Tag Archives: The Smiths

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Song of the Day #6,304: ‘The Boy with the Thorn in His Side (Live)’ – The Smiths

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…

#2 – The Queen is Dead – The Smiths

If you’d told me The Smiths’ The Queen is Dead wouldn’t be my #1 album of the year it came out, I would have called you crazy. And yet, that’s where we stand, with one of my all-time favorite albums serving as salutatorian.

I’ve sung this album’s praises so much on the blog that all ten of its tracks have already been featured, requiring me to post a live version today. But I’ll scribble down a few more words of praise.

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Song of the Day #6,266: ‘How Soon is Now?’ – The Smiths

Earlier this summer, I posted a list of the “most forgotten” musical artists of the 60s and 70s, based on an analysis by Chris Dalla Riva on his Can’t Get Much Higher substack. Well, Dalla Riva has proved to be a gift that keeps on giving, because another of his recent analyses has inspired my posts for the next two weeks.

This time he set out to compile a list of the most underrated songs of the 80s, defining “underrated” as high quality mixed with relatively low popularity. To gauge quality, he aggregated critics lists of the best 80s songs to come up with a master list. To gauge present-day popularity, he used Spotify streams.

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Song of the Day #6,233: ‘Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others’ – The Smiths

I like to close out the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame weeks by highlighting artists I love who haven’t (yet) been inducted.

I’ve named The Smiths as the most egregious oversight before and I see no reason not to continue beating that drum today. The English rock band has been eligible since 2009 and nominated twice (in 2015 and 2016) but has yet to make the cut.

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Song of the Day #5,690: ‘A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours’ – The Smiths

Sophia’s final Smiths song comes from the band’s final studio album, 1987’s Strangeways, Here We Come. This album was released months after the band had already broken up.

‘A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours’ is the album’s opening track, and it’s a stunner. Johnny Marr challenged himself to write a song without using guitar, so this one rocks along quite deliciously on piano, drums and a wicked bass (shades of Ben Folds Five).

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Song of the Day #5,689: ‘Half a Person’ – The Smiths

Fiona’s final Smiths selection is one I did introduce to her (after she expressed an interest in the band). ‘Half a Person’ is an obscure B-side that shows up on the compilation Louder Than Bombs and it’s a favorite of mine.

The song finds Morrissey recounting the story of a girl he obsessed over when he was a teenager, only to hear from her years later and find that she is unimpressed with his now-famous self.

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