The Smiths are the best band ever

[thefinalcut]

The Smiths are the best band ever? To me it's HELL YES!

Please discuss, thanx!

[The Gunner's Dream]

Hahahaha. I like your enthusiasm.

But The Smiths are definitely not the best band ever. They aren't even the best band of the 1980's.

I enjoy a few of their songs. "Panic" and "This Charming Man" come to mind. Their material isn't consistently good though. I find it difficult to listen to an entire Smiths album without skipping through tracks to get to the songs I like. One band that I think was inspired by The Smiths, but writes better music is the band "James". They were sort of a 1990's version of The Smiths, just not as pretentious and with better musicianship.

[thefinalcut]

Hahahaha. I like your enthusiasm.

But The Smiths are definitely not the best band ever. They aren't even the best band of the 1980's.

I enjoy a few of their songs. "Panic" and "This Charming Man" come to mind. Their material isn't consistently good though. I find it difficult to listen to an entire Smiths album without skipping through tracks to get to the songs I like. One band that I think was inspired by The Smiths, but writes better music is the band "James". They were sort of a 1990's version of The Smiths, just not as pretentious and with better musicianship.

Ha thanks! At least you replied to my thread.

Just curious, have you ever heard The Queen Is Dead in its fullest, for instance?
Tell me what your fav album is and I'll suggest you one Smiths record.

And btw, I love James, one of the best bands coming out from Mancunia.

Cheers!

[Hudini]

Their material isn't consistently good though

This. While I enjoy quite a lot of their songs, I find their albums rather difficult to listen all the way through. Morrissey's singing style is too specific to work well with just any kind of music and their signature combination of upbeat music and melancholic vocals can get tiring after a while.

The Smiths are one of those bands that benefited greatly from disbanding. The handful of albums they made helped their cult status remain until this day, instead of being tarnished with time and weaker releases that would have inevitably followed. While both Morrissey and Marr stated 'Strangeways, Here We Come' was their favourite band effort, it was pretty different from their previous albums and not necessarily what the fans wanted to hear from them. It was a gentle step in a risky direction which could have proven either fatal or glorious on another album they never did, but luckily they never had to take that chance.

[thefinalcut]

Hudini have you ever sat down and listened to any of their albums in its enterity? i'd like to know, because I refuse to accept they are a singles band, AT ALL.

I can't believe people aren't touched by Mozza poetry and Marr's guitar playing. I know this is a PF forum and you all have bad taste in music per se, per default. You think that prog bands such King Crimson and all that hippie crap are really good music, but it's not.
Your still discussing Led Zeppelin in one thread and that band makes me puke all the time.
You clasify The Smiths as jingle jangle pop and it's not. The worst thing with you guys is that you're ignorant and lazy and don't wanna hear a record that turns into such a beautiful poetry exhibition... Have the bollocks and tell me in my own face that shitty Gilmour is better musician than Johnny Marr.

To the ones who voted NOT, can you please post your feedback on why you picked that option.

Cheers.

[The Gunner's Dream]

Calm down there darling. If you love every single piece of music The Smiths ever released then that is fantastic and it is your right to enjoy what you love. But everyone else has an equal right to disagree. And it is all a matter of opinion anyway. Perhaps it is best not to make sweeping generalizations about the musical tastes of people just because they post on a Floyd forum. I enjoy everything from classical, jazz, 80's pop, to heavy metal. And yes, I do partake in "that hippie crap" when the mood strikes me.

For the record my favorite Smiths album is their self-titled debut. I've heard bits and pieces of their other 3 albums (and 4 studio albums total really is not much) but I find most of my favorite songs by them are their singles, which don't seem to be included on albums for some reason.

Dave Gilmour vs Johnny Marr isn't even a conversation worth having. They do completely different thing with their instruments. Both are somewhat overrated, but Marr might have an edge in that he is known for his work outside of The Smiths. The same can't really be said of Gilmour. Guitar playing alone, they aren't comparable.

[Hudini]

Who's rocking your cage, thefinalcut?

When I say that I find their albums rather difficult to listen all the way through, I think it's obvious that I did listen to them. All the way through. More than once. Each.

You come here asking a completely subjective question in which you obviously demand to hear everyone confirming your own point of view and then start insulting everyone on this forum, regardless of whether they answered your question or not, again solely on the basis of your own point of view.

It was me who voted that The Smiths are not the best band ever, and I posted my feedback... Only to receive a bunch of insults back instead of constructive discussion.

There is no such thing as "the best band ever", because it's a subjective opinion that can not be quantified. The Smiths may be the best band ever in your opinion, but not necessarily in anyone else's.

Now, if you want to discuss The Smiths in a normal and adult way, calm down and we will discuss. Otherwise, I'm out of this thread.

[thefinalcut]

Who's rocking your cage, thefinalcut?

Oh how typical misoginy...


I'm totally open to discuss this topic as an adult. I got mad because I saw the increasing of negative votes without any single reply that it frustrated me.
I'm not insulting, I'm just describing the classic prog fan. Ignorant & lazy are insults?
I've never said you guys were that type of listener, have I? Gunner & Hudini, you were the only people discussing this thread, I wasn't talking about you guys but the rest. If you got it wrong then I'm sorry.
The typical Floyd fan who rejects anything which does not sound prog and consider a band like The Smiths as rubbish without giving it its proper listen, f you know what I mean.

I know it's very subjective and even personal, but I think it's time for them to get the credit that they deserve as musicians.

Gunners, most of the hits weren't included on the studio albums for the simple reason of people wuldn't be buying the same thing twice. I respect that you like the greatest hits, but their catalogue is far superior to the so called official stuff. Their bsides and relics are gems really.

Should we discuss Marr as the genius musician he is? I never meant to make a comparison with Gilmour, cause Johnny is gifted as hell. But many people on this board see David as a guitar god and to me, the man's not big deal.

Keep talking!

[Hudini]

Oh how typical misoginy...

I had no idea you were a lady. My comment wasn't meant to be misogynist, but if you interpreted it as such, I am sorry.

And yes, both "ignorant" and "lazy" are insulting, whichever way you mean it. But nevermind that.

As I was saying, there is no such thing as "the best band ever", just as there is no "best" genre of music. I also enjoy a wide array of different genres and not every band in each of those genres. I am only interested in progressive rock to an extent, and I do classify some of it as "hippie crap" and some of it as "over-indulgent crap". And Led Zeppelin also makes me nauseous at times, but sometimes they suit me just fine. More or less the same as any band, I guess.

If I had to choose between "better" or "worse" bands in my book, I would definitely label The Smiths as "better", but to me they are like a fine liquor: a sip or two at a time are a bliss, too much should be handled with care. They are an acquired taste, really. But even when I'm not in the mood to put some of their songs on (I do actually do that for my own enjoyment, from time to time) I do have a great deal of respect for everything they've done. Just as I respect 'Meat Is Murder' both as a song and as a philosophy although I am not a vegetarian/vegan myself.

As for Morrissey and Marr, both of them are great musicians/songwriters in their own right, just as David Gilmour is. Comparing Marr and Gilmour as guitar players though is absurd in my opinion. Their styles are so different that I honestly wouldn't know where to start. That doesn't mean that one is better than the other though.

[Vlad The Impaler]

I would counter with the Beatles being the best band ever but others would disagree with that to. It's all subjective. End of story.

[Bigmanpigman]

All a matter of opinion, of course, and my opinion is that I could listen to Johnny Marr's guitar playing all day, whereas Morrissey always just seemed like an irritating tosser to me (and still does), which affected my wishes to really listen to their music in a big way.

[my breakfast.]

The Smiths must sound really intellectual if English is your second language. If English is your first language then they sound like garbage. The Smiths remind me of those painfully aloof floppy fuckup Sebastian Flyte characters you find hanging around artschools and other artistic outlets who need little more a solid kick up the ass. Spoilt, faux-worldy douchebags who fancy themselves as Lord Byron but would probably lose a fight against a step ladder. We don't care if your Dad came out as gay when you were 15 and it threw you off your stride, fuck off and sell your guitar already. Your poetry sucks, your musicianship sucks more and that floppy, palid open-shirt bullshit doesn't lead to meaningful relationships after the age of 19.

Sure The Smiths represent some sort of reaction to the more aggressive and unreconstructed elements of the hard rock and punk that came from the late '70s, but that spineless jangling braying shit they produced (on album after tedius album) does nothing for me. The lyrics are meaningless, but sound like they were written to sound poignant. Why would you listen to a 12 year old child's idea for a movie plot? What do 8 year olds think of global politics? Nobody cares, because they are kids. Why should anybody give a fuck about the opinions of some speccie Mancunian bastard who seemed to be taking the piss out of the burgeoning GLBT movement by adopting the mannerisms and dress sense of the most effeminate members of that movement purely to make the statement "see! We aren't like those nasty punks down the road". Morrisey never had anything useful to say in the '80s. Actually, for that reason alone fuck Fugazi as well. Punk for guys who never developed muscles. Fuck the lot of them, and fuck anyone who thinks this music is better than an '80s novelty that should be filed under H for 'holy fuck lets not revisit any of this shit again".

[The Gunner's Dream]

Classic Alan post.

[thefinalcut]

The Smiths must sound really intellectual if English is your second language.

Yes, to me Morrissey is up there with Wilde, Auden, Byron, Yeats & Plath.

[my breakfast.]

The Smiths must sound really intellectual if English is your second language.

Yes, to me Morrissey is up there with Wilde, Auden, Byron, Yeats & Plath.

Hahahahahahahahaha jeysus. And Johnny Marr is right up there with Mozart I take it?