The Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by the English rock band the Smiths, released on 16 June 1986 by Rough Trade Records. Following the release of their second album Meat Is Murder, the Smiths retreated to Greater Manchester to begin work on new material, with Johnny Marr and Morrissey writing extensively at Marr's home in Bowdon as the band sought to escape the pressures of London and their label Rough Trade. The album was produced by Morrissey and Marr, with engineering by Stephen Street; its music blends indie rock and post-punk. Recording for the album took place between July 1985 and December of that year, with sessions held at RAK Studios in London, Jacobs Studios in Farnham and Drone Studios in Manchester.
The Queen Is Dead spent 22 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number two. It reached number 70 on the US Billboard Top Pop Albums chart and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in late 1990. The album received widespread critical acclaim, praised for Marr's guitar work and Morrissey's witty and emotional lyricism. It has been included in multiple lists of the greatest albums of all time. Rolling Stone ranked the album 113th on its 2020-updated list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In its 2013 list, NME named The Queen Is Dead the greatest album of all time.
Background
Following the completion of Meat Is Murder in December 1984, guitarist Johnny Marr began developing new ideas for the Smiths' next album. In early 1985, the band returned to Greater Manchester, with Morrissey settling in Hale and Marr purchasing a home in Bowdon; the latter served as a writing base for the band. Marr described this period as an attempt to "shut out the outside world" and focus creatively, distancing themselves from the pressures of London and their record label. Drummer Mike Joyce likened Marr's home to a personal Brill Building due to the creative intensity. During this time, Morrissey channeled his frustrations with the media and music industry into lyrics.
Recording and production
The Queen Is Dead was developed over a period of more than eighteen months, from its earliest musical sketches to its release. The album was produced by Morrissey and Marr, working predominantly with engineer Stephen Street, who had engineered the band's 1985 album Meat Is Murder. The three shared a strong bond in the studio, helped by their similar ages and interests, which created a relaxed atmosphere. At the time the band was having difficulty with its record label Rough Trade Records. However, according to Street, "this didn't get in the way of recording because the atmosphere in the studio was very, very constructive". "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" was an attempt to recreate the "vibe" of Sandie Shaw's "Puppet on a String", although "it didn't quite work out that way", according to Marr. Linda McCartney was asked to play piano on the track, but declined, and a first take featuring a trumpeter was scrapped. A technical fault on the tape rendered the first completed version of the song unusable, and so it was re-recorded with John Porter at Wessex Studios in London. "The Queen Is Dead" was among the last songs to be recorded. Its distinctive tom-tom loop was created by Joyce and Street using a sampler. A line of guitar feedback was played by Marr through a wah-wah pedal throughout the song. The cover of The Queen Is Dead features a still of French actor Alain Delon from the 1964 film The Unvanquished. Delon granted permission for the image's use, though according to Morrissey's Autobiography, the actor mentioned that his parents were dismayed by the album's title.
Musical style
Music critics have categorised The Queen Is Dead as an indie rock, jangle pop and post-punk recording. Marr was heavily influenced by the Stooges and the Rolling Stones while crafting the album. Pitchfork Simon Reynolds noticed that Morrissey's lyrics were inspired by both surreal humour and black comedy. The album addresses a distinct criticism of the United Kingdom. According to Kevin Korber of PopMatters, Morrissey's writing has largely centred on two themes: himself and the United Kingdom. He often portrays himself as a misunderstood figure at odds with a world that fails to comprehend him. Marr notes that the album captures the progressive and the "night time" side of the Smiths.
The album's opener and title track "The Queen Is Dead" was based on a song Marr began writing as a teenager. Influenced by the Velvet Underground and the Detroit garage rock scene, In interviews, he explained that the song expresses the frustration he felt at age 20, when he found himself unable to feel at ease or at home in the very streets where he had been born and raised. which give it what has been described by Korber as a "shot of punk adrenaline". The song's guitar part drew on the Rolling Stones' cover of Marvin Gaye's "Hitch Hike", whose original version by Gaye himself had acted as an inspiration for the Velvet Underground's "There She Goes Again". "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" features lyrics that Morrissey described as a deliberate reduction of meaning, intended to highlight, in his words, "the basic absurdity of recognising the contours of one's body".
The album's release was preceded by the singles "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side", released on 16 September 1985, and "Bigmouth Strikes Again", on 19 May 1986. "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" was initially intended as a demo, but was considered by the band to be good enough for release as a single. The Queen Is Dead would become the last Smiths album supported by a tour. Many at Rough Trade favoured releasing "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" as the lead single, but Marr insisted on "Bigmouth Strikes Again", believing it was a more energetic and striking choice that better represented the band's sound. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" was not released as a single until 12 October 1992, five years after their split, to promote the compilation album ...Best II.
"The Queen Is Dead" was accompanied by an expressionistic music video directed by Derek Jarman, starts with a sampled excerpt from Bryan Forbes' 1962 British film The L-Shaped Room. Mayo Thompson from the band Red Krayola was an associate producer for the film and through working for Rough Trade persuaded Jarman to direct a promotional video for the Smiths. The album became a commercial success upon release, spending 22 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number two. and was certified Gold by the RIAA in late 1990. Later that month, Morrissey accused HMV of trying to "freeze sales" on the new re-issues after the store limited the number of records sold to one per person. Later in 2017, the album was re-released as a deluxe reissue on Warner Bros. Records including new studio takes of "There's a Light That Never Goes Out" and "Rubber Ring" as well as a previously unheard live album recorded in 1986. In a press release for the re-issue Morrissey said of the album: "You progress only when you wonder if an abnormally scientific genius would approve – and this is the leap The Smiths took with The Queen Is Dead".
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The Queen Is Dead has received acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the deluxe version of The Queen Is Dead received a rating of 99 out of 100 based on eleven critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
From contemporary reviews, Mark Coleman of Rolling Stone gave the album an overwhelmingly positive review, remarking on Morrissey's sense of humour and singling out the singer's performance on "Cemetry Gates" as a highlight, and concluded that "like it or not, this guy's going to be around for a while". Writing in British pop magazine Smash Hits, Tom Hibbert praised the guitar work and lyricism, describing Morrissey as "half genius half buffoon", while the other musical elements sound "like scratchings on a Fifth Form desk". Stephen Dalton, writing for Uncut, described the album as the Smiths' "most confident and coherent album yet" despite the escalating internal friction within the band. In a mixed review, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote that despite his dislike of the Smiths' previous albums, he held an "instant attraction" to The Queen Is Dead, where he found consolation in Morrissey's frank witty lyrics, "dishing the queen like Johnny Rotten never did and kissing off a day-job boss who's no Mr. Sellack", which "makes it easier to go along on his moonier escapades".
In retrospective reviews, Pitchfork writer Simon Reynolds described The Queen Is Dead as a masterpiece marking the Smiths' "imperial phase". He highlighted Morrissey's "idiosyncratic" and "grandly moving" lyrics and delivery, alongside Johnny Marr's "sparkling" melodies and intricate arrangements. He observed that, for true believers, the album cemented the Smiths' status as "the greatest group in the world" despite their struggle to gain widespread commercial success at the time, and positioned Morrissey as a "spurned savior" of British music.
Accolades
In 2000, The Queen Is Dead was voted number 10 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2002, Pitchfork listed The Queen Is Dead as the sixth-best album of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 216 on Rolling Stones list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", 218 in a 2012 revised list, and 113 in the 2020 revision. NME named it the second-greatest British album of all time in its 2006 list. In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at number three in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". The album was included in Spin Alternative Record Guide, a reference book part of the American Spin magazine. It was reviewed by Rob Sheffield, who gave the album a total score of ten. English-based magazine Clash added The Queen Is Dead to its "Classic Album Hall of Fame" in its June 2011 issue, saying it "is an album to lose yourself in; it has depth, focus and some great tunes. It's easy to see why the album is held in such high esteem by Smiths fanatics and why, a decade later, it became a key influence for all things Britpop".
In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 16 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s" and said: "There may never again be an indie-rock album as good as The Queen Is Dead". In 2013, it was ranked the greatest record of all time on the NMEs "Greatest Albums of All Time" list. At Rolling Stone, Gavin Edwards retrospectively viewed the album as "one of the funniest rock albums ever", noting that Morrissey had "learned to express his self-loathing through mockery" while Marr "matched his verbal excess with witty, supple music", and concluded, "If the queen's reaction to Morrissey was 'We are not amused,' then she was the only one".
In 2024, the album was listed at number 66 by Apple Music in their "100 Best Albums" list.
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Morrissey; all music is composed by Johnny Marr.
2017 collector's edition
Disc one features the 2017 master of the album. Disc four DVD features the 2017 master in 96 kHz / 24-bit PCM stereo.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. orchestration
- Andy Rourke – bass guitar
- Mike Joyce – drums
Production
- Morrissey – production
- Johnny Marr – production
- Stephen Street – engineering (except "Frankly, Mr. Shankly"), drum sampling ("The Queen Is Dead")
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Certifications
See also
- List of 1980s albums considered the best