I have never ever liked them.
Ever.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 22:53, 2 replies, latest was 13 years ago)

I came to the Smiths late, so they never occupied that special place in my heart that they seem to for their fans.
I quite like some of it, but it has never been life-changing stuff for me - their best album is the best of the smiths.
TD is the right age for them to have played an important role though.
You're only a couple of years younger than me, Doz, but you grew up in a very different world to our man TD.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 22:57, Reply)

A very different world indeed.
I'm 32.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 22:59, Reply)

See I'm only four years older, but I caught the tail end of TD's era.
Not to the same extent as TD, but I can remember being amazed to discover 'alternative' music.
When I started going to clubs aged around 15/16 there was one or two nights that catered for all the alternative groups - goths, metallers, indie kids, hippies, crusties, etc. - we all had to wait our turn as the DJs would play a section of each style of music through the course of the night.
Of course this introduced you to other genres you might not otherwise have heard and you learned to appreciate them.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:08, Reply)

I DID GAZ YOU, YOU KNOW.

(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:09, Reply)

I KNOW, I READ IT
You'd like my friend Neil's writing, maybe.
I think I gazzed you a link to one of his pieces once before.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:11, Reply)

But did you like it?
Why do you think I sent you it?

You're one of the few people who don't just say that things are fucking shit.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:13, Reply)

I did actually.
I'm not that much of a Joy Division fan, but other people's passion for a band always makes me want to explore what it is that they love.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:16, Reply)

So now you know.
I think the main thing is that they were just working class lads and they made such fluid, literary music. Arty when they had no right to be, and I don't think they realised just how arty and clever they were.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:18, Reply)

Applies to a lot of bands really.

( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:24, Reply)

I still think New Order are fucking shit though.

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:25, Reply)

Meh
Some great songs- Ceremony (which was written by Joy Division) and Temptation are fucking wonderful.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:28, Reply)

I got all sorts
But - as below - I grew up in Barrow-in-Furness. Popular culture was forced upon us, and if you wanted to be different you had to get out.

Three of us went to Glasgow after school one weekend to see Lloyd Cole. Ok, we'd been a bit smartarsey about getting out of town etc. - but when we went to get our bags from the common room someone had written "posh twats" on them.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:16, Reply)

It was me.

(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:19, Reply)

Aged 2

( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:21, Reply)

I just checked
And I'm on last week's main qotw Best Of page TWICE.

BEAT THAT, FATBOY!!!
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:24, Reply)

You've attained the dizzying heights of Pooflake.

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:28, Reply)

oh man, I've been waiting so long for this

(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:29, Reply)

Not really something I aspire to beat.
Midge Ure lookalike.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:34, Reply)

oh dear
I look nothing like Midge Ure.

HONEST!
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:37, Reply)

I was quite lucky in that the school I went to drew from a quite middle class, bohemian, lefty sort of area
So there were kids there with cool older brothers or parents that smoked dope, etc.
But it took me until my fifth year to meet them.
There was still the twats who called you names if you had long hair, but it didn't really matter because there were enough alternative people to make it bearable.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:23, Reply)

Age thing again.
I passed my 11 plus and went to Grammar School. A year later it became a comprehensive but it was the closest school to home so I stayed there - ex Grammar School teachers forced to teach in a comp wasn't a happy mix at all.

They loved our year but even as a 15 year old I watched standards decline.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:30, Reply)

As below - thanks.
Me, Buzz and Jez used to get the train to Manchester every Saturday to buy music - 128 miles to buy good stuff.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:01, Reply)

You're a lot younger than me
Imagine growing up in a working class North West town in the early 80's, when it was all fucking Spandau Ballet.

If I sometimes spit out balls of vitriol, remember that the place I grew up in was dead from the hair down and then understand that my younger brother is gay.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 22:58, Reply)

I hate homophobia.
And I grew up an articulate, well read, awkward stammerer in abject poverty in a council house.

Not sure what that has to do with anything really.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:00, Reply)

What it means is that you make the best of what you've got
Parochial, insular towns either crush you or squeeze you out to something better.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:06, Reply)

I don't know who the bigger bender is here, you or me.

(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:09, Reply)

You, I think.

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:10, Reply)

NO WAY DUDE!

(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:11, Reply)

Yeah, you're secretly proud of that.

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:12, Reply)

I think the point is that growing up in small towns is hideous beyond the understanding of most people.

( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Thu 11 Oct 2012, 23:19, Reply)