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A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT

Tony Fletcher

The Enduring Saga of The Smiths

Renowned rock journalist Tony Fletcher delivers unprecedented insider access to the legendary 1980s band that has been hailed as Britain's greatest since the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Of the many bands to come out of the decade of mostly disposable music that was the Eighties, the Smiths were one of the few truly essential: they were the Rolling Stones of the alternative generation. Singer Morrissey was a new breed of sex symbol-witty, literate and handsome, yet a sexually ambiguous loner-while his songwriting partner Johnny Marr was an understated guitar god, defying the onslaught of synth-pop. Together with bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce, they created a body of work that even twenty years later continues to attract new fans and inspire old ones. Tony Fletcher is the bestselling author of five non-fiction books and one novel. His newest book is All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927-1977 (W.W. Norton, 2009; Omnibus, 2010). His biography of drummer Keith Moon, Dear Boy, has been named in countless Best Music Book lists, and his authorized biography of R.E.M., Remarks, has been published in over half a dozen countries worldwide. Fletcher has contributed to publications including the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, Elle, and Details in the US and The Observer, NME, Sky, and Record Mirror in the UK. He has been seen and heard on VH1 Behind the Music, NPR's Weekend Edition, A&E Biography, BBC's Living Famously, and many more

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Book Published 2012-12-01 by Crown

Comments

[A] finely judged re-telling of a remarkable tale with valuable first-hand accounts of the band's American adventures, their rapid development into a wonderful live act, plus insights into the spiralling pressures and frictions that faced the individual band members.

The story of the Smiths told on the basis of interviews with just about every surviving participant in the Smiths' story. As the story winds on, a chain of no-shows, fits of pique and self-sabotage. reaches its denouement with an episode from April 1987, just prior to the band's formal break-up. Fletcher is the first writer to have got the full story. Such material highlights the extent to which Fletcher has done his research

Fletcher's success resides within his ability to recognize the value of the band's individual histories. By doing his research, and presenting it in a lively and dynamic way, he presents the almost inevitable route to fame taken by people who might otherwise not have been notable beyond their Manchester confines.

[A] meticulous biography. This exhaustive, well-researched account brings fresh detail and thought to the party.

The story of the Smiths told on the basis of interviews with just about every surviving participant in the Smiths' story. As the story winds on, a chain of no-shows, fits of pique and self-sabotage. reaches its denouement with an episode from April 1987, just prior to the band's formal break-up. Fletcher is the first writer to have got the full story. Such material highlights the extent to which Fletcher has done his research.

The Smiths, one of the most influential rock groups in the U.K. since the Beatles-- perhaps the most influential U.K. band of the 1980s-- finally get the complete and vivid biography they deserve. Fletcher... perfectly captures the wit and complexity of the band and its music. Read more...

The story of the Smiths told on the basis of interviews with just about every surviving participant in the Smiths' story. As the story winds on, a chain of no-shows, fits of pique and self-sabotage. reaches its denouement with an episode from April 1987, just prior to the band's formal break-up. Fletcher is the first writer to have got the full story. Such material highlights the extent to which Fletcher has done his research.

A full account of the singularly influential English band.... [Tony Fletcher] captures the lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry of the two leads and closely follows the band's brief journey from local indie curio to New Wave phenomenon.. An up-to-date and revealing rock biography that sets a standard of completion that will likely prove hard to beat.

Tony Fletcher's account is a highly enjoyable way of revisiting [the] story. Crucially, he avoids areas well-served by other Smiths tomes and brings sufficient new material to reward even well-read fans. It's a tale that's been told before, but in his biography of the Manchester four-piece Tony Fletcher reveals new details and brings new depths to the story of Morrissey, Marr, Rourke, Joyce and the birth of the band.

Best of all for the group’s ongoing admirers and fans, Fletcher displays an unflagging enthusiasm in describing every aspect of how the Smiths produced “a torrent of brilliant work in a blazing stream of exhaustive glory.

An exhaustive labour of love that was three years in the writing but which will be lapped up by fans of the band... written with a real sense of love and affection for the group who, though they were only together for a mere five years, tilted the world on its axis to a degree not seen since the heyday of the Beatles and the Stones. Fletcher is excellent when it comes to widening the view to include the cultural and historical factors behind the band's emergence and the city from which they came