It was Oscar Wilde who remarked that imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery and this maxim couldn’t be truer
than when discussing the plagiarising, bedhopping world of rock
music. One band’s innovation is another’s inspiration,
and so pop has been eating itself for the last 60 years. To take
the most obvious example of modern times, Nirvana’s day in
the sun could have ended with Kurt Cobain’s suicide but
instead they were unwittingly responsible for creating an entire
generation of imitators; some excellent, some execrable (anyone
remember Puddle of Mudd?). On the cusp of summer 2004, it is not
Nirvana that today’s rock heroes have been listening to, but
a band so uniquely British they share a name with over half a
million of the country. The influence of this band can be heard on two of this
year’s most impressive debut albums, Franz Ferdinand’s
eponymous LP and Canadian rockers The Stills’ Logic Will
Break Your Heart: big riffs and bigger choruses aplenty and, more
curiously, genuinely literate lyrics. Take Franz Ferdinand’s
latest single, ‘Matinee’: “so I’m on BBC 2
now/telling Terry Wogan how I made it/how I made it is unclear
but his deference is and his laughter is.” When was the last
time that the word ‘deference’ troubled the Top Ten?
All of which leaves the rather unshakeable feeling that these
bands and others, including The Delays, have been listening to
the kings of the educated, self-aware lyric, The Smiths. For the uninitiated, The Smiths were a Manchester band that
made a number of classic albums during the 1980s and early
‘90s. They were personified by their iconic frontman Steven
Morrissey whose vague sexuality, soaring voice and overt politics
courted continual press attention. That and his sporting of the
largest quiff seen in rock since Elvis left the building. They
are primarily remembered for being a bunch of miserable bastards,
who just happened to write some of the finest love songs ever
recorded. Their 1986 opus The Queen is Deadis regarded, by
critics at least, as one of the best albums ever. The air of
intrigue surrounding the band’s demise adds to their
enduring appeal, as does the tantalising proposition of a
reunion. The ‘90s however, were a wasteland for the band. Despite
hints of their lyrical witticisms in the work of Pulp and Belle
& Sebastian, there has always remained a feeling that The
Smiths belong in the Dark Ages of the Eighties, with Thatcher,
poll tax, miners’s strikes and Duran Duran. The swaggering,
boisterous Britpop era, the emergence of the Loaded lad and
Blair’s Cool Britannia made the British dandy the most
unfashionable of images. Amid the beer bellies and Patsy Kensit,
there was no place for the rake-thin, fey white-boy singing songs
of love lost and love never attained. The pendulum however, has swung, and a love affair with The
Smiths is being rekindled. As Mark Simpson writes in The
Guardian, “For much of the last decade we’ve been in
denial, pretending we were over them, but it looks as if
we’re beginning to face facts.” Quite simply, geek chic
is back with a vengeance. The hottest property on TV, as this
critic is reliably informed, is the bespectacled loser Seth from
The OC, this season’s essential haircut is the mullet and
the only way to get around is on a Lambretta scooter.
Furthermore, Morrissey’s first studio album in seven years
is out later this month and he is curator of this year’s
prestigious Meltdown festival in London’s South Bank. Both Franz Ferdinand and The Stills have waxed lyrically on
the influence of The Smiths on their own music and the evidence
is clear for all to hear. Alex Kapranos, the blonde, foppish lead
singer of the Glaswegian rockers confessed that he simply wanted
to make music “for girls to dance to” and it is damned
near impossible not to dance like an idiot to Morrissey crooning
over ‘Hand in Glove’. Listen to ‘There’s a
Light That Never Goes Out’ and ‘Take Me Out’ and
be struck by the same resigned sentiments on what happens when
you don’t get the girl. The Smiths. Heaven knows; they’re influential now.ARCHIVE: 1st week TT 2004
Just Hit Repeat
