That review is shit. This is why, "if you don't like me, you don't have to have me..." fits so well. People should come into The Smiths or Morrissey in their own way, they shouldn't force themselves on it. This guy said Bono's voice irritated him? He couldn't listen to the second half of Joshua Tree? You're an idiot. Go listen to some more Hip Hop, Trance or someone like DJ I'mAFuckingIdiotButICanMashUpTwoTracksTogetherToGe tSomeKindofClubFameThatNobodyIMeanNobodyReallyGive sAFuckAbout. You Club, junkie, jerk. Please don't listen to the Smiths ever again! Long live Hip Hop and The Cluuubbbss! Stupid ass.

I agree with the previous comment. This review is shit. Focusing eternally more on personal attacks against moz, this ignorant reviewer complains about the Smiths being boring and formulaic while simultaneously arguing that Electronic is more enjoyable (better?) than the Smiths. I think even Marr would have to disagree...

This is actually a well-written, witty piece. There are no writers like this in the US because we've allowed Ebonics to raise to equal status of English in our pubic schools. (That's not a type-o).

But I would have nothing in common in the area of music with this person.

The person above wrote it perfectly--this guy was pre-disposed to not like Morrissey and never got over it. We have all met people like this...

I do believe I am--along with my fellow Mozz/Smiths-lovin' brethren--holier than most when it comes to taste in music. I feel that way because the music I listen to is great. For someone to write about The Smiths the way this dude does tells me he's in that annoying camp of "can't everyone just get along" when it comes to passion about one's musical tastes. "I don't know...I guess I sorta like everything." Good, then you'll like my fist in your face...

Give the guy a break. Criticizing Morrissey surely gets you hung in effigy by the hardcore fans, but he does it in a manner that's (inho) pretty funny and decently fair. Do I agree with everything he says? No. But that's my own opinion, right?

He even makes some good points. First, the production values of the Smiths' debut ARE shit. Johnny Marr has said as much. Second, "Meat Is Murder" is a terrible song -- no doubt about it. But the "Panic" comments and saying that Electronic is more enjoyable than the Smiths is beyond idiotic. Anyone who believes that should be damned to an eternity of listening to "Raise the Pressure" in a hot room.

...that it's Gannon in the pic and not Marr. Hilarious.

Still, all the anger over it strikes me as a bit funny. For a Moz hater the reviewer gave the Smiths a fair amount of credit. It could have been much more harsh I'm sure. Not everyone likes the Smiths. It's a fact. Okay, a sad fact.

Hahaha. This review is funny.

"It's exactly what makes them so ultimately dispensable, so much a product of Thatcher-dominated Britain, so easily placed in a box, labeled, and left on a shelf to gather (no doubt very poetic) dust, while Morrissey continues on a solo career rivaling Hank Williams, Jr.'s in terms of sheer bloat and redundancy."

Hahaha. Funny because it's true.

"Well, Steve, that's because you're a miserable, repressed, solitary wanker—nobody else's music will say anything to you because you've already said it all—about your life and no one else's, encoded eternally for every tea-sipping faux-celibate acolyte to follow, experiencing a vicarious existence through your own experience of a vicarious existence through the tedious music of your band."

That is the very reaction the Smiths got out of many folks back in the '80s - proving that the music still packs it's original punch. Come to think of it, that is how many folks STILL feel when they listen to ROTT...

And the point of that review was? Perhaps I will write a review on Sugababes or Girls Aloud tomorrow for work - They are shit, end of - but where is the point? If you can't stand a certain type of music, just leave it for those that do!

I can't believe that someone wasted 15 mins of their life in writing abuse about a band that haven't even existed for almost 20 years, and that I have since since wasted 15 mins of MY life reading it and responding! (just had to though!) I'll never get that time back now...

What an incredible review. Vitriolic, biased. most certainly over the top, but what a slashing piece of writing. I've been a Smiths fan since 1986, but parts of that piece had me suppressing a giggle or two. Especially the part when Meat is Murder was equated with Tool/Pearl Jam's bloated pretensions. Ok, so the guy doesn't like them. I do not agree. But bravo for such a blistering, well-thought-out piece of criticism.