...a fan's fan. Good luck to him!

1. Well I Wonder = Agreed although I was still sad about the "wasted" HSIN? single.
2. The Whistle Test feature = remember it well...Joyce on Congas!!
3. The yodelling simply "threw me" after thinking I knew Morrissey's vocal style from The Smiths Album...lovely!
4. Smiths v Springsteen...yep it actually happened!!
5. The Title...kicked off the debate between my friends and I..."Are you?" "Should we?" "Are fish included?" "So it's two veg then...'spose I have to give the chops to me dad!"...A wave of Irish imigrants, raised on boiled bacon, fried sausages, pork chops, roast lamb etc explore a "new" concept!! This can only be achieved by the motivation of a genius.

Nice one Simon...Nice one MOZ!!

Sheridan

my all time favourite album, even above his solo
albums, or other artists

not a song on it, like the the person who posted above me, who you get tired

it woud be nice if they had remastered the album,
with a special live gig from the Meat is Murder tour, as bonus

why do they decide to release it, it it just because of the drums? I'm talking about remastering the early Smiths songs, ot they may remaster everything if the sound stays as good
the more you put up the volume.

luckily the Dutch vinyl album does not include
how soon is now, the original 1985, it was just
added later when the song seem to be a live favourite, or the great John Peel [RIP] played it lots, which makes the circle

thanks for 25 year of a musicgem album "meat is murder"

In 1977, after seeing a rotting seagull carcass on a playing field, I made a momentous decision: I would no longer eat anything with legs, eyes or wings. I’d made the connection between living things and the ‘food’ on the plate. The carcass outside and the carcass on the kitchen table.

I was 8 years old.

Imagine the consternation of my parents as they wondered what to feed me? Mum hid bits of chicken in my mashed potato, tried telling me sausages were vegetables. It was no use, I’d got wise.
Through the early 80’s vegetarianism was the preserve of hippies and middle class people, or so I thought. It was all lentils, tofu, men who looked like the guy out of the ‘Joy of Sex’ books, and sweaty sandals. Not for the likes of me, a boy who lived in a council house in Stretford.

You couldn’t buy veggie ready meals, so I lived on a diet of beans and chips...which suited me fine.
But the amount of trouble it caused me, that was another thing. My decision, which was I thought I gentle and peaceful one, provoked a violent reaction. It just added to my perceived ‘weirdness’, and another excuse to give me a kicking.

I went to Stretford Grammar School (all boys, as it was then), and you were meant to be good at sports (by sports, this meant almost exclusively cricket and football), toe-the-line, not have any lefty views, not be good at art as that was ‘for puffs’...I was crap at footie and cricket (but could run like my life depended on it, which it often did), a bit of a loner, artistic...and of course, a dreaded vegetarian.
I spent my early teens in my Stretford bedroom listening to Echo and The Bunnymen, Joy Division and anything jingly, jangly and introspective I could get my hands on; or whichever obscurity-knocks band John Peel was championing at the time. Music was my escape; a cliché I know. Then I heard a song called ‘Hand In Glove’ and it was by a band called The Smiths. I sort of fell in love...

And then in February 1985 they released ‘MEAT IS MURDER’.

This album felt like it was written for me and for me only. A personal message from the band, telling me it was all ok, I wasn’t alone. It was my life committed to vinyl…how did Morrissey know?
It’s difficult to describe just what this album meant to me, a confused kid in his mid-teens. It made sense of my life and saved me from wallowing in loneliness. It was full of humour and light, it was real: it was dark and happy and sad. It made you laugh and cry. Put in the context of the miserable mid-80’s, when the Tories ruled and the charts was full of the pretty vacant, this was revolutionary. From start to finish it was complete and perfect to my ears. MEAT IS MURDER remains my favourite album (even though The Queen Is Dead’ and ‘Strangeways...’ are more polished and musically powerful; MEAT IS MURDER hit my life at the perfect time, like no other.)

I got a ticket to see them perform live. It was the most thrilling night I’d ever had…a visceral, sexual experience. I was now a ‘disciple’ as Morrissey used to describe his fans: obsessed to the point of serious mental illness.

It comes as a bit of a shock to find that it was 25 years ago. But it also makes me realise what a debt I owe to Morrissey, Marr, Rourke and Joyce, and let’s not forget Craig Gannon, whose contribution is too often overlooked.

No band has matched The Smiths since, for me. They changed everything. And apart from a lapse in my late teens I’m still veggie and proud.

MEAT IS MURDER!

Damian Morgan, February 2010

Where has the time gone? I remember when you could only find this on a record album. Then only on a tape. Then only on Import CD. I still have that one- the Import CD without 'How Soon Is Now?'. The CD is just fine without it. Great stuff! The Smiths should be in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame!

just a little fyi theres a book out called "meat is murder" by joe pernice. a nice fiction story whose highschool days revolved around this album a quick but interesting read and a must for for the dye hard fan

lying devious bastards who its now proven have to nick innocent britains passports to instigate their beloved mossad what a joke
when the world wakes to americas alliance with israel nothing is solved

irene

irene and teddy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlMi9VLH0ZY&feature=channel [youtube.com]