Young Guns: The Smiths

1999 BBC documentary charting the rise and fall of, possibly the UK’s finest beat-combo since The Beatles and The Stones, The Smiths.

To be completely honest there’s nothing in this one that big fans of the band wont know or have seen already but it’s still well worth a look if you’ve got half an hour to spare. With a strong focus on the acrimonious split in 1987 after Strangeways Here We Come, the documentary tells the story of the band forming, being and then going their separate ways.

Interviews with the likes of Geoff Travis of Rough Trade and, of course, everyone’s favourite UK indie and post-punk talking head, journalist, writer and broadcaster, Paul Morley as well as with Marr,

Rourke and Joyce all feature here in The Rise and Fall of The Smiths. Surprisingly no sign of an interview, at the time of making the documentary, with the Moz though…

This was originally shown on BBC 2’s Young Guns Go For It Series on this day, Jan 22nd, in 1999. Hope you enjoy it.

Racket Racket on Vimeo.

(Image of Morrissey and Mick Joyce courtesy of the Foreverill website)