THE SMITHS “Smiths to Split?” – New Musical Express (NME) 1 August 1987
£95.00
“Smiths to Split?” New Musical Express, 1 August 1987. Original weekly newspaper issue, with Hue and Cry to the front cover and the now-celebrated report concerning the possible dissolution of The Smiths within. A very good copy, with one central horizontal fold and light handling commensurate with age; otherwise well preserved.
“THE ARTICLE THAT TURNED RUMOUR INTO REALITY.”
One of the most consequential pieces of British music journalism of the 1980s. Written by Danny Kelly, the article—usually indexed under the headline “Smiths to Split”—reported growing tensions within The Smiths and suggested that the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Johnny Marr had brought the group close to collapse. Particular emphasis was placed upon Morrissey’s supposed disapproval of Marr’s work with other musicians and upon the breakdown of the creative partnership at the heart of the band.
Although speculative when published, the report became an extraordinary instance of music journalism helping to shape the event it purported to describe. Marr, already exhausted by the demands of writing, recording and effectively managing the group, reportedly believed that the story had been planted by Morrissey. Within days, he contacted the NME to correct several of its claims and confirmed that he had left The Smiths—not through personal acrimony, he insisted, but because he wanted the freedom to explore music beyond the limitations of the group.
The following week, NME reported that Rough Trade had formally confirmed Marr’s departure. Attempts to continue with another guitarist proved unsuccessful, and by the time the band’s final studio album, Strangeways, Here We Come, appeared later that year, The Smiths were finished. The issue of 1 August 1987 therefore occupies a unique position in the band’s history: neither merely predicting nor officially announcing the end, but acting as the catalyst through which the private fracture between Morrissey and Marr became public and irrevocable.
An evocative and increasingly collectable piece of contemporary music history, preserving the precise moment at which the demise of Britain’s most important independent band passed from whispered rumour into the pages of the national music press. Particularly desirable as the original complete issue rather than the more commonly encountered detached article or clipping.
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- Description
Description
“Smiths to Split?” New Musical Express, 1 August 1987. Original weekly newspaper issue, with Hue and Cry to the front cover and the now-celebrated report concerning the possible dissolution of The Smiths within. A very good copy, with one central horizontal fold and light handling commensurate with age; otherwise well preserved.
“THE ARTICLE THAT TURNED RUMOUR INTO REALITY.”
One of the most consequential pieces of British music journalism of the 1980s. Written by Danny Kelly, the article—usually indexed under the headline “Smiths to Split”—reported growing tensions within The Smiths and suggested that the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Johnny Marr had brought the group close to collapse. Particular emphasis was placed upon Morrissey’s supposed disapproval of Marr’s work with other musicians and upon the breakdown of the creative partnership at the heart of the band.
Although speculative when published, the report became an extraordinary instance of music journalism helping to shape the event it purported to describe. Marr, already exhausted by the demands of writing, recording and effectively managing the group, reportedly believed that the story had been planted by Morrissey. Within days, he contacted the NME to correct several of its claims and confirmed that he had left The Smiths—not through personal acrimony, he insisted, but because he wanted the freedom to explore music beyond the limitations of the group.
The following week, NME reported that Rough Trade had formally confirmed Marr’s departure. Attempts to continue with another guitarist proved unsuccessful, and by the time the band’s final studio album, Strangeways, Here We Come, appeared later that year, The Smiths were finished. The issue of 1 August 1987 therefore occupies a unique position in the band’s history: neither merely predicting nor officially announcing the end, but acting as the catalyst through which the private fracture between Morrissey and Marr became public and irrevocable.
An evocative and increasingly collectable piece of contemporary music history, preserving the precise moment at which the demise of Britain’s most important independent band passed from whispered rumour into the pages of the national music press. Particularly desirable as the original complete issue rather than the more commonly encountered detached article or clipping.
