"The sleeves were integral to The Smiths," says Rough Trade head Geoff Travis. "And Morrissey was the best man to create them. We never had any better suggestions to make."

It was policy to never put the group on the cover: instead singer Morrissey created a series of covers--in Travis' words, "the iconography of a certain world"--that provided a watertight visual identity, each one with its own enigma...

Morrissey, by all accounts, spent his formative years planning his fame. Though he had no formal art training, his thoroughness was extraordinary--allegedly, he would go to the British Film Institute national library in search of frames from certain movies.

"The rest of the band had no involvement with the sleeves," says guitarist Johnny Marr. "What Morrissey did was to take all these influences that meant something to him, from vastly different areas, and give them a continuity. Smiths fans could identify with them immediately."

Morrissey would discuss ideas with art co-ordinator Jo Slee at Rough Trade's north London offices. "It would be very exciting," says Slee, whose 1994 book 'Peepholism: Into The Art of Morrissey' expounds on this subject superbly. "We'd get rough artwork in, scribbled all over and pasted up with colours and typeface specified. He had a very distinctive eye for simple, single images."

As they worked (each sleeve took an average of two months) cycle couriers went from Slee and designer Caryn Gough to Morrissey's London flat. Proofing was exhaustive--there were six colour-schemes for 'The Queen is Dead' alone--all in pursuit of an unquantifiable correctness.

Jo Slee acknowledges the sleeves' autobiographical content: "Morrissey was never literal, but usually the sleeves projected a part of him that's quite subtle. 'Hatful of Hollow' and 'The Smiths' are classic homo-eroticism--quite strong and quite powerful. The sleeve with Shelagh Delaney ['Louder Than Bombs', 'Girlfriend In a Coma'] for example, are very evocative of a place he identified with--up north, in about 1962... He was so enthusiastic about the progress of the sleeves... and he was always completely bowled over when he saw the finished result."

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The article also mentions interestingly enough that Harvey Keitel almost was on the cover star of 'Strangeways, Here We Come,' and Albert Finney declined to be on the cover of 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now.'

Here's a Morrissey quote from the article in regards to Albert Finney and Terrance Stamp declining to be on The Smiths' covers: "The whole Stamp-Finney attitude was so petty," said Morrissey in 1984. "I love those people, regardless of what they say, regardless of how disinterested they can get. I'll try to understand it and I'll still love them. It is quite tragic really."

• Related item: The World Won't Listen #50 in Q's Best Record Covers poll - Mar. 16, 2001