Meat Is Murder
| Meat Is Murder | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by The Smiths | |||||
|
Publication |
February 14, 1985 |
||||
|
admission |
Winter 1984 |
||||
| Label (s) | Rough Trade | ||||
|
Format (s) |
CD , LP |
||||
|
Title (number) |
10 |
||||
|
running time |
46:33 |
||||
| occupation |
|
||||
|
The Smiths, John Porter / Stephen Street |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
Meat Is Murder is the second studio album by the British alternative rock band The Smiths . It was released in February 1985 and became the only number one position in the UK album charts where the album lasted for 13 weeks. It peaked at # 110 in the United States.
In 2003 the album was ranked # 295 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 best albums of all time . It reached # 100 in the "List of 100 Records of the Century" curated by spex and VIVA Zwei .
History of origin
After the disappointment with the production method of the debut album, The Smiths , the singer Morrissey and the guitarist Johnny Marr produced the album themselves and were only supported by the sound engineer Stephen Street , whom they first recorded during a recording session for the song "Heaven Knows I '" m Miserable Now "and asked for his contact address. Officially, the production of the album is attributed to the Smiths.
Content and political orientation
Meat Is Murder is more political and shrill than its predecessor. This can be seen in the pro-vegetarian title track (Morrissey forbade the rest of the group to be photographed eating meat), the easy-going "Nowhere Fast" and the songs "The Headmaster Ritual" and "Barbarism Begins at Home", which are both mutually exclusive speak out against corporal punishment . Musically, the band dared more on the album. Guitarist Marr added rockabilly guitar riffs to the song "Rusholme Ruffians", while bassist Rourke played funky rhythms on "Barbarism Begins at Home".
Morrissey also brought a political component to many press interviews about the album, which led to further controversy. Among its victims and targets were the Thatcher government, the monarchy and Band Aid . Morrissey famously teased the latter: "One can be very worried about the people of Ethiopia , but it is different to transfer the daily torture to the people of England as well."
publication
The following single release Shakespeare's Sister was not a great success from chart successes. This also applied to "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", the only single from the album. On the other hand, many thought this was a strange extraction with experimental song structures and guitars played backwards. The charts reflected this skepticism and so the single was just able to enter the top 50 (top position # 49). The song "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" from September 1985, however, was an announcement of the later great success of the band.
The song "How Soon Is Now?" first appeared on the B-side of "William, It Was Really Nothing" and was added to the US edition of "Meat Is Murder" after it became a hit with American discos and alternative radio stations. Since 1992 the song has also appeared in the distribution of the album by WEA . The song was eventually released as a single and reached # 24 in the charts. Two Meat Is Murder album tracks ("Well I Wonder" and "What She Said") also became B-sides of other singles.
Artwork
The album cover shows an edited film excerpt from the documentary In the Year of the Pig (1968) by Emile de Antonio . The lettering on the soldier's helmet was actually called "Make War Not Love" but was changed to "Meat Is Murder".
Track list
All titles from Morrissey / Marr.
- The Headmaster Ritual - 4:52
- Rusholme Ruffians - 4:20
- I Want the One I Can't Have - 3:14
- What She Said - 2:42
- That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore - 4.59
- How Soon Is Now? - 6.46 Not on UK and European versions of the album initially.
- Nowhere Fast - 2.37
- Well I Wonder - 4.00
- Barbarism Begins at Home - 6.57
- Meat Is Murder - 6.06
literature
- Joe Pernice: 33 ⅓ - The Smiths: Meat Is Murder . Continuum Books, New York City, ISBN 082641494X
swell
- ↑ Interview With Stephen Street . HitQuarters. September 27, 2005. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
-
↑ English original:
"One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England." - ↑ Band Aid vs. Morrissey ... (http) In: Overyourhead.co.uk . November 18, 2004. Retrieved April 22, 2007.