Jump to content

Meat Is Murder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 86.138.159.39 (talk) at 00:23, 9 November 2015 (→‎Writing and recording). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the album by The Smiths. For the book, see Meat Is Murder (book).
Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Pitchfork Media8.1/10[2]
Q[3]
Select[4]
Sputnikmusic3.5/5[5]
The Village VoiceC+[6]

Meat Is Murder is the second studio album by the English rock band the Smiths. It was released on 11 February 1985 by Rough Trade Records and became the band's sole number one album in the UK charts during the band's lifetime, staying on the chart for thirteen weeks. The album reached number 40 in Canada[7] and number 110 in the US.

In 2003, Meat Is Murder was ranked number 296 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[8]

Writing and recording

After the relative production disappointment of the band's 1984 debut album The Smiths, singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr produced the album themselves, assisted only by engineer Stephen Street, whom they had first met on the session for "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and requested the contact number of.[9] Officially, the record's production is credited to "The Smiths", with Rourke and Joyce allowed say about their instruments' sound-levels in the mixing.

Meat Is Murder was more strident and political than its predecessor, including the pro-vegetarian title track (Morrissey forbade the rest of the group from being photographed eating meat[citation needed]), and the anti-corporal punishment "The Headmaster Ritual". Musically, the band had grown more adventurous, with Marr and Rourke channelling rockabilly and funk influences in "Rusholme Ruffians" and "Barbarism Begins at Home".

Morrissey also brought a political stance to many of his interviews, courting further controversy. Among his targets were the Thatcher administration, the monarchy, and his musical contemporaries. When asked about Band Aid, which was being strongly promoted in the UK media at the time, he quipped, "One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England."[10]

Part of the recording of the album was featured in a 1985 episode of the BBC's The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Analysis of the title track

The British campaign for saturated fats released the following analysis on the album's 20th anniversary:

The primary argument of the title track is that "Meat is killing for no reason, and killing for no reason is murder". In actual fact, neither is true. There are many good reasons to eat meat, and even if this were not so, the killing would still be being performed for a reason (namly meat suppply) - just a less compelling one. Secondly, killing for no reason is not murder. There are many kinds of murder that could never be described as killing for no reason; equally and more crucially even were animals being killed for no reason, this would not be murder as under the common law and all known statute, the victim of a murder must be a human being.

Release

The subsequent single-only release "Shakespeare's Sister" was not a great success in chart terms, nor was "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", the sole single from the album, which peaked at 49. The success of September 1985's "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side", however, was an indication of bigger things to come.

The song "How Soon Is Now?", originally issued as the B-side of "William, It Was Really Nothing", was added on both the US and Canadian editions of Meat Is Murder after becoming a success in North American dance clubs and on alternative radio (it was also added to post-1992 WEA re-issues of the album). This song was eventually released as a single in its own right in the UK, reaching No. 24 in the charts. Two Meat Is Murder album tracks—"Well I Wonder" (from the "How Soon Is Now?" single) and "What She Said" (from the "Shakespeare's Sister" single)—were also originally B-sides of singles. The 2011 remaster of Meat Is Murder restored the album's original UK track listing.

Cover

The album's sleeve uses a 1967 photograph of Marine Cpl. Michael Wynn in the Vietnam War,[11] though with the wording on his helmet changed from "Make War Not Love" to "Meat Is Murder". The original image was used for Emile de Antonio's 1968 documentary In the Year of the Pig.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr

No.TitleLength
1."The Headmaster Ritual"4:52
2."Rusholme Ruffians"4:20
3."I Want the One I Can't Have"3:14
4."What She Said"2:42
5."That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore"4:59
6."Nowhere Fast"2:37
7."Well I Wonder"4:00
8."Barbarism Begins at Home"6:57
9."Meat Is Murder"6:06
  • "How Soon Is Now?" was added to the US edition and to post-1992 UK WEA re-issues, as track 6. The 2011 remaster restored the original UK track listing.

Personnel

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1985 Dutch Albums 39[12]
1985 German Albums 45[13]
1985 New Zealand Albums 13[14]
1985 Swedish Albums 27[15]
1985 UK Albums Chart 1[16]
1985 Billboard 200 110[17]

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Meat Is Murder – The Smiths". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  2. ^ Wolk, Douglas (18 November 2011). "The Smiths: The Smiths Complete". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Meat Is Murmur". Q (87): 139. December 1993.
  4. ^ Harrison, Andrew (May 1993). "The Smiths". Select: 104. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  5. ^ Murray, Amanda (16 January 2005). "Review: The Smiths – Meat Is Murder". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert (25 June 1985). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  7. ^ RPM Chart Archives, 27 April 1985, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.0514&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=4v7ogs335vkfmh8vs7iglsulm0
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ "Interview With Stephen Street". HitQuarters. 27 September 2005. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  10. ^ "Band Aid vs. Morrissey..." (http). Overyourhead.co.uk. 18 November 2004. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  11. ^ "Soldier Rests". corbisimages.com. 1967. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  12. ^ http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Smiths&titel=Meat+Is+Murder&cat=a
  13. ^ https://www.offiziellecharts.de/album-details-33138
  14. ^ http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Smiths&titel=Meat+Is+Murder&cat=a
  15. ^ http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Smiths&titel=Meat+Is+Murder&cat=a
  16. ^ http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/21136/the-smiths/
  17. ^ http://www.billboard.com/artist/419138/smiths/chart

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meat_Is_Murder&oldid=689718621"