The Smiths

The Smiths formed in Manchester in 1982, Morrissey and Johnny Marr meeting at a party and immediately recognising a creative partnership that would change British music. Morrissey's literary, melancholy lyrics — full of Oscar Wilde references, kitchen-sink drama, and a very specific kind of English loneliness — combined with Marr's extraordinary guitar work to create something genuinely new.

The self-titled debut (1984) was an immediate statement of intent. 'Hand in Glove', 'This Charming Man', 'What Difference Does It Make?' — the singles were unlike anything else being made in Britain. Marr's guitar playing was simultaneously melodic and rhythmic, drawing on folk, rockabilly, and jangle pop in ways that nobody had quite done before. Morrissey's voice — plaintive, theatrical, and completely distinctive — was the perfect complement.

'Meat Is Murder' (1985) and 'The Queen Is Dead' (1986) confirmed the Smiths as the most important British band of their era. 'The Queen Is Dead' in particular — with 'There Is a Light That Never Goes Out', 'Bigmouth Strikes Again', and 'Frankly, Mr. Shankly' — is one of the greatest British albums ever made. The combination of Morrissey's wit and Marr's musical invention was at its peak.

Marr left in 1987 and the band dissolved. The split was acrimonious and has never been resolved — Morrissey and Marr have not spoken in decades. The influence of the Smiths on subsequent British music is almost impossible to overstate: without them, there is no Britpop, no Suede, no Gene, no Pulp. Every British guitar band of the last forty years has had to reckon with their legacy.