The Smiths “Meat Is Murder” released 35 years ago today, February 11th, 1985. Rough Trade Records. I’m pretty sure this is the copy I bought back in ‘85, possibly early ‘86 – it does not have the single “How Soon Is Now?” listed on the back cover (that track was added to US copies after ‘92) but the long version is on the record itself so I’m not entirely sure what the story is on this particular pressing.

Meat Is Murder is The Smiths’ second studio LP; it went to #1 in the UK and to #110 in the US and Rolling Stone ranked it among the top 500 albums of all-time (#295 in 2003). So many great tracks! I love the two singles The Smiths released form Meat Is Murder: “Barbarism Begins At Home” (Italy and Germany in ‘85, the UK in ‘88) and “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore” (#49 UK), which is one of my favorite of the ultra-miserable Smith songs (and there a lot of those) and supposedly one of Johnny Marr’s, too. I spent a lot of hours in ‘86 wallowing in teenage misery to that song. I also love “The Headmaster Ritual,” “I Want the One I Can’t Have,” “What She Said” (a great Smiths rocker), “Nowhere Fast” and the title track “Meat Is Murder.”