you knew icouldnt resist forever. so post any and all thoughts on arguably the most influential band on british music since thebeatles here.

Up till now I've only heard The Queen Is Dead & Meat Is Murder , the first one is brilliant, the second good, but features some lesser tracks as well, but the copy that I borrowed of the library is damaged, so I can't speak of a perfect listening experience... How would you rank those albums, Chrisarclark?

Has to be "Strangeways here we come" for me , i was still at school the first time i heard it , young and impressionable lol
When i heard "Last night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" i could have cried , it just got my heart strings.
I love the Smiths unconditionally now , have done for about 10 years. There arent any tracks i dislike

for me, its always changin, but objectively id say:

The Queen Is Dead - simply one of the greatest albums lyrically ever

Strangeways Here We Come - not far off lyrically from The Queen Is Dead and easily the best sequenced of The Smiths' albums

Meat Is Murder - minus 'How Soon Is Now?' which was included in the North American pressings and completely fuks with the balance of the record this another masterpiece.

The Smiths - it seems really wrong to place this album at the bottom of any list [and if the compilations Hatful Of Hollow, Louder Than Bombs and The World Won't Listen were included it would not be at the bottom] their debut does include a couple of traks that are close but not quite on par with most of The Smiths' work. gems like 'This Charming Man' and 'Miserable Lie' make this easy to overlook.

coincidence that this is nearly in chronological order? ithink not.

I voted for "The Queen is Dead", with "Strangeways Here We Come" a close second (this album really grew on me). "The Queen is Dead" contains may favorite Smith's song, Frankly Mr. Shankly. I've listened to that song a thousand times and still haven't gotten sick of it. Great song, great album.

1. The Smiths
2. Queen is Dead
3. Meat is Murder
4. Strangeways . . .

If any one is interested, Joe Pernice of the Pernice brothers and the Scud Mountain Boys wrote a novel that focuses on Meat Is Murder. He was asked to write about Queen is Dead but refused because Meat is Murder was more dear to his heart. It's part of the 33 and 1/3 series and quite an easy read for any Smiths fan.

''Meat is murder"

who are the smiths?

most influential british group since the beatles? I thought Led Zeppelin were pretty influential myself, but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

wakeup.