Meat Is Murder (1985)

The Smiths

3 Marr remembers the band “firing on all cylinders” as they recorded at Liverpool’s Amazon Studios, and the guitarist caught the sparks on his first self-produced album. Morrissey was at his bristling best – skewering targets from meat-eaters to local headmasters – and Marr showed a tougher side to his guitar palette, too, with the gunshot licks of Nowhere Fast, the terminal-velocity What She Said and

Rusholme Ruffians’ chunky rockabilly clatter. For better or worse, there was even an unlikely funk workout on Barbarism Begins At Home, while a lovesick fanbase were catered for by the bereft lilt of That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore: the perfect soundtrack for holding a wilted bouquet on an ex’s doorstep in the pouring rain. Download: That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore