The Smiths didn't spend a long time together. Between 1984 and 1987, the band produced four studio albums, two records of one-off singles and BBC sessions, and a live album. Each full-length piece of art that the group released is worth owning, however.
Led by the lyrical genius of Morrissey and the uncommon melodies of guitarist Johnny Marr, the Smiths created music that would influence thousands of bands that followed. Simply put, alternative music today doesn't exist without the Smiths.
Sadly, not only did the band stop making music together in 1987, but legal issues between the bandmates - the late Andy Rourke played bass and drummer Mike Joyce rounded out the foursome - made it so no new Smiths music would ever be created. Maybe there is some hope that Marr and Morrissey somehow do a gig together somewhere, but this seems highly unlikely. At least we have the excellent music the band created in the 1980s to last forever.
Ranking the Smiths four proper studio albums
No. 4 - Meat is Murder (1985)
Putting any Smiths album as the "worst" on any list is almost criminal. The band simply has no bad full-length records. Meat is Murder would be among the best albums for many groups. The only reason this ranks as the Smiths' least-best (if I can use a term like that) album is because some of the songs are a bit overlong. I like the title track a bunch, but it's still about two minutes too long.
Still, album-opener "The Headmaster Ritual" is lyrically perfect while "What She Said" repeats its words like a blues song but has definite rock-guitar backing that sounds almost as if the music is intentionally losing control. The record also has "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore," among other bits of excellence. Still, this album is the middle-ground between the roughness of the debut album and the better-produced third so Meat is Murder doesn't quite meet the level of either.
No. 3 - The Smiths (1984)
A debut album from any group that begins with a song ("Reel Around the Fountain") whose lyrics include, "I dreamt about you last night/And I fell out of bed twice/You can pin and mount me like a butterfly/But, 'Take me to the haven of your bed'/Was something that you never said/Two lumps, please/You're the bee's knees but so am I" likely means you are about to hear something like you've never heard before. Morrissey's lyrics have always been among the best of anyone who has ever written words.
There was only one single released from the album, "What Difference Does It Make?", but "This Charming Man" had been released previous to the record coming out. Some of the songs are very dour, such as "Suffer Little Children," and Morrissey hadn't quite developed his elite tongue-firmly-in-cheek sense of humor with the lyrics, but just as any Smiths record, every song on the album is must-listen music.
The Smiths No. 2 - Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)
Oddly, this album is the band's second-best when it has no business being. The group disbanded months prior to the album being released and there was little hope that even during the recording of the record the band was going to last much longer. Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr always seemed like a strange pairing as they approached music from different directions. There was no real humor to Marr's jazz-infused playing while Morrissey's words were almost always intended with a knowing smirk.
Recorded at the Wool Hall in Beckington, Somerset, England - a studio owned by the band Tears for Fears - the record has a much fuller sound than any of the band's previous three stuido albums. Maybe this is simply a creation of the studio itself (the Smiths might have borrowed a few ideas from Tears for Fears), but there is definitely a lushness to the songs.
The album charted well in the UK (the Smiths were never as successful in the United States as they were in the UK and Europe) and reached number 2 on the album charts. Critically, the record was received well and has since made some top-100 albums of the 1980s lists.
Four singles were released off the album, including "Girlfriend in a Coma," "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish," "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me," and "Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before." At least two of those songs don't sound like tracks you'd hear on the radio now, but that's how brilliant the band was. And again, like many Smiths albums, some of the best tracks are not singles. "Unhappy Birthday," for instance, will get stuck in your head for days.
The Smiths No. 1 - The Queen is Dead (1986)
This album is pure perfection. Every single track on the record is worth multiple stand-alone listens by itself. Over the course of ten songs, Morrissey and Johnny Marr reach an elite level of mixing fantastic melodies with lyrics that cover social commentary, uncommon sadness, and, well...rage. The Smiths weren't really known for just straight-out anger, but there is no doubt that album opener, "The Queen is Dead," is just that.
Still, even buried in the anger directed toward the English monarchy, the song's words are unlike anything else you will listen to. "So I broke into the Palace with a sponge and a rusty spanner/She said, 'Eh, I know, and you cannot sing'/I said, 'That's nothing, you should hear me play the piano"'." What has ever been written better than that?
"I Know It's Over" is one of the saddest tunes the Smiths ever produced. But what the group, and specifically Morrissey, always was able to convey more than other other musical artist was a connection and understanding of the audience hearing the records. Those going through depression understand with every aching word on "I Know It's Over" that things suck, but that one is not alone in those thoughts.
Perhaps the most perfect song ever created is the penultimate track on the record. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" has some of Morrissey's best turns of phrase, finds that even dying in certain ways can be OK as long as you share the moment quite wryly with the one you love, and Marr's melody is so good that if there were no words the song would still be terrific. The entire album is brilliant, however, and you should go out and buy the vinyl right now.