This Charming Man

It’s hard to believe it’s been 21 years since The Smiths, arguably the greatest ever British band, fizzled out amid a hail of false-hoods and back-biting. For over two decades we’ve gone without hearing any new material penned by the dynamic duo of pop Steven Patrick Morrissey and Johnny Marr and if those pair have their way, it’ll be a cold day in the underworld before they finally agree to a reunion. However, while the years since have given us such giants of pop culture as Colour Me Badd and Crazy Town (ok, we’re taking the piss a little here) the power of The Smiths music is still as potent as ever. Songs such as ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ and ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’ remain as essential as oxygen.

This week, Manchester’s finest release a brand new compilation album called The Sound Of The Smiths which marks the first collaboration between Morrissey and Marr in an aeon (Mozza dreamt up the title and Marr put the track-listing together and was involved in the mastering). It’s a two-disc set that collects all of their greatest sonic manifestos and also features some choice cuts from the archive, which are sure to make Smiths anoraks (including this writer) all tingly in the nether regions.
“The label approached me a few years ago with this proposition that I was not into at all,” reveals Smiths co-songwriter Johnny Marr. “But they sent me some stuff and it sounded pretty valid and it sounded good and then I thought it could be a good record. What’s on the album is basically versions of the songs that are really stripped down as we recorded them as live takes and things like that. You’ll be really surprised when you hear it. We were a pretty good band, you know.”
Has the release of the new Smiths record made him nostalgic for the days when he used to wake up on the tour bus with Morrissey’s gladioli stuck up his hooter?
“I’m not really into nostalgia and to be honest I didn’t like touring in those days,” proffers the guitarist. “I was absolutely super, super driven though, and that was for a number of reasons. I was stuck in the suburbs on a housing estate and I had to get out of it. It’s not a hard luck story, it’s been very useful to me. My parents – being of the generation they were – weren’t into me being on the dole. They had this very strong, Irish Catholic work ethic, and it was like, ‘Okay, if you’re on the dole, you’re out.’ Being the oldest, that was the deal I got so I had to make being in a band work. I was able to just go for it and go for it – that being like, sleeping in rehearsal rooms while Joy Division practised upstairs. I’d have to sleep there because we couldn’t pay the rent to get out of there, and staying in dodgy flats, and blagging recording time on New Year’s Eve, because I knew that it would be empty. If ever there was an 18-year-old who was ready to go through what The Smiths went through at that age, it was me.”
Did he ever doubt himself and his dreams in the early days?
“Never,” remarks Marr. “A lot of stuff happened to me at a very early age, but if ever there was an 18-year-old who was ready for it – well, as much as you can be – to go through what The Smiths went through at that age, I was there.”
And how does he feel now about inspiring generations of kids and being immortalised forever performing ‘This Charming Man’ on Top Of The Pops?
“It was a real triumphant moment being on Top Of The Pops,” the 45-year-old smiles. “It was an odd record, it was brilliant, and Morrissey was unveiled to the public for the first time, which I was totally and still am in favour of, in case anyone’s wondering. At the time it did feel like a real victory against Tina Turner, Level 42, Howard Jones and Paul Young, and I’m glad we did it and made a difference.”
So has the release of The Sound Of The Smiths tempted him to fax Morrissey (his preferred way of communicating these days) and get back together? Does he like reunions in general?
“Sorry to fudge it, but reunions really do depend on the band,” he says, dodging a question that has plagued him since he left the Smiths a lifetime ago. “I don’t have a problem with bands reforming, if it’s pretty good. That thing about it tainting the legacy, I actually don’t know whether it does, you know. Just because the Velvet Underground came out and did some pretty piss-poor reformation gigs doesn’t stop me thinking that they were probably the coolest band there’s ever been. That was the only uncool thing they did, but so what? People take it too seriously. It’s either a show you want to go and see and you feel like the people are into the music, or it’s a show that isn’t that great.”