The Queen Is Dead
Encyclopedia
The Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by the English alternative rock
band The Smiths
. It was released on 16 June 1986 in the United Kingdom by Rough Trade Records
and released in the United States on 23 June 1986 through Sire Records
. The album reached #2 on the UK Albums Chart
, maintaining a chart residency for 22 weeks. Across the Alantic, it reached #28 in Canada
on the RPM 100
album chart and #70 on the Billboard 200
chart, and was certified Gold by the RIAA
in late 1990. It has sold consistently well ever since. The album cover, designed by Morrissey, features Alain Delon
from the 1964 film
L'Insoumis
.
wrote several songs that would later appear on The Queen Is Dead while The Smiths toured Britain in early 1985, working out song arrangements with bassist Andy Rourke
and drummer Mike Joyce during soundchecks.
"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
" was, according to Marr, "an effortless piece of music", and was written on tour in the spring of 1985. The song's lyrics refer allegorically to the band's experience of the music industry that failed to appreciate it. In 2003, Morrissey named this as his favourite Smiths song.
A demo of the music for "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" was posted by Marr through Morrissey's letterbox in the summer of 1985. Morrissey then completed the song by adding lyrics. Marr has stated that he "preferred the music to the lyrics".
"Frankly, Mr. Shankly", "I Know It's Over" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
" were written by Morrissey and Marr in a "marathon" writing session in the late summer of 1985 at Marr's home in Bowdon, Greater Manchester
. The first of these is reputed to have been addressed to Geoff Travis
, head of the Smiths' record label Rough Trade
. Travis has since described it as "a funny lyric" about "Morrissey's desire to be somewhere else", acknowledging that a line in the song about "bloody awful poetry" was a reference to a poem he had written for Morrissey.
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" features lyrics drawn from "Lonely Planet Boy" by the New York Dolls
. According to Marr: "When we first played it, I thought it was the best song I'd ever heard".
The music for "Never Had No One Ever", completed in August 1985, was based on a demo which Marr had recorded in December 1984, itself based on "I Need Somebody" by The Stooges
. According to Marr: "The atmosphere of that track pretty much sums up the whole album and what it was like recording it." The lyric to the song reflects Morrissey's feeling unsafe and, being from an immigrant family, not at home on the streets of Manchester.
"The Boy with the Thorn In His Side", "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" were debuted live during a tour of Scotland in September and October, during which "The Queen Is Dead" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" were soundchecked. "The Queen is Dead" was based on a song Marr began writing as a teenager. "Cemetry Gates" (sic) was a late addition to the album. Marr had not believed that the guitar part was interesting enough to be developed into a song, but Morrissey disagreed when he heard Marr play it.
, who had engineered the band's 1985 album, Meat Is Murder
. Street recalled, "Morrissey, Johnny and I had a really good working relationship — we were all roughly the same age and into the same kind of things, so everyone felt quite relaxed in the studio".
At the time the group was having difficulty with its record label Rough Trade. According to Street "but this didn't get in the way of recording because the atmosphere in the studio was very, very constructive."
The first song from the album to be recorded, in July 1985, was "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
". The recording, made with engineer Stephen Street
at a small studio in Manchester and initially intended as a demo, was considered by the band to be good enough for release as a single. It went on sale on 16 September 1985 and made number 23 in the UK Singles Chart
.
In August 1985, "Bigmouth Strikes Again
" and "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" were recorded at RAK Studios
in London, along with the B-sides to "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side", "Asleep" and "Rubber Ring
". Kirsty MacColl
sang a backing vocal for "Bigmouth Strikes Again" but it was considered "really weird" by Marr, and was replaced with a sped-up vocal by Morrissey in the final mix, for which he is credited as Ann Coates on the sleeve of The Queen Is Dead. "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" includes a false fade
near the start, intended by Street to give the impression of a door closing and opening again. During the same session, a first version of "Never Had No-one Ever" was recorded.
The bulk of the album was recorded in the winter of 1985 at Jacob Studios in Farnham
, under the working title "Margaret
on the Guillotine".
"Frankly, Mr. Shankly" was an attempt to recreate the "vibe" of Sandie Shaw
's "Yesterday's Man", although "it didn't quite work out that way", according to Marr. Linda McCartney
was asked to play piano on the track, but declined, and a first take featuring a trumpeter was scrapped. The version originally intended for inclusion on The Queen Is Dead was ruined by a technical glitch on the tape, and so the song was re-recorded with John Porter
at Wessex Studios in London.
"The Queen Is Dead" was among the last songs to be recorded. Its distinctive tom-tom
loop was created by Mike Joyce and Stephen Street using a sampler
. A line of guitar feedback
was played by Marr through a wah-wah pedal
throughout the song.
", strictly speaking the only single taken from the album. Many encouraged the band to release "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
" as a single, but Johnny Marr is said to have wanted an explosive, searing single, along the lines of The Rolling Stones
' "Jumpin' Jack Flash
", to announce that The Smiths had returned from hiatus. It did not fare as well as expected, stalling at number 26 on the British charts.
The album is popularly regarded as The Smiths' best album. Its mix of jangle pop
, British Invasion
, music hall
, rockabilly
and punk rock
quickly became a British sensation and established The Smiths as one of the biggest bands of their era. Both Morrissey and Marr disagree, however, citing its 1987 successor (and unexpectedly final Smiths LP
), Strangeways, Here We Come
, as their peak.
gave the album a five star rating. Reviewer Mark Coleman remarked on Morrissey's sense of humour and singled out the singer's performance on "Cemetry Gates" as a highlight. Coleman concluded, "Like it or not, this guy's going to be around for a while." Pitchfork Media
ranked the album as the sixth best of the 1980s. In 2000, Mojo
magazine placed "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" at number 25 on their list of the 100 greatest songs of all time, while VH2
placed it top of their Top 500 Indie Songs chart. In 2003, The Queen Is Dead was ranked number 216 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
. In 2006 it was named the second greatest British album of all time by NME
. In 2006, Q magazine
placed the album at #3 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". UK-based magazine Clash
added The Queen Is Dead to their 'Classic Album Hall of Fame' in their June 2011 issue, saying it "is an album to lose yourself in; it has depth, focus and some great tunes. It's easy to see why the album is held in such high esteem by Smiths fanatics and why, a decade later, it became a key influence for all things Britpop."
", was a contender for lead single off the album, but was passed over in favour of "Bigmouth Strikes Again". (Later in 1986 it was released as a 7"-only single in France.) It received a belated release in 1992, when it became one of WEA
's singles in a programme to promote Smiths re-releases (see the entry on ...Best II).
"Cemetry Gates" was Morrissey's direct response to critics who had cried foul over his use of texts written by some of his favorite authors, notably Shelagh Delaney
and Elizabeth Smart
. Oscar Wilde
, who was also accused of plagiarism, figures as a patron saint of Morrissey's in the song's lyrics. A Wilde quote, "Talent borrows, genius steals", was etched in the vinyl run-out grooves of the first single off the album, "Bigmouth Strikes Again".
"The Queen Is Dead", which leads off the album and notably became an expressionistic music video
directed by Derek Jarman
, starts with a soundbite from Bryan Forbes' 1962 British film The L-Shaped Room
. Another instance of Morrissey's fascination with '60s British cinema, the film featured performances by Pat Phoenix
(who had already appeared as a cover star on the 1985 single "Shakespeare's Sister") and Cicely Courtneidge
as an elderly lesbian veteran of the music halls. The soundbite is Courtneidge's character nostalgically singing the World War I
song "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty
". The actress had also appeared in a gala performance for Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee
called "God Save the Queen", and died in 1980.
A few songs, including "The Queen Is Dead" and "Bigmouth Strikes Again", feature pitch-shifted backing vocals by Morrissey
. Morrissey
liked to experiment with effects on his voice, so Street ran his voice through a harmoniser for the backing tracks. Street recalled, "At that time, apart from the harmoniser, he didn't go for much backing vocal or harmony work — he's done that more on recent albums — but he did like to experiment". The backing vocals are attributed to "Ann Coates" on the record sleeve (Ancoats
is a district in Manchester, just North East of the city centre).
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
. It was released on 16 June 1986 in the United Kingdom by Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
and released in the United States on 23 June 1986 through Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
. The album reached #2 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, maintaining a chart residency for 22 weeks. Across the Alantic, it reached #28 in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on the RPM 100
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
album chart and #70 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, and was certified Gold by the RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
in late 1990. It has sold consistently well ever since. The album cover, designed by Morrissey, features Alain Delon
Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon is a French actor. He rose quickly to stardom, and by the age of 23 was already being compared to French actors such as Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais, as well as American actor James Dean. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot...
from the 1964 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
L'Insoumis
L'Insoumis
L'Insoumis is a 1964 film film noir starring Alain Delon opposite Lea Massari. The film's background is the Algerian War and Alain Delon plays Thomas Vlassenroot, a deserter of the French Foreign Legion in Algeria during the 1961 uprising...
.
Songwriting
Guitarist Johnny MarrJohnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
wrote several songs that would later appear on The Queen Is Dead while The Smiths toured Britain in early 1985, working out song arrangements with bassist Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke is a bass guitarist best known for being a former member of The Smiths.-Career:...
and drummer Mike Joyce during soundchecks.
"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
The Boy with the Thorn in His Side (song)
The original 12" has "Rubber Ring" and "Asleep" segued into a continuous piece with the voice sample at the end of the former looped and faded into the wind noise preceding the latter...
" was, according to Marr, "an effortless piece of music", and was written on tour in the spring of 1985. The song's lyrics refer allegorically to the band's experience of the music industry that failed to appreciate it. In 2003, Morrissey named this as his favourite Smiths song.
A demo of the music for "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" was posted by Marr through Morrissey's letterbox in the summer of 1985. Morrissey then completed the song by adding lyrics. Marr has stated that he "preferred the music to the lyrics".
"Frankly, Mr. Shankly", "I Know It's Over" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is a song by the British alternative rock group The Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. It was originally featured on their third album The Queen Is Dead , and was released as a single in 1992, five years after The Smiths split up...
" were written by Morrissey and Marr in a "marathon" writing session in the late summer of 1985 at Marr's home in Bowdon, Greater Manchester
Bowdon, Greater Manchester
Bowdon is a suburban village and electoral ward in the Altrincham area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England.-History:...
. The first of these is reputed to have been addressed to Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978.-Biography:...
, head of the Smiths' record label Rough Trade
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
. Travis has since described it as "a funny lyric" about "Morrissey's desire to be somewhere else", acknowledging that a line in the song about "bloody awful poetry" was a reference to a poem he had written for Morrissey.
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" features lyrics drawn from "Lonely Planet Boy" by the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
. According to Marr: "When we first played it, I thought it was the best song I'd ever heard".
The music for "Never Had No One Ever", completed in August 1985, was based on a demo which Marr had recorded in December 1984, itself based on "I Need Somebody" by The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
. According to Marr: "The atmosphere of that track pretty much sums up the whole album and what it was like recording it." The lyric to the song reflects Morrissey's feeling unsafe and, being from an immigrant family, not at home on the streets of Manchester.
"The Boy with the Thorn In His Side", "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" were debuted live during a tour of Scotland in September and October, during which "The Queen Is Dead" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" were soundchecked. "The Queen is Dead" was based on a song Marr began writing as a teenager. "Cemetry Gates" (sic) was a late addition to the album. Marr had not believed that the guitar part was interesting enough to be developed into a song, but Morrissey disagreed when he heard Marr play it.
Recording
The album was produced by Morrissey and Marr, working predominantly with engineer Stephen StreetStephen Street
Stephen Street is an English music producer best known for his work with The Smiths in the 1980s, as well as Blur and The Cranberries in the 1990s. Street also collaborated with Morrissey on some of his most popular work after The Smiths broke up, playing instruments and co-writing songs...
, who had engineered the band's 1985 album, Meat Is Murder
Meat Is Murder
Meat Is Murder is the second studio album by the English alternative rock band The Smiths. It was released in February 1985 and became the band's sole number one album in the UK charts during the band's lifetime, staying on the chart for 13 weeks. It reached number 110 in the US...
. Street recalled, "Morrissey, Johnny and I had a really good working relationship — we were all roughly the same age and into the same kind of things, so everyone felt quite relaxed in the studio".
At the time the group was having difficulty with its record label Rough Trade. According to Street "but this didn't get in the way of recording because the atmosphere in the studio was very, very constructive."
The first song from the album to be recorded, in July 1985, was "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
The Boy with the Thorn in His Side (song)
The original 12" has "Rubber Ring" and "Asleep" segued into a continuous piece with the voice sample at the end of the former looped and faded into the wind noise preceding the latter...
". The recording, made with engineer Stephen Street
Stephen Street
Stephen Street is an English music producer best known for his work with The Smiths in the 1980s, as well as Blur and The Cranberries in the 1990s. Street also collaborated with Morrissey on some of his most popular work after The Smiths broke up, playing instruments and co-writing songs...
at a small studio in Manchester and initially intended as a demo, was considered by the band to be good enough for release as a single. It went on sale on 16 September 1985 and made number 23 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
In August 1985, "Bigmouth Strikes Again
Bigmouth Strikes Again
"Bigmouth Strikes Again" is a song by The Smiths. It appears on their third album The Queen Is Dead and was the lead single from the album, reaching #26 in the UK Singles Chart in 1986...
" and "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" were recorded at RAK Studios
RAK studios
RAK Studios are located near Regents Park in central London. The Studios were created by Mickie Most in late 1976 and they have been host to the recording of a number of artists for over three decades.- Artists recorded at RAK :All info from artist list....
in London, along with the B-sides to "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side", "Asleep" and "Rubber Ring
Rubber ring
A rubber washer is a ring made of rubber used in mechanical devices. It is used to prevent vibration from spreading from one part to another, reducing the noise levels....
". Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...
sang a backing vocal for "Bigmouth Strikes Again" but it was considered "really weird" by Marr, and was replaced with a sped-up vocal by Morrissey in the final mix, for which he is credited as Ann Coates on the sleeve of The Queen Is Dead. "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" includes a false fade
Fade (audio engineering)
In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theater lighting, in much the same way ....
near the start, intended by Street to give the impression of a door closing and opening again. During the same session, a first version of "Never Had No-one Ever" was recorded.
The bulk of the album was recorded in the winter of 1985 at Jacob Studios in Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
, under the working title "Margaret
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
on the Guillotine".
"Frankly, Mr. Shankly" was an attempt to recreate the "vibe" of Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
's "Yesterday's Man", although "it didn't quite work out that way", according to Marr. Linda McCartney
Linda McCartney
Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician and animal rights activist. Her father and mother were Lee Eastman and Louise Sara Lindner Eastman....
was asked to play piano on the track, but declined, and a first take featuring a trumpeter was scrapped. The version originally intended for inclusion on The Queen Is Dead was ruined by a technical glitch on the tape, and so the song was re-recorded with John Porter
John Porter (musician)
John Porter is an English musician and record producer.-Biography:He attended St Michael's School, Allerton Grange School, King's College, and Newcastle University....
at Wessex Studios in London.
"The Queen Is Dead" was among the last songs to be recorded. Its distinctive tom-tom
Tom-tom drum
A tom-tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snare.Although "tom-tom" is the British term for a child's toy drum, the name came originally from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala; the tom-tom itself comes from Asian or Native American cultures...
loop was created by Mike Joyce and Stephen Street using a sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
. A line of guitar feedback
Audio feedback
Audio feedback is a special kind of positive feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output...
was played by Marr through a wah-wah pedal
Wah-wah pedal
A wah-wah pedal is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, mimicking the human voice...
throughout the song.
Release
The Queen Is Dead finally emerged half a year later, in June 1986, and was previewed by the May single release of "Bigmouth Strikes AgainBigmouth Strikes Again
"Bigmouth Strikes Again" is a song by The Smiths. It appears on their third album The Queen Is Dead and was the lead single from the album, reaching #26 in the UK Singles Chart in 1986...
", strictly speaking the only single taken from the album. Many encouraged the band to release "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is a song by the British alternative rock group The Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. It was originally featured on their third album The Queen Is Dead , and was released as a single in 1992, five years after The Smiths split up...
" as a single, but Johnny Marr is said to have wanted an explosive, searing single, along the lines of The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
' "Jumpin' Jack Flash
Jumpin' Jack Flash
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones, released as a single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by Rolling Stone, the song was perceived by some as the band's return to their blues roots after the psychedelia of their preceding...
", to announce that The Smiths had returned from hiatus. It did not fare as well as expected, stalling at number 26 on the British charts.
The album is popularly regarded as The Smiths' best album. Its mix of jangle pop
Jangle pop
Jangle pop is a genre of alternative rock from the mid-1980s that "marked a return to the chiming or jangly guitars and pop melodies of the '60s" bands such as The Byrds, with their electric twelve-string guitars and power pop song structures. Mid-1980s jangle pop was a non-mainstream "pop-based...
, British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
, music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
, rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
and punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
quickly became a British sensation and established The Smiths as one of the biggest bands of their era. Both Morrissey and Marr disagree, however, citing its 1987 successor (and unexpectedly final Smiths LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
), Strangeways, Here We Come
Strangeways, Here We Come
-Band:* Morrissey – vocals, piano on "Death of a Disco Dancer"* Johnny Marr – guitar, keyboards, harmonica, autoharp , synthesized strings and saxophone arrangements* Andy Rourke – bass guitar* Mike Joyce – drums-Additional musicians:...
, as their peak.
Reception
Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
gave the album a five star rating. Reviewer Mark Coleman remarked on Morrissey's sense of humour and singled out the singer's performance on "Cemetry Gates" as a highlight. Coleman concluded, "Like it or not, this guy's going to be around for a while." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
ranked the album as the sixth best of the 1980s. In 2000, Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine placed "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" at number 25 on their list of the 100 greatest songs of all time, while VH2
VH2
VH2 was a sister channel to VH1 in the United Kingdom. It launched in 2003, it slowly became an Indie rock based music channel, aimed primarily at men in the 25-34 demographic...
placed it top of their Top 500 Indie Songs chart. In 2003, The Queen Is Dead was ranked number 216 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
. In 2006 it was named the second greatest British album of all time by NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
. In 2006, Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
placed the album at #3 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". UK-based magazine Clash
Clash (magazine)
Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
added The Queen Is Dead to their 'Classic Album Hall of Fame' in their June 2011 issue, saying it "is an album to lose yourself in; it has depth, focus and some great tunes. It's easy to see why the album is held in such high esteem by Smiths fanatics and why, a decade later, it became a key influence for all things Britpop."
Music
The song "There Is a Light That Never Goes OutThere Is a Light That Never Goes Out
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is a song by the British alternative rock group The Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. It was originally featured on their third album The Queen Is Dead , and was released as a single in 1992, five years after The Smiths split up...
", was a contender for lead single off the album, but was passed over in favour of "Bigmouth Strikes Again". (Later in 1986 it was released as a 7"-only single in France.) It received a belated release in 1992, when it became one of WEA
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
's singles in a programme to promote Smiths re-releases (see the entry on ...Best II).
"Cemetry Gates" was Morrissey's direct response to critics who had cried foul over his use of texts written by some of his favorite authors, notably Shelagh Delaney
Shelagh Delaney
Shelagh Delaney, FRSL was an English dramatist and screenwriter, best-known for her debut work, A Taste of Honey ....
and Elizabeth Smart
Elizabeth Smart (author)
Elizabeth Smart was a Canadian poet and novelist. Her book, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, detailed her romance with the poet George Barker...
. Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, who was also accused of plagiarism, figures as a patron saint of Morrissey's in the song's lyrics. A Wilde quote, "Talent borrows, genius steals", was etched in the vinyl run-out grooves of the first single off the album, "Bigmouth Strikes Again".
"The Queen Is Dead", which leads off the album and notably became an expressionistic music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
directed by Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
, starts with a soundbite from Bryan Forbes' 1962 British film The L-Shaped Room
The L-Shaped Room
The L-Shaped Room is a 1962 British drama film, directed by Bryan Forbes, which tells the story of a young French woman, unmarried and pregnant, who moves into a London boarding house, befriending a young man in the building...
. Another instance of Morrissey's fascination with '60s British cinema, the film featured performances by Pat Phoenix
Pat Phoenix
Patricia "Pat" Frederica Phoenix was an English actress who became one of the first sex symbols of British television through her role of Elsie Tanner in Coronation Street.-Early life and career:Born in Ireland to Anna Maria Josephine Noonan and Tom Manfield, but moved to Manchester before...
(who had already appeared as a cover star on the 1985 single "Shakespeare's Sister") and Cicely Courtneidge
Cicely Courtneidge
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge DBE was an English actress and comedienne. The daughter of the producer Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West End, by the age of 16, and was quickly promoted from minor to major roles in his Edwardian musical comedies.After the...
as an elderly lesbian veteran of the music halls. The soundbite is Courtneidge's character nostalgically singing the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
song "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty
Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty
"Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty" is a music hall song written by Arthur J. Mills, Fred Godfrey and Bennett Scott in 1916. It was popular during the First World War and tells a story of three fictional soldiers on the Western Front suffering from homesickness and their longing to return to...
". The actress had also appeared in a gala performance for Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee
A Silver Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, ruling anniversary or anything that has completed a 25 year mark...
called "God Save the Queen", and died in 1980.
A few songs, including "The Queen Is Dead" and "Bigmouth Strikes Again", feature pitch-shifted backing vocals by Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
. Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
liked to experiment with effects on his voice, so Street ran his voice through a harmoniser for the backing tracks. Street recalled, "At that time, apart from the harmoniser, he didn't go for much backing vocal or harmony work — he's done that more on recent albums — but he did like to experiment". The backing vocals are attributed to "Ann Coates" on the record sleeve (Ancoats
Ancoats
Ancoats is an inner city area of Manchester, in North West England, next to the Northern Quarter and the northern part of Manchester's commercial centre....
is a district in Manchester, just North East of the city centre).
Track listing
Personnel
- MorrisseyMorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, backing vocals (credited to "Ann CoatesAncoatsAncoats is an inner city area of Manchester, in North West England, next to the Northern Quarter and the northern part of Manchester's commercial centre....
"), co-producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Johnny MarrJohnny MarrJohnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, harmoniumHarmoniumA harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, synthesizedSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
string instrumentString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
s and fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
arrangements, co-producer - Andy RourkeAndy RourkeAndy Rourke is a bass guitarist best known for being a former member of The Smiths.-Career:...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Mike Joyce – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Stephen StreetStephen StreetStephen Street is an English music producer best known for his work with The Smiths in the 1980s, as well as Blur and The Cranberries in the 1990s. Street also collaborated with Morrissey on some of his most popular work after The Smiths broke up, playing instruments and co-writing songs...
– engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
(except "Frankly, Mr. Shankly") - John PorterJohn Porter (musician)John Porter is an English musician and record producer.-Biography:He attended St Michael's School, Allerton Grange School, King's College, and Newcastle University....
– engineer ("Frankly, Mr. Shankly")
Charts
Album| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
2 |