8.

The Smiths Hatful Of Hollow

The Smiths were a massive turning point when they came along in the autumn of 1983. My brother immediately started pulling up large patches of herbaceous border to shove down the back pocket of his jeans, and about a billion quiffs sprung up overnight, some of them not connected to heads you might have expected to be turned by such sentiments as those professed by Morrissey. What I realize now is that he was sending out secret signals that were picked up by a lot of sensitive young male friends of mine who were struggling to find the courage to come out in a world that was still extremely hostile and hateful towards homosexuality. He, like Marc Almond before him, was an absolute Godsend, appearing like an older brother who could guide you through these tumultuous years and the mess of emotions and fear – even though these are the sentiments he expresses in his songs, he is vocalizing everything you feel inside and his voice and the musical setting acts as a comforting arm around the shoulder. He understands.

I listened to this album a lot in the summer of 1984, mainly to hear ‘How Soon Is Now’, which I am still in total awe of. Johnny Marr’s guitar on that says perhaps even more about the teenage state than Morrissey’s beautiful lyrics, the work is sublime. In Weirdo I used ‘What Difference Does It Make?’ as a chapter heading because of its opening line: "All men have secrets and here is mine, so let it be known…" But what a brilliant album title this is.