Surprised not to see a
node by
Helen4Morrissey here, but I would like to address something that has not been touched on; where the Smiths got their name from.
There have been many competing theories, the most popular two both concerning themselves with
Morrissey's desire to reach the
working class, but sometimes failing: His frequent mentionings of
homosexual characters and homosexuality, and the
meat pie incident (Morrissey was a devout
vegetarian* who wanted the band to follow him (eg. album '
Meat Is Murder').
Andy Rourke (I think) was seen eating a meat pie in public, and a big deal of the incident was made in the music press) come to mind
- First is that the band wanted a really common name, something that wouldn't look out of place in a class list or a role call.
- The second is that Morrissey wanted to name the band after somewhat of an inspirational figure for him: Mark E. Smith from the Fall, lead singer of another Mancunian band who started about six or seven years before the Smiths.
*
No one was a vegetarian amongst the working class in
England in the eighties.