"...and he's wearing shades indoors, and... why isn't everyone doing that now?"
Mojo magazine recently celebrated the 25th Anniversary of The Smiths' fabulous album, The Queen is Dead . The issue features a calendar of the Smiths' Meat is Murder tours, during which the songs for Queen were written and recorded. In an insightful essay, Jon Savage explores the album's political / cultural significance. His take is really interesting, and illustrates the continuing relevance of the album: when the cultural mainstream is uptight and dangerously self-interested, how does one become a true individual? It's a great issue, and it's satisfying for someone like me (I had the huge Queen is Dead poster on the wall in my dorm room, circa 1990) to see music that meant a lot to me continue to be appreciated. But that's not why I'm writing this post. Two moments in the magazine's spread really struck me. One was Smiths fan Bernard Butler's breathless description of Johnny Marr, Smiths guitarist, during a performance of "Bigm...