The Queen Is Dead

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The Queen Is Dead
The Queen Is Dead cover
Studio album by The Smiths
Released June 16, 1986
Recorded Late 1985, England
Genre Alternative rock
Length 37:07
Label Rough Trade
Producer(s) Morrissey and Marr
Professional reviews
The Smiths chronology
Meat Is Murder
(1985)		 The Queen Is Dead
(1986)		 The World Won't Listen
(1987)


The Queen Is Dead is an album by The Smiths. It was released on June 16, 1986 by their U.K. record company, Rough Trade Records, and reached No. 2 in the British charts. Their U.S. record company released the album on June 23, 1986. The album reached No. 71 on the Billboard 200.

In 1997 The Queen Is Dead was named the 15th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 2003, the album was ranked number 216 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2005 Channel 4 viewers placed it at number 20, and in 2006 Q magazine readers placed it at number 12. In 2000 Q placed it at number 27 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever; in 2004, a similar list by The Observer Music Magazine's critics placed it at number 37, behind the band's eponymous debut which was 21st. It was ranked 5 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005" (2005). The German newspaper WAZ placed it at number 1. In June 2006, 20 years after its original release, NME dedicated almost a whole issue to the album.

Contents

[edit] About the album

After releasing their September 1985 single, "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side" (which is included on The Queen Is Dead in an updated, slightly re-mixed version), The Smiths turned to recording their third album. Pressure was high on the band to produce an album that met the high expectations within the press and the fan base. Johnny Marr worked day and night in the studio recording and producing the music. The band wanted to release the album as soon as possible, but relations with their record company, Rough Trade, were not at their best at the time. In early 1986, all communications broke down and the album's release was indefinitely postponed.

The Queen Is Dead, produced by Morrissey and Marr with Stephen Street engineering, finally emerged half a year late, in June 1986, and was previewed by the May single release of "Bigmouth Strikes Again", strictly speaking the only single taken from the album. Many encouraged the band to release "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" as a single, but Johnny Marr is said to have wanted an explosive, searing single, along the lines of The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash", to announce that The Smiths had returned from hiatus. It did not fare as well as expected, stalling at No. 26 on the British charts.

The album is popularly regarded as The Smiths' best album. With its unique blend of musical styles (including jangle pop, British Invasion, rockabilly and punk rock), it quickly became a British sensation and established The Smiths as one of the biggest bands of its era. Both Morrissey and Marr disagree, however, citing its 1987 successor (and unexpectedly final Smiths LP), Strangeways, Here We Come, as their peak.

[edit] The songs

"Bigmouth Strikes Again" has been covered by such groups as Placebo and The Entertainment System. Additionally, the song was covered by The Ukrainians in their native tongue.

The song "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out", widely seen as the epitome of The Smiths, was a contender for lead single off the album, but was passed over in favour of "Bigmouth Strikes Again". (Later in 1986 it was released as a 7"-only single in France.) It received a belated release in 1992, when it became one of WEA's singles in a programme to promote Smiths re-releases (see the entry on ...Best II). It made a final attempt to crack the charts in 2005, when Morrissey released a live version in support of his Live at Earls Court album; the song was an unforgettable set closer on his You Are the Quarry tour.

"Cemetery Gates" was Morrissey's direct response to critics who had cried foul over his use of texts written by his some of his favorite authors, notably Shelagh Delaney and Elizabeth Smart. Oscar Wilde, who was also accused of plagiarism, figures as a patron saint of Morrissey's in the song's lyrics. Like Wilde, Morrissey regards the appropriation of texts as not at all problematic and, in fact, a common artistic practice. Wilde said "Talent borrows, genius steals", and Morrissey agreed: Wilde's epigram was etched in the vinyl run-out grooves of the first single off the album, "Bigmouth Strikes Again".

"The Queen Is Dead", which leads off the album, starts with a soundbite from Bryan Forbes' 1962 British film The L-Shaped Room. Another instance of Morrissey's fascination with Sixties British cinema, the film, which featured performances by Cicely Courtneidge and Pat Phoenix (who had already appeared as a cover star on the 1985 single "Shakespeare's Sister"), contains a poignant scene in which a group of homesick Britons living in France sing "Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty". This complements the lyrics in giving a sense of Morrissey's mix of patriotism and exile from his homeland-- a prophetic sense of exile, it turned out, as Morrissey later left England and has since lived in Dublin, Los Angeles and now Rome. It was also notable for a memorable expressionistic music video directed by Derek Jarman.

According to Johnny Marr (as recounted by Smiths biographers Johnny Rogan and Simon Goddard), the vocal for the epic "I Know It's Over" was recorded in one take.

Live versions of several of the album's tracks are available on the live album Rank, released in 1988 a year after the group split. Among them, "The Queen Is Dead" proved a blistering opener to their concerts, while "Bigmouth Strikes Again" typically closed to thunderous applause. The haunting, elegiac "I Know It's Over" often finished the main set. "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" was played live only once, on December 12, 1986, at a Brixton Academy show (the band's last ever UK concert). The live recording was used as a B-side to the 1987 single "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" and features an extra verse.

[edit] Cover

The album cover of The Queen Is Dead, designed by Morrissey, features Alain Delon from the 1964 film L'insoumis.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written and produced by Morrissey/Marr except "Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty" written by Mills/Godfrey-Scott.

[edit] LP

[edit] Side A

  1. "The Queen Is Dead" (medley) – 6:24
  2. "Frankly, Mr Shankly" – 2:17
  3. "I Know It's Over" – 5:48
  4. "Never Had No One Ever" – 3:36
  5. "Cemetery Gates" [sic] – 2:39

[edit] Side B

  1. "Bigmouth Strikes Again" – 3:12
  2. "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" – 3:15
  3. "Vicar In A Tutu" – 2:21
  4. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" – 4:02
  5. "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" – 3:14

[edit] Compact disc

Same as LP.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The band

[edit] Additional musicians

The sleeve notes list "Ann Coates" as backing vocalist and "The Hated Salford Ensemble" as being responsible for orchestration; in reality, it's a speeded-up vocal part by Morrissey and the synthesized strings and flute arrangements by Johnny Marr, respectively. Ancoats is a district of Manchester.

[edit] Technical staff

[edit] External links

The Smiths
Morrissey - Johnny Marr - Andy Rourke - Mike Joyce
Craig Gannon - Dale Hibbert
Discography
Albums: The Smiths | Meat Is Murder | The Queen Is Dead | Strangeways, Here We Come | Rank (live)
Singles: Hand in Glove | This Charming Man | What Difference Does It Make? | Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now | William, It Was Really Nothing | How Soon Is Now? | Shakespeare's Sister | That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore | The Boy with the Thorn in His Side | Bigmouth Strikes Again | Panic | Ask | Shoplifters of the World Unite | Sheila Take a Bow | Girlfriend in a Coma | I Started Something I Couldn't Finish | Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me | There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Band-assembled compilations: Hatful of Hollow | The World Won't Listen | Louder Than Bombs
Other compilations: Stop Me |Best...I | ...Best II | Singles | The Very Best of The Smiths
Related
Rough Trade Records
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