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| The State of Independents - Play UK (Sunday 3rd June, 2001) - transcript |
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posted by davidt
on Wednesday June 06 2001, @09:00AM
An anonymous person writes:
The following is a transcription of the June 3rd episode of The State of Independents which aired on UK digital channel Play UK.
Geoff Travis has featured throughout the series but this episode took a more indepth look at Rough Trade records and their association with The Smiths. I've only transcribed the main part which referenced The Smiths.
(more)
[Travis talks about how Rough Trade began, including The Cartel distribution network and how they were the only co-operative label at that time. Factory boss Tony Wilson also gives a few complimentary Rough Trade comments.]
[Geoff Travis]
By the time The Smiths came to Rough Trade we had a very successful burgeoning distribution system, so in a way we were in a perfect position to find the cream of indie music.
What happened with The Smiths is that one day Johnny gave me a tape and he said "would you listen to this, it's not just any other tape". I listened to it all weekend and I called them up on Monday and said "I love it, I'd like to put it out". And the next day they all came down, Morrissey, Marr, Andy and Mike, and we cut the record that morning.
[Narrator]
The irresistable combination of Morrissey's lyrics and Johnny Marr's music, helped make The Smiths one of the most important bands of their generation.
[Clip of This Charming Man promo video]
[Narrator]
The Smiths had been well known in Manchester before signing to London based indie Rough Trade. Even though they were respected, they also had a reputation for being difficult.
[Tony Wilson]
Geoff Travis signed The Smiths, and Morrissey is one of the most deeply, unpleasant [censored - possibly the C word] to work with on God's earth and has been dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. But Geoff Travis coped with it, bore with it and so did the Rough Trade people, and they dealt with it, it must have been difficult, and The Smiths kept them going for 10 years.
[Clip of The Boy With The Thorn In His Side promo video]
[Narrator]
The Smiths captured the imagination of the angst ridden, misunderstood youth of the 80's, ensuring their position in pop history.
[The Narrator then goes on to say that even though The Smiths were doing well the label eventually went bankrupt in 1989. Travis said some people criticised him for not being more business orientated, he replied by saying how he wasn't interested in being "a little Richard Branson" and that he wanted to give people who he believed in the chance to make records.]
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It's frightening when you think of how things would have been if he hadn't insisted on doing things his own way. Perhaps they would have been just like any other band.
Easy people with no say at all regarding what single to put out, what's on the cover, where they're playing, etc, that's what they would have wanted.