The Smiths - Meat Is Murder

Available for 26 days

The debut album by The Smiths, their 1984 self-titled record is...whisper it...a but underwhelming. They'd been hyped by the music press, they'd scored chart success with some legendary singles, but their first full-length album had endured a troubled birth, with the finished version falling well short of the expectations of the band. So for their second studio album, the band took their reigns themselves, and crafted a set of songs that still stand amongst their finest achievements. Muscular and more melodic, Meat is Murder is a tour-de-force for the band, showcasing Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce, and Andy Rourke at their absolute best. And as for Morrissey, this was the record where he finally found his sense of humour, crafting lyrics full of wit and inventiveness that give lie to the 'miserabilist' tag so often claimed of him. But while it might make you laugh out loud, this is the story of an album infused with violence, full of images that still have the capacity to shock. Steven Rainey looks back at The Smiths' 1985 creative breakthrough, an album that fuses humour to horror.