The Smiths

City of Origin: Manchester, England, UK

Period of Activity: Mid-1980s

Members: Mike Joyce, Johnny Marr, Morrissey, Andy Rourke

Related Artists: Johnny Marr has guested with a few bands, Morrissey has a solo career

Discography:

Social Media: None

Love them or hate them (and there are lots of good reasons to hate them), the Smiths are, by a wide margin, the most significant band in the development of indiepop. Even now, more than 40 years later, there's still no shortage of bands who make their livings by copying the Smiths discography. It's honestly really hard for me to write about them because I'm so immersed in an ecosystem that's founded on them that it's really hard to describe them, you know? It's just, they're the jangle pop band by which everyone else is measured. All I can say is that, like many others, The Queen is Dead was my first introduction to anything approaching indiepop, and now I'm here writing about the numerous bands who copy it to some extent. Personally, I find it hard to listen to them these days knowing what I know now about just how racist Morrissey is, but I still can't deny their influence and the quality of the rest of the band.