Classic Day – Meat The Innovation

The Smiths, the legendary British Indie Pop Rock group that inspired a wave of evolution to music as an industry. They became staples in the community as The Smiths were a band that really began that indie sound. Innovative, Intuitive, and of great ingenuity, Meat Is Murder combines so many different elements of great songwriting and great personality and that it is no wonder why The Smiths and Meat Is Murder are still being talked about today.

Originally published in 1985 under Rough Trade Records, Meat Is Murder became an instant hit with the public reaching number one on the charts for thirteen weeks in the U.K. This was in relation to how The Smiths branched out their sound, refined their element, and were producing some more drastic style changes throughout Meat Is Murder. Songs like “Nowhere Fast,” and “Rusholme Ruffians” have more of a folk vibe to them while “How Soon Is Now?” and “The Headmaster Ritual” involves a more punk, or indie rock vibe. Now while indie rock is actually described simply as a band that is independent or not signed to a label, there is a sound associated with that specific genre and it has changed over the years. Now Indie signifies as mostly a lo-fi or low-fidelity sound or way of recording.

The Smiths were one of those innovators of this style of music and “How Soon Is Now?” just sounds so spacious as the drums have a ton of reverb on them which really makes the song so much better.  The song’s theme needs a spacious setting and it just has so many little things on the track that just made it such a hit. “How Soon Is Now?” was originally released as a B-Side to a totally different record but had gained so much popularity on alternative radio stations and in dance clubs that it was a great way to spark further interest in Meat Is Murder by including it in future versions of the album.

Meat Is Murder is just one of those great records to throw on while going on a long drive as night as it has some great fast paced songs but can also slow things down to a crawl with the soft-spoken Morrissey singing over The Smiths backing instrumental work. “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore” is just one of those songs, it isn’t quite as slow as Morrissey’s solo work but The Smiths still have some great slowed down ballads. Meat is Murder is actually for the most part a quicker style album with blazing acoustic guitar and pounding drums like my favorite track on Meat Is Murder, “What She Said.” It brings some outstanding percussion work and perfect breakneck guitar riffs to accompany the thumping bass in the background.

Meat is Murder also has a laughable track at the end simply called “Meat is Murder” that uses cow and slaughterhouse noises to illustrate how terrible eating meat really is. I don’t think it makes or breaks the album, it just is a song you hear once and while it actually has a great instrumental, the lyrics are just so funny that I can not take it seriously. I understand what The Smiths were going for, but the cow noises are just a bit over the top for me and hearing Morrissey almost break down and cry while singing “Heifer whines could be human cries” isn’t something I really could relate to.

All in All, Meat is Murder is just a lively record that has some great fast paced dance songs and some slowed down crawl songs. The Smiths came with some outstanding sounds that were intuitive and showed some serious experimentation. It helped push forward an entire genre of music and I’m sure influenced several meat eaters to see how meat really is murder.