Do you remember the first time you heard...

J

jc

Guest
a Smiths song or a Morrissey song? I was on my way from one party to the next party (actually, they were undergrounds) back in 1991 and then a friend of mine played Suedehead. I really liked the song and then he played Bigmouth for me. I went out the next day and asked the salesman at The Wherehouse for a song that said "... I was only joking..." and then he gave me Rank (in cassette) to buy. The rest is herstory.

Cheers.




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The first Morrissey or Smiths song I heard was...

"Please, Please, Please..." I don't remember the first *time* I heard it since I was 9 at the time. It was on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack, last song, second side. I had no idea who the Smiths were or what they were like, but hearing that song at 9 conjured images of an Irish man with long dark hippie hair in a field of tall flowers wearing sandals. Of course, I was completely on target!
 
> a Smiths song or a Morrissey song? I was on my way from one party to the
> next party (actually, they were undergrounds) back in 1991 and then a
> friend of mine played Suedehead. I really liked the song and then he
> played Bigmouth for me. I went out the next day and asked the salesman at
> The Wherehouse for a song that said "... I was only joking..."
> and then he gave me Rank (in cassette) to buy. The rest is herstory.

> Cheers.

mine is boring. I was about 12, and I heard "How Soon is Now" on Radio 1. I went and asked Dodgy Bri in Moonlight Records, Wrexham if he knew of a song with the lyric "You shut your mouth, how can you say I go about things the wrong way"? I bought a Best Of. Within a year I owned every Smiths album. I sold the Best Ofs.
 
It was This Charming Man on Channel 4's The Tube.
November or December 1983.
I had left home the week before aged 20, sat in my freezing cold bedsit in Sale, Manchester watching it on my second hand black and white portable TV and thinking
'This is like nothing I have ever seen.....'
The rest is history....
The Goat MBE
 
It was the Heamaster Ritual song , the tape was played by the uncle of a friend of mine.
I fall under the charm of the voice and the music, a really good moment
 
Somewhere 'round 1985?

Wafting through my sister's bedroom door. Pretty much all of Hatful, over and over and over again. Me and all of my friends in high school became addicted.

The Smiths didn't fit the format of the college radio station where I went to school. They'd have bi-annual sales of all of the promos they got but didn't spin. $.50 each. I went back every year, baby

Below are the still unopened maxi-single of Panic b/w Vicar & Draize Train, as well as Promo Only Not for Resale maxi of Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before b/w, you guessed it, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before




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> a Smiths song or a Morrissey song? I was on my way from one party to the
> next party (actually, they were undergrounds) back in 1991 and then a
> friend of mine played Suedehead. I really liked the song and then he
> played Bigmouth for me. I went out the next day and asked the salesman at
> The Wherehouse for a song that said "... I was only joking..."
> and then he gave me Rank (in cassette) to buy. The rest is herstory.

> Cheers.

The first time I heard The Smiths was when I was working in a knitwear factory in Scotland during the summer holidays.
Radio 1 was piped through speakers throughout the factory floor.I was working on my own when I heard the most beautiful guitar chords flowing through the speakers.

I was dumbstruck and stopped what I was doing to listen. Hearing a guitar band on daytime Radio 1 was unthinkable in those days.

The tune was "This Charming Man".I didn't cath the name of the band and I actually thought it may have been by the band The Lotus Eaters as they had recently had a hit called "The First Picture Of You" which seemed similar in style to me.

I was glued to the radio for the name of the band and then I heard that the song was by The Smiths.

The next Saturday I went to my local record shop(it was all vinyl in those days kids). I asked for the record by name and the old guy that worked there also let me hear "Hand In Glove". I left the shop clutching the first two singles by the band who would have the most profound effect on my life.

The Smiths really were that earth shattering. They broke down so many barriers and reached out in the most beatiful way to so may vulnerable people.

Ever since that day they have been the most permanent and thing in my life.
 
> a Smiths song or a Morrissey song? I was on my way from one party to the
> next party (actually, they were undergrounds) back in 1991 and then a
> friend of mine played Suedehead. I really liked the song and then he
> played Bigmouth for me. I went out the next day and asked the salesman at
> The Wherehouse for a song that said "... I was only joking..."
> and then he gave me Rank (in cassette) to buy. The rest is herstory.

> Cheers.

Two years ago on an oil platform halfway between Scotland and Norway in the cold, inhospitable North Sea.
Stuck out there for three weeks at a time, I was lazing around between shifts in the general leisure area.
With a radio station's output being piped through the PA system, I was entranced by a wondrous sound.
I sat eagerly on the edge of my seat , waiting for the dj to say the name of the song and the band.
"And that was Golden Lights by The Smiths."

I was hooked. The rest, as they say,.........
 
If it had been the original Twinkle version of 'Golden Lights', it could have been a completely different story, eh Patrick?

> Two years ago on an oil platform halfway between Scotland and Norway in
> the cold, inhospitable North Sea.
> Stuck out there for three weeks at a time, I was lazing around between
> shifts in the general leisure area.
> With a radio station's output being piped through the PA system, I was
> entranced by a wondrous sound.
> I sat eagerly on the edge of my seat , waiting for the dj to say the name
> of the song and the band.
> "And that was Golden Lights by The Smiths."

> I was hooked. The rest, as they say,.........
 
> If it had been the original Twinkle version of 'Golden Lights', it could
> have been a completely different story, eh Patrick?

Correct, Bluebles. I'd be frantically searching the www for a twinkle-solo.com.
Funny how things work out.

Ok, it's bedtime for Bonzo. See yeez later.
 
An alternative station played the best songs from 1984 and my brother recorded that show. I listened to the tape the next day. They played How soon is now. Needless to say I was completely blown away there and then.
 
Wow. What a great story. It's a lot better than mine!

> The first time I heard The Smiths was when I was working in a knitwear
> factory in Scotland during the summer holidays.
> Radio 1 was piped through speakers throughout the factory floor.I was
> working on my own when I heard the most beautiful guitar chords flowing
> through the speakers.

> I was dumbstruck and stopped what I was doing to listen. Hearing a guitar
> band on daytime Radio 1 was unthinkable in those days.

> The tune was "This Charming Man".I didn't cath the name of the
> band and I actually thought it may have been by the band The Lotus Eaters
> as they had recently had a hit called "The First Picture Of You"
> which seemed similar in style to me.

> I was glued to the radio for the name of the band and then I heard that
> the song was by The Smiths.

> The next Saturday I went to my local record shop(it was all vinyl in those
> days kids). I asked for the record by name and the old guy that worked
> there also let me hear "Hand In Glove". I left the shop
> clutching the first two singles by the band who would have the most
> profound effect on my life.

> The Smiths really were that earth shattering. They broke down so many
> barriers and reached out in the most beatiful way to so may vulnerable
> people.

> Ever since that day they have been the most permanent and thing in my
> life.
 
For me it was "Bigmouth Strikes Again". A song which I've never been that fond of. Being the good boy that I am, I was at my grandmother's house listening to the top twenty on her wee transitor radio. Bigmouth came on and it sounded as if it didn't fit there in the countdown. The sound was unique, and the title sounded stange and grown up too me. From there is was the progression to reading music papers which tooke three months to arrive and then with a record voucher I went and bought my first Smiths album. On vinyl. Which I still have.
 
It all started when some dude on the radio was going "Whoooaaa, Noooaaahhh, Yeaahhh, Yeaaaahh, Noooaaahh.
 
> Two years ago on an oil platform halfway between Scotland and Norway in
> the cold, inhospitable North Sea.
> Stuck out there for three weeks at a time, I was lazing around between
> shifts in the general leisure area.
> With a radio station's output being piped through the PA system, I was
> entranced by a wondrous sound.
> I sat eagerly on the edge of my seat , waiting for the dj to say the name
> of the song and the band.
> "And that was Golden Lights by The Smiths."

> I was hooked. The rest, as they say,.........

Cool story Patrick. So much for mr and my big mouth saying " Golden Lights" was the one black mark on The Smiths recording career.
 
> a Smiths song or a Morrissey song? I was on my way from one party to the
> next party (actually, they were undergrounds) back in 1991 and then a
> friend of mine played Suedehead. I really liked the song and then he
> played Bigmouth for me. I went out the next day and asked the salesman at
> The Wherehouse for a song that said "... I was only joking..."
> and then he gave me Rank (in cassette) to buy. The rest is herstory.

> Cheers.

A friend took me to hang out with her at a new place that we were using as a squat. Actually it was someone's apartment, but he would let almost any stay there. The guy who's apartment it was was a huge Moz fanatic. He dressed like him and did his hair the same. When he first walked by me I had no frame of reference. I asked my freind "Who the f*** is that guy?" Anyway that night we watched some old video of him on some old MTV show, people were asking him questions, and one girl asked if he liked Sylvia Plath, and he said that he thought her life was much more interesting that any of her poetry. And then he did a song. When I saw him in his shiny shirt swinging the microphone around, I thought it was totally dumb. I hated it. It wasn't until several years later that I got into it.
 
Re: Do you remember the first time...

> a Smiths song or a Morrissey song? I was on my way from one party to the
> next party (actually, they were undergrounds) back in 1991 and then a
> > played Bigmouth for me. I went out the next day and asked the salesman at
> The Wherehouse for a song that said "... I was only joking..."
> and then he gave me Rank (in cassette) to buy. The rest is herstory.

> Cheers.

I was aware of the NEW Smiths phenomenom at that time... but think the first realisation was in my powder blue Escort Mark 1 in about 1984 when I was giving a few boys on the football team a lift to a game. South East London leagues can be tough! Anyway, Centre-Half, and James Dean lookalike Neil 'Oz' Deacon, fumbled for a cassette in his bag and slipped in Handsome Devil in the cassette player.. the car rocked all the way to Kidbrooke (first time that estate's had a mention here!).. then 'Hand In Glove'.. and probably that first week, I saw 'Waht Difference Does it Make' on Top Of the Pops'.. and that is why I am here now.

Destination Venus..
Ruffian
 
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