By the time The Queen Is Dead came out, I'd cottoned on to the Smiths. At first, I took a look at Morrissey on the Top Of The Tops and declared him a gawky twit who couldn't sing.
It was Johnny Marr who made it click for me, his guitars came from somewhere around Roger McGuinn and Keith Richards, but sounded so original. It was easy to brand the Smiths as purveyors of miserable bedsit doom and gloom - this was to overlook the humour of tracks like Frankly Mr Shankly, and the lyrics of the title track of The Queen Is Dead.
Of all Morrissey's 'cover stars' from the Smiths records, this one is my favourite - Alain Delon from some French film or other, I'm sure you could look it up if you are that interested. He looks about ready to feel 'the soil falling over my head'...
Another lost pleasure of vinyl was those little messages which were sometimes etched into the run out grooves - my copy of The Queen Is Dead says 'Them was rotten days...'
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