Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield ranks Smiths songs

...why not, eh? Have a go.

The Smiths: All 73 Songs, Ranked - Rolling Stone
Morrissey and Johnny Marr lasted only five years as a songwriting team, but these Manchester lads left a lifetime's worth of absurdly great songs behind
by Rob Sheffield

 

[Anonymous]

People's opinions are there own but this list is awful. Golden lights is better than barbarism. The draize train is better than paint a vulgar picture. I couldn't read any further than that

 

[Uncleskinny]

People's opinions are there own but this list is awful. Golden lights is better than barbarism. The draize train is better than paint a vulgar picture. I couldn't read any further than that

Indeed. De gustibus non est disputandum. A chacun son gout. I agree with you that this list appears random and so inviting comment, and therefore clicks.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

"Morrissey milks the audience's pity for cows, for turkeys..."
Nope. Moz showed love and respect for Wild Turkeys. Pity is given by the folks who oppress you and give you back a pittance to pretend they did something for ya.
Do you really think Wild Turkeys want your pity?

 

[countthree]

Every fan has his/her personal order, but this article is a great work.

 

[Adrian Shaw]

The majority of these placements are absolutely ludicrous. How can they rank Barbarism so low? Or Accept Yourself? Or even back to the old house? Ridiculous.

 

[Anonymous]

This dipshit has Well I Wonder at #63! f***ing clueless? Enough said indeed.

 

[Anonymous]

Every fan has his/her personal order, but this article is a great work.

Agreed. Well said!

 

[Watson]

I'm all for subjective (and odd) opinions (after all, I've been visiting this site for years), but I think Rob Sheffield is being deliberately obtuse. Skinny nailed it, the more controversial the ranking, the more clicks the article will get.

Rating any song above the embarrassing dirge of 'Golden Lights' renders the rest of the list redundant, which is a pity as the top 20 is pretty authorative (although I'm not sure 'Half a Person' deserves to be quite so high).

On a side note, it's been over 30 years and I still struggle with 'Shakespeare's Sister'. Am I wrong in thinking that it is the worst Smiths single?

 

[Anonymous]

I'm all for subjective (and odd) opinions (after all, I've been visiting this site for years), but I think Rob Sheffield is being deliberately obtuse. Skinny nailed it, the more controversial the ranking, the more clicks the article will get.

Rating any song above the embarrassing dirge of 'Golden Lights' renders the rest of the list redundant, which is a pity as the top 20 is pretty authorative (although I'm not sure 'Half a Person' deserves to be quite so high).

On a side note, it's been over 30 years and I still struggle with 'Shakespeare's Sister'. Am I wrong in thinking that it is the worst Smiths single?

You are not wrong on Shakespeare's Sister. Reading the criticisms of Alain Whyte in other threads, I always think of SS as one of those songs that prove Johnny wasn't the perfect songwriting partner either.

 

[countthree]

Agreed. Well said!

Thanks

 

[21punksalute]

"There is A Light" is okay. Its somewhere in the 20's on my list

 

[Calamine Lotion]

"I thought that if you had an acoustic guitar
Then it meant that you were
A protest singer
Oh, I can smile about it now but at the time it was terrible"

I always thought these were great lyrics. And the part about throwing yourself down on the rocks also reminds me of some old folk songs, so I think there is more going on in this song. Maybe he is just playing around but it's not just random words.

 

[Anonymous]

This dipshit has Well I Wonder at #63! f***ing clueless? Enough said indeed.

For me that's the biggest one that stands out. I love that song, about it would be very high on my list.

 

[Anonymous]

People's opinions are there own but this list is awful. Golden lights is better than barbarism. The draize train is better than paint a vulgar picture. I couldn't read any further than that

Putting "Well I Wonder" and "Back to the old House' in the lower regions is simply unacceptable.

 

[Quando quando quando]

Putting "Well I Wonder" and "Back to the old House' in the lower regions is simply unacceptable.

Well, there's nothing we can do about it now.
You should have told him earlier.

 

[Raphael Lambach]

I agreed with so many of his choices but I think it's so partial.. it's Rob's opinion.
But I think he made a good decision in most of this rank.