The Smiths
Meat Is Murder
Rough Trade/Sire, Released 1985
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that suffering and solitude are two conditions that every great man must endure. His predecessor and hero, Schopenhauer, believed that life was sorrow and that the best way to withstand it was to have pity for people and to appreciate music.
So from now on, if anyone questions your interest in The Smiths’ acutely suffering-oriented music, shake your head sadly and tell them that you’re brushing up on your German philosophy.
In the morass of self-pitying bands that’s accumulated since the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll, The Smiths stand out musically, vocally, and lyrically. They pioneered a wonderful sound that would help give shape the post-punk ’80s: different from the traditional rock of the late ’70s, but not reliant on synths influenced by glam and punk but also more classic-sounding acts like Elvis Costello and the Talking Heads.
Meat is Murder doesn’t shine as the band’s greatest offering – I’d have to reserve that title for The Queen is Dead, their next LP, released in 1986. Typically, though, it’s best songs are truly special. By far the best is "That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore," a hollow, echoing tune with a lovely fading chorus at the end. One of Morrissey’s conceits is to sing most of his songs in the first person perspective, and it works beautifully on "Joke."
The first-person trick loses some of its charm as Morissey invites us to re-live his woeful childhood on "The Headmaster Ritual" and "Barbarism Begins at Home," though the Sad Young Boy theme is surfaces again and works well on the charmingly upbeat (but still depressive) "Nowhere Fast."
Music-wise, there is little to criticize. Meat is Murder has Marr’s full bag of tricks on display, and you could argue that he never wrote an instrumental more original than "How Soon Is Now?" But Morissey was always his best when he was being clever and rude, and too often he falls into sentimental extravagance here.
Of course, as someone who listened to Meat is Murder faithfully for two years straight, I’d have a hard time denying this album’s, and this band’s, unique place in the rock canon. Not their best, maybe, but something special nonetheless.
Posted to Inkblot by Leah Nelson