h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I bought their first record in Jan 84 just because I liked the cover. Hardly anyone had heard of them here in Norway at the time and in the beginning I had to take a lot of ridicule for liking them. The name, the depressive lyrics, the flirting with homosexuality, Morrissey's eccentricity, it was too subtle and sophisticated for most of my teenage friends to grasp, I suppose. But they taught me that it was okay to not be happy all the time, and that actually made me feel good. There was also a feeling of us against them in those early days, them being all those who didn't understand The Smiths. And a promise that any nerdy recluse could be a star as long as you had a guitar-picking friend to play with. Eventually I made converts of many of my friends through sheer perseverance, one of them even went to study in Manchester in order to be near his idols. I bought all the records, every 12" single as well as the albums, up to Viva Hate but after that it just wasn't the same anymore. But of course I listen to them now and then, the combination of Morrisseys voice/lyrics and Marr's music still capable of giving me goosebumps and making me laugh.

I was in my mid-twenties when The Smiths were around, but for me too they were a beacon of empathy in a world that seemed to have been taken over by the shamelessly greedy, insensitive and selfish.

Personally, although I certainly didn't like everything Morrissey did and said as a solo artist, I thought he got better after 'Viva Hate'. 'Your Arsenal' is a pretty fine album. He is reportedly about to return with his first new album in seven years, and I was delighted to read that it contains a song called 'I Have Forgiven Jesus'. I bet that'll go down well in America!

No disrespect to the man's solo career, and of course he could still pull some pretty funny bunnies out of his hat ("You're the one for me, fatty" leaps to mind) but you know how it is when a favourite band disbands. It's a bit like when people you have known for years as a couple break up and you don't quite know whose side to take in the inevitable ensuing conflict, so you end up not seeing any of them.