50 Fun Facts About The Smiths

A cover of The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" was the opening theme of which supernatural TV series?

Charmed used the Love Spit Love cover as its theme for eight seasons, after the same recording had appeared in the 1996 film The Craft.

Morrissey of The Smiths wore which medical device on stage, reportedly in solidarity with a fan?

A hearing aid joined thick-rimmed NHS-style glasses in Morrissey's stage look; the fake aid was worn to support a hearing-impaired fan who was ashamed of using one.

Which flowers did Morrissey often wave around on stage during performances by The Smiths?

Gladioli became a Morrissey trademark, a flamboyant touch against the jeans and plain shirts the band chose to wear.

Why did Morrissey say he chose to call his new band The Smiths?

It was the most ordinary name he could find, and Morrissey felt it was time the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces.

Which 1980s pop star joined the band Blossoms to play Smiths covers at Glastonbury in 2023?

Rick Astley and Blossoms drew warm reviews for the shows, though Johnny Marr called the performances funny and horrible at the same time.

Which animated series parodied Morrissey as Quilloughby, a singer voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch?

The Simpsons introduced Quilloughby in the episode Panic on the Streets of Springfield, where he is a romantic figment of Lisa's imagination.

Which rock and roll star is on the sleeve of The Smiths' single "Shoplifters of the World Unite"?

Elvis Presley fills the sleeve in an early photograph, and Morrissey wore a T-shirt of him when the band mimed the song on Top of the Pops.

Which 1980s teen comedy features an instrumental cover of "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want"?

Ferris Bueller's Day Off uses the Dream Academy's wordless version while Ferris and his friends wander the Art Institute of Chicago.

Strangeways, in the title of The Smiths' final studio album, was the name of what kind of building?

A prison in the band's home city supplied the name, and Morrissey and Johnny Marr have both called the record the band's best album.

In The Smiths' "Bigmouth Strikes Again", the narrator compares himself to which historical figure?

Joan of Arc, the saint burned at the stake, is who the song's loose-tongued narrator measures himself against, a typically melodramatic Morrissey joke.

In which English city did The Smiths form in 1982 and play an early gig at the Haçienda?

Manchester gave the band its first stage too: their debut public show was a support slot at the city's Ritz in October 1982.

Which first name did Morrissey of The Smiths forbid those around him from using?

Steven was a name he despised and banned from 1983, having already decided to be known to the public by his surname alone.

The parents of both Morrissey and Johnny Marr had emigrated to England from which country?

Ireland was home to both families: Morrissey's parents came over from Dublin, and Marr's from County Kildare.

Which instrument did Mike Joyce play in The Smiths, having auditioned while on magic mushrooms?

Drums were Joyce's job for the band's whole gigging life, a seat he won only after Simon Wolstencroft, who played on the first demo, declined to join.

Which Smiths member played the funk bass solo on the Meat Is Murder track "Barbarism Begins at Home"?

Andy Rourke, an old school friend of Johnny Marr, replaced the band's first bassist after their debut gig and stayed to the end, bar a two-week sacking in 1986.

Johnny Marr played as a guest on Heathen Chemistry, a 2002 album by which Britpop band?

Oasis owed Marr an older debt: he lent Noel Gallagher a guitar during the recording of the band's debut album, Definitely Maybe.

Johnny Marr worked with composer Hans Zimmer on the score for which Christopher Nolan film?

Inception began a long partnership: Marr later joined Zimmer again for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the James Bond film No Time to Die.

Morrissey wrote a book about which film star, later shown on the "Bigmouth Strikes Again" sleeve?

James Dean was a Morrissey idol, and the book, James Dean Is Not Dead, came out in 1983, the year of the band's first single.

Which film has Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel bond in a lift over a Smiths song?

500 Days of Summer uses There Is a Light That Never Goes Out to bring Tom and Summer together, and the song is on the film's soundtrack.

In "Cemetry Gates" by The Smiths, which playwright is pitted against Keats and Yeats?

Oscar Wilde was the writer Morrissey idolised and often referenced, and the song answers critics who had sneered at his habit of quoting other authors.

Which independent record label, founded by Geoff Travis in London, signed The Smiths in 1983?

Rough Trade came on board after Johnny Marr travelled to London to hand Travis a cassette, and Travis agreed to cut one of the songs as a single.

The Smiths' Meat Is Murder knocked which Bruce Springsteen album off the top of the UK chart?

Born in the U.S.A. was displaced by what proved the only Smiths studio album to top the UK chart, after gold-level shipments on its first day.

Morrissey and Johnny Marr first met in 1978 at a concert by which American singer?

Patti Smith left a second mark on the pair: Marr based the tempo of one of the first songs they wrote together on her track Kimberly.

Before The Smiths, Morrissey wrote a booklet about which American band that Johnny Marr also loved?

New York Dolls fandom is what impressed Marr enough to turn up, with no phone call first, on Morrissey's doorstep and propose a band.

Johnny Marr respelled his surname from Maher to avoid confusion with a member of which punk band?

Buzzcocks drummer John Maher shared his exact name, so the teenage guitarist switched to Marr at about 14, which also made it easier to pronounce.

Johnny Marr formed which supergroup with New Order's Bernard Sumner after The Smiths broke up?

Electronic also drew in Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys, and the group released three albums over the following decade.

Which American indie band did Johnny Marr of The Smiths join as a full member in 2006?

Modest Mouse had Marr writing with singer Isaac Brock for We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, which the band released in 2007.

Which debut solo album by Morrissey topped the UK chart within months of The Smiths splitting?

Viva Hate takes its title from the bitter end of the band, and Morrissey recorded it with Durutti Column guitarist Vini Reilly.

Which 1960s pop star had a 1984 hit covering a Smiths song, with three of the band backing her?

Sandie Shaw's comeback led the three Smiths to play Top of the Pops barefoot, a tribute to the way she had often performed in the 1960s.

Which singer, later heard on "Fairytale of New York", sang backing vocals on The Smiths' "Ask"?

Kirsty MacColl sang on the track, and Morrissey then asked her husband, producer Steve Lillywhite, to mix it at his home studio.

Which BBC Radio 1 DJ's show gave The Smiths a 1983 session after his producer saw them live?

John Peel said what impressed him most was that you could not immediately tell which records the band had been listening to.

Which 1984 Smiths compilation mixes BBC radio session recordings with singles and their B-sides?

Hatful of Hollow gathered session takes that, when first broadcast, were the only way to hear almost all of those songs.

Which Smiths single became the band's biggest UK chart hit only when it was reissued in 1992?

This Charming Man climbed to number eight on its reissue, having stalled at 25 when it first came out in 1983.

Which song was released in May 1983 as the debut single by The Smiths?

Hand in Glove sold steadily for 18 months without ever reaching the UK Top 40, and a remixed version went on the debut album.

Which actor at first refused The Smiths his photo for the "What Difference Does It Make?" sleeve?

Terence Stamp's refusal led to pressings with Morrissey re-enacting the pose from The Collector, until the actor relented and the original returned.

The Smiths' debut album cover shows the actor Joe Dallesandro, a protégé of which pop artist?

Andy Warhol's circle supplied the image: a cropped still from the 1968 film Flesh, whose director happened to share the singer's surname, Paul Morrissey.

The helmeted soldier on the cover of The Smiths' Meat Is Murder was photographed during which war?

Vietnam War Marine Michael Wynn had a different slogan on his helmet in the 1967 original, and said in 2019 that nobody had asked his permission.

Which novelist named a 1998 book after The Smiths' single "Girlfriend in a Coma"?

Douglas Coupland borrowed the title of a single whose own sleeve shows playwright Shelagh Delaney, pictured in a 1961 edition of A Taste of Honey.

One story says The Smiths' "Panic" was sparked by cheery radio pop played after news of which event?

The Chernobyl disaster was followed on air by a Wham! hit, the story goes, though a Smiths biographer notes that the single had left the charts months earlier.

The Smiths' "Suffer Little Children" caused an outcry in 1984 for addressing which 1960s crimes?

The Moors murders song upset a victim's grandfather who heard it on a pub jukebox, yet Morrissey later became friends with the mother of victim Lesley Ann Downey.

The Smiths were nominated in both 2014 and 2015 for which American music honour?

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voters passed the band over both times, even though Rolling Stone had put four of their albums among its 500 greatest in 2012.

Which French star of The Unvanquished appears on the cover of The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead?

Alain Delon gave his permission, though by Morrissey's account the actor mentioned that his parents were dismayed by the album's title.

Johnny Marr called it the last straw when Morrissey wanted to cover songs by which 1960s singer?

Cilla Black songs were not why he had formed a group, Marr said in 1992, and one of her numbers was recorded at the band's final session in May 1987.

The Smiths played their last concert, a 1986 anti-apartheid benefit, at which London venue?

Brixton Academy was nobody's idea of a farewell at the time: the band went on to record one more studio album before splitting in 1987.

Which producer engineered Smiths records, then wrote the music for Morrissey's first solo album?

Stephen Street went on to produce four Blur albums in a row, Parklife among them, and is also known for his work with the Cranberries.

Morrissey plays which instrument on "Death of a Disco Dancer", unusually for a Smiths recording?

Piano from Morrissey appears on no other album by the band, and a keyboard intro opens the same record because Johnny Marr wanted a break from their typical sound.

Craig Gannon, The Smiths' fifth member, first joined which Scottish band via a Melody Maker advert?

Aztec Camera gave him his first break, and Johnny Marr later scouted him as a stand-in bassist, only for him to stay on as a second guitarist.

Which avant-garde British film director made a promotional film for The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead?

Derek Jarman was persuaded to take the job by Mayo Thompson of the band Red Krayola, who was working for the group's record label.

Johnny Marr knocked on Morrissey's door in 1982, inspired by which American songwriting duo?

Leiber and Stoller began the same way: Jerry Leiber formed the partnership by turning up at Mike Stoller's door.

The Smiths posed outside which building for the famous inside-cover photo of The Queen Is Dead?

Salford Lads' Club has drawn fans ever since the 1986 photograph, and Morrissey later donated money towards the building's restoration.