-world around him in post-industrial Manchester.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17# Park the car at the side of the road
0:09:17 > 0:09:19# You should know
0:09:19 > 0:09:23# Time's tide will smother you... #
0:09:23 > 0:09:27The North figured large in these songs.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30They're shot through with a sort of Manchester melodrama.
0:09:30 > 0:09:37These were lyrics just full of the details of everyday, domestic life.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43# When you walk without ease
0:09:43 > 0:09:46# On these
0:09:46 > 0:09:49# Streets where you were raised... #
0:09:49 > 0:09:52'The Smiths joined a long tradition of British literature,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56'theatre and film that can be described as Northern Realism
0:09:56 > 0:09:59'and is epitomised by the British New Wave cinema
0:09:59 > 0:10:01'of the '50s and '60s.'
0:10:01 > 0:10:03'Morrissey particularly was clearly
0:10:03 > 0:10:06'really immersed in that kitchen sink drama,'
0:10:06 > 0:10:08British New Wave, those black-and-white movies like
0:10:08 > 0:10:12Billy Liar and Saturday Night And Sunday Morning,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15and particularly A Taste of Honey.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21A Taste of Honey was first performed in 1958 and written by
0:10:21 > 0:10:25Salford playwright Shelagh Delaney when she was just 18 years old.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28The film adaptation, starring Rita Tushingham,
0:10:28 > 0:10:33brought Delaney national recognition and won a raft of awards.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Delaney's treatment of issues like race,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39gender and homosexuality and simply her depiction of
0:10:39 > 0:10:42working-class northerners was radical at the time.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Dream of me.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Dreamt of you last night.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50- Fell out of bed twice.- Ta-ra!
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Morrissey's admiration for Shelagh Delaney
0:10:53 > 0:10:54bordered on the excessive.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56In way of tribute, he condensed the entire
0:10:56 > 0:11:01story of A Taste of Honey into the song This Night Has Opened My Eyes.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05# In a river the colour of lead
0:11:05 > 0:11:09# Immerse the baby's head
0:11:09 > 0:11:14# Wrap her up in The News Of the World
0:11:14 > 0:11:17# Dump her on a doorstep, girl... #
0:11:17 > 0:11:22I became very interested in film about people in the North,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25specifically, with their tail trapped in the door, almost,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28trying to get out, trying to get on, trying to be somebody.
0:11:28 > 0:11:29Trying to be seen.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32And I found that very appealing.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38The Smiths' identification with the grit of Northern life gave them
0:11:38 > 0:11:42a harder, darker edge than their chart contemporaries and,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45regardless of whether songs turn up today on movie soundtracks and
0:11:45 > 0:11:48even wedding vows, they'll for ever
0:11:48 > 0:11:51be anchored in those Salford streets.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54They came from these streets and they sounded like it.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57They talked about the bleakness of it and lack of opportunities,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59sometimes, and the miserableness of it,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01but they also talked about the joy.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04They made it beautiful, this place.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10'This bleakly beautiful atmosphere infused all aspects
0:12:10 > 0:12:13'of The Smiths and it was visualised in their distinctive single
0:12:13 > 0:12:18'and album covers, featuring images hand-picked by Morrissey himself.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21'Jo Slee worked at Rough Trade Records
0:12:21 > 0:12:23'and oversaw the design process.'
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Basically, I would receive something like this, so it's effectively
0:12:29 > 0:12:33a very full diagram with notations
0:12:33 > 0:12:35of every single thing that he wanted,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39including the Pantone colours and the typeface
0:12:39 > 0:12:43and whether it was bold or italic.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48Is this normal for a band to send in this level of detail?
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Not in my experience.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54Morrissey had a kind of artistic vision
0:12:54 > 0:12:56that was really unique to him.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01The band themselves never appeared in their artwork.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Taking the place of the standard group shot was
0:13:04 > 0:13:07a procession of moody photographic portraits.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Bound together by their grainy, duotone colours,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13and minimal use of text, the gallery of famous and
0:13:13 > 0:13:17not so famous faces - and the odd bum - were an intimate scrapbook
0:13:17 > 0:13:20of pin-ups Morrissey wanted to share with the world.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24The cover stars seem to fall into two camps.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26You have your tough, Northern female,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28sort of uber-Coronation Street characters.
0:13:28 > 0:13:29What does that tell you?
0:13:29 > 0:13:33You tell me. What does that tell you?
0:13:33 > 0:13:39He had a fantasy of what Northern Realism was about
0:13:39 > 0:13:45and the real loving background that they portrayed,
0:13:45 > 0:13:50- but I always had the feeling that he somehow hadn't had that.- Mmm.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53So there's a kind of nostalgia for something that perhaps
0:13:53 > 0:13:57was never really there.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01# Oh, Mother, I can feel... #
0:14:01 > 0:14:03And with the male icons?
0:14:03 > 0:14:07You can say homoerotic, if you want to,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10but, for me, there was more to it than that.
0:14:10 > 0:14:16# And as I climb into an empty bed
0:14:16 > 0:14:21# Oh, well, enough said... #
0:14:21 > 0:14:25It was about... Perhaps representative
0:14:25 > 0:14:26of who he longed to be,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29what was in his heart, really.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32And that's another thing that makes them beautiful, I think,
0:14:32 > 0:14:33is that they're all about
0:14:33 > 0:14:36what Morrissey used to call his "unusable heart."
0:14:36 > 0:14:39SHE LAUGHS
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Morrissey used the power of the visual image to send
0:14:46 > 0:14:48coded messages to the outside world.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52However, when it came to burning issues that were close
0:14:52 > 0:14:55to his "unusable heart", he was happy to resort
0:14:55 > 0:14:57to a more direct approach.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Meat is murder. A very direct political message
0:15:01 > 0:15:05and I was already a vegetarian by the time that came out,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08but, you know, it converted a huge number of people to vegetarianism.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Put me that way for ten years.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14# This beautiful creature must die
0:15:14 > 0:15:19# This beautiful creature must die
0:15:19 > 0:15:22# A death for no reason
0:15:22 > 0:15:24# And death for no reason is murder... #
0:15:24 > 0:15:28We feel that probably music should be used in order to make
0:15:28 > 0:15:32serious statements, because so many groups sell
0:15:32 > 0:15:34masses and masses of records
0:15:34 > 0:15:37and don't raise people's level
0:15:37 > 0:15:41of consciousness in any direction and we find that quite sinful.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43MACHINE SCREECHES
0:15:43 > 0:15:44What The Smiths brought was politics
0:15:44 > 0:15:49that you could actually completely understand.
0:15:49 > 0:15:50Meat is murder.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54Anti-cruelty. Anti-Thatcher.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58It was just a brilliant approach to politics, really.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02If The Smiths were anti-anything,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04it was the entire British establishment,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07particularly the royal family and Thatcher's government.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Their 1986 album and its title song, The Queen Is Dead,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14was their state of the nation address.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17# The queen is dead, boys
0:16:17 > 0:16:19# And it's so lonely on a limb... #
0:16:19 > 0:16:22The Queen Is Dead I think musically is one of their most powerful
0:16:22 > 0:16:24songs and has got a real sort of
0:16:24 > 0:16:26anger bubbling below the surface.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29For a certain section of people,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32a certain generation of people, that did have a real impact.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35# A crack on the head
0:16:35 > 0:16:37# Is what you get for not asking... #
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Few bands since The Smiths have so openly attacked the state
0:16:41 > 0:16:45and their oppositional stance is still used as a stick to bash
0:16:45 > 0:16:50the powers that be, even if those powers profess to be friends themselves.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54As someone who claims to be an avid fan of The Smiths,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57the Prime Minister will no doubt be rather upset this week to hear
0:16:57 > 0:17:00that both Morrissey and Johnny Marr have banned him from liking them.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02LAUGHTER
0:17:02 > 0:17:05David Cameron purports to be a Smiths fan,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08but I'm very sceptical that he actually ever was.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10The Smiths are, of course, the archetypal student band.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12If he wins tomorrow night's vote,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16what songs does he think students will be listening to? Miserable Lie,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19I Don't Owe You Anything or Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now?
0:17:19 > 0:17:21CHEERING
0:17:21 > 0:17:23I expect that if I turned up,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26I probably wouldn't get This Charming Man.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28And if I went with the Foreign Secretary,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30probably William, It Was Really Nothing.
0:17:30 > 0:17:31LAUGHTER
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Are you saying that you can't be right wing and like The Smiths?
0:17:34 > 0:17:36I think maybe some people just don't listen to the lyrics.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39You know, there's a lot of Tories that like Eton Rifles
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and don't seem to realise that it's not their school theme song.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48'The Smiths will always be remembered for causing controversy,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52'but, for many fans, Morrissey's political posturing
0:17:52 > 0:17:55'and even his literary lyrics were mere dressing for the real art
0:17:55 > 0:17:57'being produced by the band.'
0:18:00 > 0:18:03My love of most things musical is strictly for the music.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07The shit going on around it, that's irrelevant to me.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11Morrissey was going on about poetry and vegetarianism
0:18:11 > 0:18:15and, you know, Johnny was going on about The Rolling Stones
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and T Rex and The Stooges and I was like...
0:18:19 > 0:18:21"Hmm, yeah."
0:18:21 > 0:18:23# Each household appliance
0:18:23 > 0:18:27# Is like a new science in my town... #
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Where does Johnny Marr's guitar playing rank for you?
0:18:31 > 0:18:34I've seen him in the studio do things that are
0:18:34 > 0:18:38so simple on a guitar,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42yet so...difficult at the same time.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45That does your head in, do you know what I mean?
0:18:45 > 0:18:49MUSIC: "Nowhere Fast" by The Smiths
0:18:49 > 0:18:52How hard is it to play like Johnny Marr?
0:18:52 > 0:18:54It's impossible, you can't.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57You know, if you're making a record and the producer's saying,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59"Try some of that Johnny Marr stuff,"
0:18:59 > 0:19:01you'd better get on the phone and get him,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03because you can't do it.
0:19:03 > 0:19:04PHONE RINGS
0:19:04 > 0:19:06That's not him now, by the way.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12He invented the style which I'd never heard before,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14it's a true original.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23Johnny Marr's riffs are a thing of legend in British indie rock, but to
0:19:23 > 0:19:28credit him as simply a jangly guitar hero would be faint praise indeed.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34# And when I'm lying in my bed... #
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Marr is without doubt the absolute gel that binds each track together.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43He somehow uses the guitar like an orchestrator uses an orchestra.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46'Classical conductor Charles Hazlewood was still
0:19:46 > 0:19:48'a school choirboy when he recognised
0:19:48 > 0:19:51'the sophistication in The Smiths' arrangements.'
0:19:51 > 0:19:54So let's say you've got, you know, a strummed semi-acoustic guitar,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57which definitely is a kind of binding agent.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03And then elements of lead just coming in and out.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07Bits of phrase picked out, the odd note, maybe a chord here and there.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12Shafts of different kinds of light being just exposed to the whole,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15just to add extra elements or point something up.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23It's a really, really brilliant and rare talent.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Morrissey and Marr were more Elton and Bernie than
0:20:30 > 0:20:32Lennon and McCartney in the way they wrote,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Marr producing cassette tapes of musical arrangements
0:20:35 > 0:20:39for Morrissey to overlay his free-form vocal melodies.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41Whether they knew it or not,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44the resulting sound tapped deep into our national psyche.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46We're a melancholy race. We're quietly glum.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48But we're sort of quietly accepting.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50We've never had a revolution, after all.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53There's a key element, I think, to The Smiths' musical or
0:20:53 > 0:20:55harmonic or melodic style,
0:20:55 > 0:20:57which I think sums this up.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Basically...
0:20:59 > 0:21:03That's a consonant chord, a basic chord in root position.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Now, there's an extra note you can add to it, which is
0:21:06 > 0:21:09that, which is a seventh.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Now, either in its pure form like that, or flattened,
0:21:13 > 0:21:15it's right at the heart of the blues.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18You know, it's the single most important kind of blue note
0:21:18 > 0:21:23in the blues and it's sort of completely redolent of longing,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26of a sense of sort of dissatisfaction
0:21:26 > 0:21:30which you don't find in a lot of other guitar-based songs.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32I mean, the Beatles were much less full
0:21:32 > 0:21:35of these kinds of chords than The Smiths.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37CHEERING AND SHOUTING
0:21:39 > 0:21:44MUSIC: "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths
0:21:44 > 0:21:47# Take me out tonight... #
0:21:47 > 0:21:50The history of pop is littered with sad songs,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53but few acts have been able to capture this emotion
0:21:53 > 0:21:57and turn it into an arena-filling anthem quite like The Smiths.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00# Driving in your car
0:22:00 > 0:22:03# I never, never want to go home
0:22:03 > 0:22:06# Because I haven't got one
0:22:06 > 0:22:09# Anymore... #
0:22:09 > 0:22:13I wondered how many times people have either taped
0:22:13 > 0:22:16or burnt or downloaded
0:22:16 > 0:22:20or written out the lyrics to that song and sent it to somebody else.
0:22:20 > 0:22:27It's just a beautiful, brilliant, all-purpose pro forma love song.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31# Take me out tonight... #
0:22:31 > 0:22:35- CHARLES:- A cool kind of anthemic quality that comes in the chorus,
0:22:35 > 0:22:36the double-decker bus thing,
0:22:36 > 0:22:40it's that moment when all these slightly murky chords...
0:22:44 > 0:22:46..all with a little bit of dirt in them
0:22:46 > 0:22:48and then you get that little break.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55# And if a double-decker bus
0:22:55 > 0:23:00# Crashes into us
0:23:00 > 0:23:02# To die by your side
0:23:02 > 0:23:05# Is such a heavenly way to die... #
0:23:05 > 0:23:09Suddenly it's kind of like lovely, primary colour, like a...
0:23:12 > 0:23:14You know, it's just a lovely phrase.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Of course people are going to wrap their lungs around that.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20We're all pulled together in this kind of wonderful sense
0:23:20 > 0:23:22of mass communal indulgence.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26# And if a ten-ton truck
0:23:26 > 0:23:31# Kills the both of us
0:23:31 > 0:23:33# To die by your side
0:23:33 > 0:23:37# Well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine... #
0:23:37 > 0:23:41Halfway through there's, you know, 6,000 people singing it.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44You're thinking, "Essentially this is a song about death!"
0:23:44 > 0:23:46And yet, because it's The Smiths,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48it's got a kind of spring in its step.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51You know, it's E major. That's a nice, bright, open key.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53If you're going to get killed by a ten-ton truck,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56- you want it in E major, I suppose. - I think you probably do!
0:23:56 > 0:23:57And to sing along with it.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01I'd like an afternoon in a hotel with some cream tea and you playing this in the corner.
0:24:01 > 0:24:02HE LAUGHS
0:24:02 > 0:24:03It's got to be raining outside.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06We probably need to be in Manchester, as well.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08# There is a light that never goes out
0:24:08 > 0:24:12# There is a light that never goes out... #
0:24:12 > 0:24:15The universal appeal of The Smiths' hits travelled
0:24:15 > 0:24:18way beyond Manchester city limits, as a fervent following spread
0:24:18 > 0:24:21amongst angst-ridden teens across the world.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25In the States, a gun-toting fan once attempted to hijack
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Colorado's airwaves in a bid to have back-to-back Smiths records
0:24:28 > 0:24:32replace the standard top 40 fare.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34# Born in the USA... #
0:24:34 > 0:24:36He didn't actually make it past reception
0:24:36 > 0:24:40at KRXY radio in Denver, but the incident passed into legend.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43And there are battalions of other like-minded,
0:24:43 > 0:24:44but, thankfully, unarmed,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47high school kids across the pond whose lives have been
0:24:47 > 0:24:52saved by this perversely exotic group from Manchester, England.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55I grew up in the sort of Bermuda Triangle
0:24:55 > 0:24:58where Bruce Springsteen meets Jon Bon Jovi.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01A culture where you're expected to be a winner
0:25:01 > 0:25:07and be on the cheerleading team and to be perfect and blonde and perky.
0:25:07 > 0:25:08The Smiths were saying,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11"You know, it's all right to be a bit of a nerd
0:25:11 > 0:25:16"and wear spectacles and not have a date and be on your own."
0:25:16 > 0:25:19They created a club of outsiders
0:25:19 > 0:25:24and...I felt like part of that club,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27even 3,000-odd miles away.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31This world of Whalley Range and Rusholme
0:25:31 > 0:25:34and '60s film references, did it resonate with you?
0:25:34 > 0:25:36Did you have any idea what this world was?
0:25:36 > 0:25:39I was desperate to decode everything.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42So yes, I had to go away and find out what Tizer was
0:25:42 > 0:25:47and where Newport Pagnell was and, you know, Rusholme.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52But all these things were really romantic and quite glamorous.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55I mean, I just thought, "If I can just get to Manchester,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58"then all of my prayers will be answered."
0:25:59 > 0:26:01# Panic on the streets of London... #
0:26:01 > 0:26:04'Well, Amy finally did make it to Manchester,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07'and settled in London, where she's now the ringleader of
0:26:07 > 0:26:10'a new generation of obsessive Smiths fans.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13'She's written a stage play devoted to Morrissey and, every now
0:26:13 > 0:26:16'and then, she rounds up her fellow aficionados
0:26:16 > 0:26:19'at events like Smithsfest
0:26:19 > 0:26:21'at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25'to worship and celebrate their band.'
0:26:25 > 0:26:26Good evening, apostles,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29and welcome to Smithsfest at the ICA!
0:26:29 > 0:26:33# But there's panic on the streets of Carlisle
0:26:33 > 0:26:36# Dublin, Dundee, Humberside
0:26:36 > 0:26:40# I wonder to myself... #
0:26:40 > 0:26:43My mum was actually Morrissey's cleaner!
0:26:43 > 0:26:44CHEERING
0:26:44 > 0:26:48This is inside Smithsfest, a very bizarre gathering of people.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52You can have your photograph mocked up outside Salford Lads Club,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54or your quiff resurrected.
0:26:54 > 0:26:55- Hi.- Hi.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Let's give it a go.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02# Burn down the disco
0:27:02 > 0:27:05# Hang the blessed DJ... #
0:27:05 > 0:27:07You are done, ready and quiffed up.
0:27:07 > 0:27:0920 years since I last had a quiff.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11How's it look?
0:27:11 > 0:27:14# Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ
0:27:14 > 0:27:18# Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ... #
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Can I have a round of applause for my necklace, please?
0:27:21 > 0:27:22CHEERING
0:27:22 > 0:27:25# Hang the DJ, hang the DJ... #
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Hardly Salford Lads Club.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29But The Smiths are going to be imitated,
0:27:29 > 0:27:33analysed and celebrated in there until the small hours.
0:27:33 > 0:27:34If quiffing your hair up
0:27:34 > 0:27:37and dressing up like Morrissey isn't your bag,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40we can all celebrate that it was 30 years ago
0:27:40 > 0:27:44this weekend that The Smiths invited us into their achingly beautiful,
0:27:44 > 0:27:46melancholic, oppositional world.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49It's a light which will never go out.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52# Sing me to sleep
0:27:52 > 0:27:55# Sing me to sleep
0:27:55 > 0:27:59# I'm tired and I
0:27:59 > 0:28:01# I want to go to bed... #
0:28:01 > 0:28:06Like all the great bands, it's not something that you can sum up
0:28:06 > 0:28:11in one nifty sentence and say, "It's because of that." It's impossible.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16So people like you spend 30 years trying
0:28:16 > 0:28:18and they'll probably take another 30 years.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20We'll still come back to the same thing -
0:28:20 > 0:28:22they were just fucking great.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25# Sing to me
0:28:25 > 0:28:27# I don't want to wake up
0:28:27 > 0:28:30# On my own any more... #
0:28:32 > 0:28:35There isn't a room to The Libertines like this anywhere in the world.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38There isn't room to Spandau Ballet anywhere in the world like this.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40I mean, whatever you think of it,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42it gives you an idea of just what they meant to...us.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45I was going to say "them", but us.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49# Deep in the cell of my heart
0:28:49 > 0:28:51# I really
0:28:51 > 0:28:53# Want to go
0:28:53 > 0:28:55It's easy to go, "This is a bit silly," but this is
0:28:55 > 0:28:57an expression of people's love for them, know what I mean?
0:28:57 > 0:28:59You and I both know when we leave here
0:28:59 > 0:29:01- we're going to have our photo taken...- Of course we are!
0:29:01 > 0:29:03That's it, just there.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07# Well, there must be
0:29:08 > 0:29:11# Well, there must be... #
0:29:11 > 0:29:13Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd