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The Smiths: UK & USA chart positions for all singles and albums released between 1983 and 1995

Release Date	Type	Title	UK Chart	US Chart
1983 – May	Single	Hand In Glove	124
1983 – October	Single	This Charming Man	25
1984 – January	Single	What Difference Does it Make	12
1984 – February	Album	The Smiths	2	150
1984 – May	Single	Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now	10
1984 – August	Single	William	17
1984 – November	Album	Hatful of Hollow	7
1985 – February	Single	How Soon Is Now	24
1985 – February	Album	Meat is Murder	1	110
1985 – March	Single	Shakespeares Sister	26
1985 – July	Single	That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore	49
1985 – September	Single	The Boy with the Thorn in his Side	23
1986 – May	Single	Bigmouth Strikes Again	26
1986 – June	Album	The Queen is Dead	2	70
1986 – July	Single	Panic	11
1986 – October	Single	Ask	14
1987 – January	Single	Shoplifters of the World	12
1987 – February	Album	The World Won’t Listen	2
1987 – March	Album	Louder Than Bombs	38	63
1987 – April	Single	Sheila Take a Bow	10
1987 – August	Single	Girlfriend in a Coma	13
1987 – September	Album	Strangeways Here We Come	2	55
1987 – November	Single	I Started Something	23
1987 – December	Single	Last Night I Dreamt	30
1988 – September	Album	Rank	2	77
1992 – August	Single	This Charming Man (Re-release)	8
1992 – September	Album	Best I	1	139
1982 – September	Single	How Soon is Now (Re-release)	16
1992 – November	Single	There is a Light	25
1992 – November	Album	Best II	29
1995 – February	Single	Ask (Re-release)	62
1995 – May	Album	Singles	5
2001 – June	Album	The Very Best Of

Albums released by The Smiths in the UK between 1984 & 2001

The Smiths

Release Date:  February 1984
Produced By:   John Porter
Music Label:     Rough Trade Records
Current issue:  February 1995 (WEA)

Review
This was the first album which was recorded on a £20000 budget. Original producer Troy Tate was devatsed to learn that his efforts were not deemed worthy of release and the entire project was to be be handed over to John Porter.

Hatful of Hollow

Release Date:  November 1984
Produced By:   John Porter
Music Label:     Rough Trade Records
Current issue:  February 1995 (WEA)

Review
This compilation contained many tracks from the first album, as well as B sides and takes from BBC radio sessions. The release of this album was partly due to fan pressure, and gave them the opportunity to hear The Smiths in their primitive glory.

Meat is Murder

Release Date:  February 1985
Produced By:   The Smiths
Music Label:     Rough Trade Records
Current issue:  February 1995 (WEA)

Review
Some would suggest that this is the greatest of all The Smiths albums. The contents offers pop, rock, rockabilly, psychedelia, flashes of funk and even some heavy metal. This album was commercially very successful.

The Queen is Dead

Release Date:  June 1986
Produced By:   Morrissey/Marr
Music Label:     Rough Trade Records
Current issue:  February 1995 (WEA)

Review
Prior to the release of this album The Smiths were going through some problematic times. So much so, that the release of The Queen is Dead was delayed by about 8 months. Nevertheless the album received great reviews and was a huge success.

The World Won’t Listen

Release Date:  March 1987
Produced By:   Various
Music Label:     Rough Trade Records
Current issue:  February 1995 (WEA)

Review
Much like Hatful of Hollow, this album contained many B sides and takes from radio sessions. This album appealed more to the causal listener probably beacuse of its affordable price.

Louder Than Bombs

Release Date:  April 1987
Produced By:   Various
Music Label:     Rough Trade Records
Current issue:  February 1995 (WEA)

Review
This compilation was released only one month after the release of The World Wont Listen. It contained 24 tracks, 20 of which had appeared on previous albums. Great value again for the casual listener, but daylight robbery for the hard core fan.

Strangeways

Release Date:  September 1987
Produced By:   Stephen Street
Music Label:     Rough Trade Records
Current issue:  February 1995 (WEA)

Review
This was to be The Smiths last album before the split in 1987. Although not recognised as the best Smiths album, Strangeways Here We Come did show that the band was in transition. But what this could have led to we will never know.

Rank

Release Date:  September 1988
Produced By:   Pete Dauncey
Music Label:     Rough Trade Records
Current issue:  February 1995 (WEA)

Review
Rank was released one year after Strangeways, and it appears that it is simply the mandatory Live album. This one is only for the die hards.

Best I

Release Date:  September 1992
Produced By:   Various
Music Label:     Warner Music
Current issue:  Same

Review
Now that WEA had acquired The Smiths catalogue, this was hardly a surprising release. But what was surprising was its commercial success. This album reached No.1 in the UK charts, so what next ?

Best II

Release Date:  November 1992
Produced By:   Various
Music Label:     Warner Music
Current issue:  Same

Review
Best II would seem to taking things a little too far, but nevertheless this inevitable release had some success, but not enough for a Best III. Thank God !

Singles

Release Date:  May 1995
Produced By:   Various
Music Label:     Warner Music
Current issue:  Same

Review
This album, somewhat surprisingly, was a popular release, even though it contained nothing new and made Best I & II redundant. It was considered a ‘neccessary addition to the Smiths catalogue’.

The Very Best Of

Release Date:  Sept 2001
Produced By:   Various
Music Label:     Warner Music
Current issue:  Same

Review
I’m speechless ! If anybody would care to say a few words about this release then please feel free to mail me at the following address.

Singles album released by UK indie band The Smiths

Hand In Glove
This Charming Man
What Difference Does It Make
Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
William It Was Really Nothing
How Soon Is Now
Shakespeare’s Sister
That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Bigmouth Strikes Again
Panic
Ask
Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Sheila Take A Bow
Girlfriend In A Coma
I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

History of the Smiths

Brief history of 1980’s UK indie band The Smiths
Formed in the spring of 1982 in Manchester, England when guitarist Johnny Marr (John Maher, October 31, 1963) author of reviews for Record Mirror and former guitarist in unsuccessful bands was looking for a lyricist and suggested the idea of forming a band to Morrissey (Stephen Patrick Morrissey, May 22, 1959).

By September, the duo had settled on the name “The Smiths” as a reaction against all bands who chose complicated names to emphasise their music, and recruited Marr’s schoolmate Andy Rourke as their bass player and Mike Joyce as their drummer. The Smiths made their live debut late in 1982 and their live appearances were sporadic. At this time they had already rejected a record deal with the Mancunian Factory Records. At the seventh Smiths gig ever in the University of London Union, a group of Rough Trade Records watch the band and invited them to sign a one-off single, “Hand In Glove”.

“Hand in Glove” became an underground sensation in the UK, topping the independent charts, which critics referred to as the finest love song in recent years. When they released the second single “This Charming Man,” in October 1983, the Smiths had already been the subjects of controversy and scandal over their songs “Reel Around The Fountain,” and “Handsome Devil” as possible vehicles for the diffusion of child abuse. In February of 1984 the Smiths released their eponymous debut “The Smiths” the album became a best seller acclaimed by critics and reached number 2.

A couple of months later, the band invited a veteran sixties popstar, Sandie Shaw, to sing some of the smiths songs “Hand In Glove” which reached number 27, “Jeane” and “I Don’t Owe You Anything”. The second single “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” reached number 10. At the end of the year, “William It Was Really Nothing” became a Top 20 hit and the compilation “Hatful of Hollow”, a collection of B-sides, BBC sessions and non-LP singles went to number 7.

Meat is Murder, the band’s second proper studio album, entered the British charts at number one in February of 1985. By the time the non-LP “Shakespeare’s Sister” reached number 26 in March 1985. “The Boy With the Thorn In His Side” reached number 23 was followed in June of 1986 by their third album, “The Queen Is Dead”. Considered by the critic as one of masterpieces of the decade peaked at number two on the UK charts, “The Queen Is Dead” also expanded their cult in the US, cracking the Top 100. Shortly before the album was completed, the band’s line-up goes through a rather unstable stage, Andy Rourke quits for drug addiction and Craig Gannon, an ex Aztec Camera joins the band and became the rhythm guitarist. After a short time, Rourke returns and Gannon was fired.

In latte’s 1986 the singles Panic and Ask are released. Johnny Marr begins his extra Smiths collaborations, taking part in Billy Braggs’ album “Talking With The Taxman About Poetry”. The Smiths may have been at the height of their popularity in early 1987, with the singles “Shoplifters of the World” and “Sheila Take A Bow” reaching number 12 and 10 respectively and the singles and B-sides compilation The World Won’t Listen for the English market and “Louder Than Bombs” for the American one. Marr was growing increasingly disenchanted with the band and the music industry, over the course of the year, Morrissey and Marr became increasingly irritated with each other.

The new album “Strangeways Here We Come” is the band’s last. In August, Johnny Marr confesses to have abandoned the band, the official split is however in September, Morrissey disbanded the group shortly afterward and began an inconstant solo career. Marr played as a sideman with a variety of artists, including The The and Electronic with New Order frontman Bernard Summer. Andy Rourke retired from recording has played with Sinead O’Connor and Joyce became a member of the reunited Buzzcocks in 1991. The live album “Rank” recorded on the Queen is Dead tour, was released in the fall of 1988. It debuted at number two in the UK top. A much criticised, two-part Best of compilation was released in 1 992; the praised Singles compilation was released in 1995. Despite this short history, “The Smiths” were and will be one of the best bands ever.