The Smiths “Panic” b/w “Vicar in a Tutu” and “The Draize Train.” Recorded 30 years ago this month, May ‘86 and released in July ‘86. 12″ single on Rough Trade Records. “Panic” made it to #11 on the UK charts and is available on various compilation albums (including The World Won’t Listen and Louder Than Bombs) and on the live album Rank. “Panic” marks the first single recorded after the temporary departure of bassist Andy Rourke and the addition of Craig Gannon. “Panic’s” most famous lyrical line, basically becoming the song’s subtitle, is “Hang the DJ” and supposedly came from Marr and Morrissey listening to BBC1: when the announcement of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster was reported, DJ Steve Wright immediately followed the news with Wham’s “I’m Your Man.” Marr may or may not have said (paraphrasing here) “WTF? Hang the DJ!” Overall “Panic” is the questioning of what worth pop songs really have to the listener.

The B side includes “Vicar in a Tutu” – such a fun song; it appears on The Queen is Dead, also from ‘86, and Morrissey’s vivid lyrical composition makes the listener completely visualize the ridiculousness of a vicar sliding down a banister in a tutu. Also on side B is “The Draize Train,” also found on Rank which was recorded live at The National Ballroom in London in October ‘86; it’s a wonderful churning jangly Marr instrumental.

Run-off groove etching on Side 1: “I dreamt about Stew last night”