How and when have you discovered Smiths/Moz music?

[Kuiper]

Let's see if I can remember the details. A few of my family members (parents, uncle) were big Smiths fans when they were together, and bought a couple of his solo albums. So when I was a young kid I had some exposure to Morrissey's music, and always remember and always liked Girlfriend in a Coma. Then over a year ago I saw just a few seconds of the Everyday is Like Sunday video on VH1 Classic or whatever it's called, and remembered that song from when I was younger. Then months later, somehow in my CD collection The Best of Morrissey was there, and I saw Everyday is Like Sunday on there, and so I listened to that song over and over again, and also listened to the other songs that had titles that caught my interest (The More You Ignore Me, Interesting Drug, Hairdresser on Fire). I really started to like Hairdresser on Fire, Interesting Drug, The Last of the Famous International Playboys, and Sing Your Life and so before I got more into the CD that was already in my possession, I borrowed Bona Drag and then kept getting or borrowing more CDs and then he became my favorite artist/The Smiths became my favorite band.

 

[M-in-Oz]

It was my 12th birthday, I was having a sleepover party & we were watching filmclips on the TV late at night when 'Girlfirend In A Coma' came on. We were all pretty silenced & mesmerised by it. Later we couldn't stop joking about the title of the song & making up other silly titles like 'Girlfriend's Now Dead'.

Then we I was 14 I got into the Cure and they were my life...on the bus a friend from school (one that was at the sleepover) gave me a mixed tape and on it was '...Coma'. Of course I listnened to & remembered it but at the time I was trying to resist. There was a little bit of difference in being a Cure fan or being a Smiths/Moz fan. I remember another friend gave me a tape & I found 'This Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' so terribly unbearably depressing! (course I love it now!

Anyway, then I went to a club and 'Ask' came on & during dancing to it I made eyes with me first boyfriend and our ensuring romance was soundtracked to the Smiths. He even looked for a job and found a job and boy were we miserable about that.

 

[unruly boy]

Like a lot of the bands I like, I actually discovered them through Noel Gallagher name-checking them.I was (and indeed still am, but less so) into Oasis in my early teens and I discovered, The Jam, The Stone Roses and The Smiths through Oasis.

There were obviously other bands they mentioned but those I either knew about or didn't get into.

 

[ikyan98]

The SMiths songs grew on me...

It was around 1992, I was 11,12 years old, and every morning, my brother would play his Singles cassette tape, and what i always remember from that morning rituals are the songs Panic and Girlfriend In A Coma. Soon, it became a habit.

Eventually, I found his Moz' Viva Hate tape and then found my bible too.

 

[sonof77]

I was unemployed spending the days when I could afford it in the pub. One Friday night on the Tube (t.v. show) This video came on and a strange bloke began singing these even stranger lyrics, the music lifted my spirit and I was all at once laughing and yet totally transfixed, from that day to this Morrissey has been a constant in my life. For better or worse.

 

[Harry]

I was aware of Morrissey from about 2004. I hadn't really heard much of his stuff, but of course had heard a few Smiths classics on the radio and TV.

I got into the Smiths when I heard 'How soon is now?' on Signal 1 Radio in Stoke in 2005. It seemed to go so well with the rainy drive I was doing, and I had it turned up loud. Because of that song, I bought the Very Best Of, and slowly made my way through it, discovering more and more that I liked.

When 'You have killed me' came out, I decided to investigate Moz himself, and it all spiralled out of control-now I'm hooked.

Harry

 

[chlow]

my dad played me there is a light in our living room about 4 years ago. i didn't get really into them however, until about a month later when my mum had a best of in the car. i liked the noises moz made. i first saw moz because of the smiths when i was 14 and my admiration for him has grown since. and i've seen him 5 times now which is wonderous. how lovely.

 

[Cowshed]

Getting into Moz/The Smiths for me dates back to March 2003. In my local independent record shop in Exeter there were 2 CD's I wanted in a 3 for £20 offer. So I searched for another CD to make it worth my while, and I saw 'The Very Best of The Smiths' on the shelf. I already liked 'How Soon is Now?', but had heard that HSIN was not a good example of Smiths work, and that song was a one-off for their style, so I had always put off buying a Smiths album. So, with this offer I decided to take a gamble. I played it a few times, mostly skipping to HSIN, but a couple weeks later I got chance to listen to the CD properly. That first proper listen was on an exceptionally long walk home from visiting my Mum in hospital, and the quality, the whit, the voice just struck me. Track 1 - 'Panic', just summed up all my nights out at Uni in Leicester (I was then on my Easter break from my first year). 'This Charming Man' I just couldn't stop moving to. I could explain how all the songs on that collection affect and effect me.

I remember listening to the CD all the way up to Leicester on the train and once I got back to my halls I made my flatmate listen to 'Girlfriend in a Coma' - "Listen to the music - it's so uplifting - and yet listen to the voice and what he's singing". He never got it, and still to this day listens to Brittany and Justin Timberlake. My infatuation with The Smiths had already started.

A short time later YATQ was released, and on release day I made an essential trip to HMV. I instantly loved it. From there the back catalogue built up - within 2 months of purchasing 'The Very Best of...' I had all of The Smiths albums, and YATQ, 'Beethoven was Deaf' and 'The Best of Morrissey'.

I didn't find Moz's solo work instantly accessible (the opposite to The Smiths), probably down to 'Beethoven...' and Moz's Best of, not being the best music released under Morrissey's name. However, after putting up with Supergrass and James Brown to be down the front when Morrissey played at Glastonbury I just had to give his other solo stuff a chance - after all, I loved YATQ. Within a month, his solo back catalogue had been bought.

Now I find I prefer, and listen to, his solo work far more than The Smiths (although I did listen to The Smiths' debut album whilst ironing earlier! - but listening to 'Bona Drag' now). And listen to his live bootlegs more than his official albums.


It just makes me wish I paid more attention to 'The Importance of Morrissey' in 2002. I remember a conversation in a friends car the day after the TV programme, and all four of us had watched it - although we didn't know why - none of us were Smiths fans, or Moz fans. I wish I knew then Moz's history and music then - I can't imagine how excited I would have been in the build-up to that being shown - and even the release of YATQ. But he'll be forever with me now...