PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF
POP
THE BAND THAT CHANGED
(AND SAVED!!) MY LIFE
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Dates I bought all my Smiths cassettes in 1988 from my original notebook
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I was 15 going on 16, it was just after I’d left secondary education in
1988 and I was waiting for my Youth Training Scheme (remember those?!) to kick
in. I’d heard of The Smiths whilst I was at school obviously as they
were very successful in terms of hits and presence, but I didn’t think much to
them as I had completely the wrong idea. I didn’t mind Ask and Girlfriend
in a Coma, though. I also recall approving of Morrissey’s stance
on the monarchy when I realised they were just glorified benefit scroungers and
fit for precisely nothing! What changed everything forever was when I first
heard Everyday is Like Sunday. Suedehead had
intrigued me I must admit, but I was completely floored when EILS floated
so beautifully out of the airwaves and TV screen. I just could NOT
get that song out of my head, nor did I want to! At that time there
was no internet and no MP3s, so I had to listen to it on the radio until I
could afford to buy it. I would obsessively switch stations all day
so that I could hear it over and over again.
I recall sitting outside my brother’s room one Sunday when my radio
broke (disaster!) whilst the Top 40 chart rundown was on, and my little sister
exclaiming “Oh no, it’s that bloody Morrissey, I can’t stand
him!”. I remember saying something like “I know, isn’t he awful!”,
but what I was actually thinking was “Dear God, don’t let this song
ever end, don’t let it stop, I’ll just DIE if it does!”. I was
aware that once I put my toe into the water to enter The World of The Smiths
and Morrissey, there was no going back and I was a bit afraid if the truth be
known as black/ethnic minority fans were a bit thin on the ground then, and I
wasn’t sure my parents would understand either which of course they
didn’t. Having said that though, there was nothing I could do about
it even if I tried because I knew then as I do now that my love for The Smiths
and Morrissey would last FOREVER! I may not be as keen on my beloved old Misery
Mozzery nowadays, but he’s in my blood and will be for the rest of my days and
beyond.
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| My unweildy stash of tapes, collected from the age of 16! |
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Once the live album Rank was released a few months
later that same year, I decided that I had to be brave and buy it as I knew
that really, I had no choice in the matter whatsoever. It was
destined to be! And boy, am I glad I did, as it was THE most amazing
thing I’d ever heard in my entire life! Within a few weeks I’d bought all of
the albums by The Smiths, and by the end of Nineteen Eighty Hate I was a
fully-fledged fan! Everyday is Like Sunday changed my
life, as becoming a Smiths and Morrissey devotee made me realise that I was
actually quite an intelligent sort of a gal (later confirmed, if you like, by a
MENSA IQ Score of 131! Not quite high enough for me to join that
esteemed gathering of intelligentsia which makes me a flawed genius!), and it
encouraged me to consider entering further and ultimately higher education
which I really don’t believe I would have thought possible before I became an
apostle, so to speak. It also led to me visiting Manchester for the
first time (in December 1989) where I met my future husband (in 1990), and to
complete my degree studies in Salford and Bolton further down the line
too. Yay!
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| My original BROWN Rank cassette, bought on 16 September 1988! |
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