hello

[tca2005]

Hi, I'm, Tim, I'm 19, and you can tell from my name what my favourite song is. I wasn't brought up in a Smiths household and I didn't really know any Smiths fans until about 2 or 3 years ago, when Morrissey started getting some publicity for You Are The Quarry. I was interested in this cult figure who I previously had never really been aware of, and around the same time I made friends with a Smiths fan - and the rest is history! I have never looked at music the same way since I got into The Smiths and no group comes close to them when it comes to saying things that I understand 100% - even if I can't explain why. Also, I love the fact that such a wide range of people with nothing in common, from all walks of society and with all sorts of different attitudes and values, can love The Smiths - I think they are a great band for anyone who is an outsider in one way or another - I know of both a 40 year old football hooligan with 3 kids (I know his daughters) and of a gay barrister who works on left-wing causes (he's a blogger who I've chatted to) who are both fanatical Morrissey/Smiths fans. I don't think there is any other band like it - I mean, of course lots of bands have wide appeal, but The Smiths were a cult band, to like them you have to give yourself over, and it's pretty incredible to think that such a band can have such a huge and varied following.

[sonandheir]

Hi Tim, welcome to the forum!

What I find really fascinating about the Smiths, is the level of interest now compared to the 80s. I think Morrissey has commented recently on this as well. The level of interest, twenty years on, is the highest it has ever been - a true sign of legacy if there ever was one ...

[rubygirl]

Hi Tim, welcome to the forum!

What I find really fascinating about the Smiths, is the level of interest now compared to the 80s. I think Morrissey has commented recently on this as well. The level of interest, twenty years on, is the highest it has ever been - a true sign of legacy if there ever was one ...

Absolutely agreed on that - and I think it's a great achievement for a band that has been in non-existance for so long to still provoke so much interest - and such strong emotional responses, which is the greatest part for me personally.

Tim - hello!
The intro you've given us is just great - I read it with real pleasure. You are right - there is something very special and unique in the way The SMmiths affect people and their lives, the depth of the appeal - to me The Smiths have never been just a band you listen to - they have been a sort of religion, something really defining. There may be many other artist I like to listen to - there might be songs I liek much more that The Smiths' ones at certain times - but it's not the same, there isn't that profundity and wholeness of the experience.

So - feel welcome here and post more!

[the_queen_is_dead]

and howdydoody to you good sir.

[Shakespeare's Sister]

The intro you've given us is just great - I read it with real pleasure. You are right - there is something very special and unique in the way The SMmiths affect people and their lives, the depth of the appeal - to me The Smiths have never been just a band you listen to - they have been a sort of religion, something really defining. There may be many other artist I like to listen to - there might be songs I liek much more that The Smiths' ones at certain times - but it's not the same, there isn't that profundity and wholeness of the experience.

You are so right. I do not have this feeling with any other band other than The Smiths, and it really does go past the borderline of obsession. I go through phases of other bands but I place The Smiths so far beyond anything else and I always go back to them after the phases pass. The songs will always be there for me, sometimes they're like a close confidant.


Welcome Tim, I am sure you will fit in perfectly to the board.

[elko]

Hullo Tim!

Welcome to the forum. You're quite right about their wide following, you never know what to expect from a Smiths fan...except for good taste!

[madmancmonkey]

Some bands for me were phases but soon got confined to the dusty corners of my cd rack. But the smiths they were the song that saved my life... not literally but.. No band has that element of je nais sais que that is so inherent in the Smiths and the Smiths fans. The gig last night defined it. It was touching to see everyone decked out in the rare t-shirts like the singles cover versions and there was a real buzz. This morning I listened to 'I dont owe you anything' and the paphos it invoked was overwhelming. I am leaving Manchester in three months and will miss listening to the Smiths whilst standing under the iron bridges in Castlefield. or what not. The songs brought it all back. No other band has the power to do that. Not on this earth or any other!!!!!! B)

Welcome to the forum Tim anyway!

[Truman Capote]

Welcome Tim, you have one of the best nicknames of this forum.