Mojo Magazine: October Issue #359 - Smiths 40yrs feature (August 10, 2023)

COVER STORY: THE SMITHS
Forty years on, MOJO revisits the sounds and the stories of a watershed band’s explosive arrival. “My brother said, ‘What kind of music is it?’ Funk? Punk… folk… rock?’” recalls drummer Mike Joyce. “I said, ‘I can’t describe it.’”

MOJO #359, October 2023 - The Smiths.

COMMEMORATING 40 YEARS since they burst onto the music scene and in tribute to their abundantly talented, recently departed bassist Andy Rourke, MOJO returns to 1983 to relive the freshness and wonder of The Smiths and their reinvention of guitars. Also in the issue: Bob Marley – live, intimate and unseen; the incomparable Sinéad O’Connor; Gram Parsons’ Americana visions; Tony Visconti – a life in knob-twiddling. Plus: Hawkwind; Pulp; The Bee Gees; Bridget St John; Blake Mills; Pretenders; Yoko Ono; Neil Young; Herb Alpert; OMD; Paul Rodgers; The Coral; Betty Davis and more!

THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is You’ve Got Everything Now! – an indie rock blow-out starring The Sugarcubes, The Wedding Present, The Fall, The Pastels, The Three Johns, Red Guitars and more!

MOJO 359 – October 2023: The Smiths

The latest issue of MOJO features The Smiths, Bob Marley, Gram Parsons, Sinéad O’Connor and more.

www.mojo4music.com

Regards,
FWD.

(note: when this is available digitally, the actual content will be added to the OP - see post #3 as now available).

 

[Anonymo]

This theory has been put forward on here before , by a high profile ex moderator.
Cites it as one of the reasons for the split.
For what my opinion is worth , all a nonsense.

I'll bet you anything there's already some Moz-Mike fanfiction dealing with Moz and Mike's, ummm, 'bulbous salutations'. Oh dear.

 

[marred]

These Mojo CDs with quasi Smiths art on them with music that's everything but The Smiths are just silly beyond belief.

 

[ZZ Stop]

Not sure about the Mike/Mozzballs thing but Mozzballs was deeply in love with Johnny Marr. It's incredibly obvious and explains everything that has past.

 

[YourArse'n'All]

Not sure about the Mike/Mozzballs thing but Mozzballs was deeply in love with Johnny Marr. It's incredibly obvious and explains everything that has past.

One has to be blind not to see it (the Marr thing. Not Mike, blimey).

 

[YourArse'n'All]

I'll bet you anything there's already some Moz-Mike fanfiction dealing with Moz and Mike's, ummm, 'bulbous salutations'. Oh dear.

Possibly, but nevertheless completely outnumbered by the Marrissey fics! For anyone who wants to find out for themselves, ao3.org is your friend, recommend 10/10

 

[Michael Collins]

Smiths photos can be so cool too -> like the photos of them on the streets of Paris in '84 (used in Hatful sleeve), Morrissey on-stage with the 'Two Light Ales' sign, etc. They had such a unique look, and the photos always had a bit of mystery to them. Even the photos of Morrissey alone (during the Smiths period) were like staged portraits (e.g. him lying on the ground with his typewriter).

I even like how this photo is from the same shoot in '83 at the old airport hanger/train station (w/the gladioli), but the faces/poses are slightly different. There's so many from that photo shoot that some of us longtime fans are still discovering, it's pretty cool

They were taken at the the old Manchester Central station before it became GMEX...

 

[Famous when dead]

Fast even by my standards, the full Mojo segment is available to view via post #3.
Or click here:
Post in thread 'Mojo Magazine: October Issue #359 - Smiths 40yrs feature (August 10, 2023)' https://www.morrissey-solo.com/thre...feature-august-10-2023.151344/post-1987539331
Regards,
FWD.

 

[Miss Ann Thorpe]

Fast even by my standards, the full Mojo segment is available to view via post #3
Or click here:
Post in thread 'Mojo Magazine: October Issue #359 - Smiths 40yrs feature (August 10, 2023)' https://www.morrissey-solo.com/thre...feature-august-10-2023.151344/post-1987539331
Regards,
FWD.

Thanks for doing this. If you have time, please upload the "How to buy the Bee Gees" article too.

 

[Famous when dead]

To add:
If anyone is curious as to the attached CD's contents:

FWD.

 

[Famous when dead]

Thanks for doing this. If you have time, please upload the "How to buy the Bee Gees" article too.

See inbox.
Regards,
FWD.

 

[Carol in Wrexham]

God is it really 40 years! I saw Johnny Marr Wednesday 9th August at The Rocking Chair in Wrexham. I didn’t have a ticket I just went down there desperately trying to see if any tickets on offer and lo and behold along comes a chap and he had a spare ticket. Wonderful night, met Johnny after the gig, lovely, lovely man and nothing was too much trouble. He took the time to speak with some lads there who were clearly in awe of him and he made their night. I walked home a very happy 64 year old woman with very happy memories of 40 years ago. If only he and Steven could play nicely it would be a dream come true before it’s too late for all of us

 

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the Mike/Mozzballs thing but Mozzballs was deeply in love with Johnny Marr. It's incredibly obvious and explains everything that has past.

Maybe 'I Can Have Both' was written about both Marr and Joyce? There's no need to choose.

 

[Johnnie Ray]

Same old, same old…
Why not a ‘40 years of Morrissey’-issue?

How about an issue on Morrissey's 1991 return to the stage with his new band. He took America by storm and that tour was a much bigger phenomenon than any tour by The Smiths in the US.

 

[goinghome]

Interesting that it's Johnny Marr quoted as saying: "a lot of my mates were gay guys who liked rock music. I liked the idea of us being a band that were saying things for the gay community." Usually it's Morrissey who was seen to be pushing that part of The Smiths' image.

 

[Anonymous]

Surely it's all been said before, and probably in a better way.

This is true - ultimately there's nothing more to say, and at this point it's all regurgitated information. But we have to remember these magazines aren't aimed at us 'heard it all before' long-term fans, but newbies. One of the side effects of streaming is that these archival classic bands don't really fall out of fashion and go away anymore, and bands like The Smiths, Queen, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin etc are still eternally in the charts and picking up new generations of fans.

 

[Crisstti]

Interesting that it's Johnny Marr quoted as saying: "a lot of my mates were gay guys who liked rock music. I liked the idea of us being a band that were saying things for the gay community." Usually it's Morrissey who was seen to be pushing that part of The Smiths' image.

I'm sure I've read before Johnny mentioning he was very into the gay scene and liked going to gay clubs, etc. Maybe one of the reasons he liked Moz for his band to begin with?

 

[Redacted]

 

[j*e*t]

'London - Memphis - Stretford' ! I succumbed today and I'm glad I did. Listening to The Jet Set Junta whilst reading an interview with the legendary Herb Alpert, good times. That's as far as I've got for now.

 

[j*e*t]

I thought they would idenitfy the film that the CD cover star Dirk Bogarde was in but they don't seem to. Anyway, I found online that it's from The Blue Lamp (1950). I've just started to read the articles on The Smiths and there's an error on the first page of it - the photo of the band backstage at Reading was 22 February, not March. Ho hum.

 

[Famous when dead]

The Birth Of The Smiths: “The energy was just there, and it was right…”

40 years ago, The Smiths rebooted British guitar music. In the light of bassist Andy Rourke’s tragic passing, their timeless allow of ‘60s guitars and ‘80s dissent feels greater than ever, and – as new interviews with key players reveal – they were never more potent than in their vital first phase, 1982-84. In this extract from MOJO’s cover feature, Tom Doyle charts the birth of The Smiths, from Morrissey and Marr's chance meeting at a Patti Smith concert in 1978 to the band’s first rehearsal together. “We were all looking at each other, just going, ‘f***ing hell.’”

The Birth Of The Smiths: “The energy was just there, and it was right…”

MOJO digs into the roots and first flowering of The Smiths

www.mojo4music.com

Mojo article today serving as a taster for this month's magazine - part of today's article features in the main digital version (see post #3).