Scattered Black and Whites #2 - "Panic" by The Smiths

I've been through a fairly long and protracted process in my relationship with The Smiths. I knew my dad listened to them, and he's generally pretty solid for someone who has purposefully made a note of buying each Snow Patrol album. Then when I started reading the NME, I would see their name mentioned in reverence, which had a pretty strong impression on my malleable 15 year old mind which was striving pathetically to work out what was worth listening to and what wasn't.

Then I became aware of passing references to Morrissey. As a massive twat.

Then I started seeing references to The Smiths as a bunch of pretentious, miserable, flower waving fops.

So I was in two minds before I even got round to listening to them. And when I did listen to them (finally) I fell straight into the "well what a bunch of gloomy gits" camp. Any time I saw Morrissey pop up in the musical press, I felt like slapping him.

I remained this way for some time. A couple of years in fact. Then I started listening again. I thought "there HAS to be more to them. They can't be hailed as the most influential indie group of all time and be as crap as I think they are".

So I did. I listened. My ears and my brain were doing some intense wrestling. And finally, there was a breakthrough. I don't know exactly why, or why it happened when it did, but it did.

Listening to "Panic", the chorus lyrics just smashed right into my brain.

"Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
IT SAYS NOTHING TO ME ABOUT MY LIFE
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music they constantly play"

I can fully understand why those lyrics, to the uninitiated, look a bit self pitying and drastic. But for me, they are hilariously true! Listening to this I just suddenly started picturing all the times I've walked past clubs or cars or listened to radios blaring out utter, UTTER crap. "Panic" articulated that in a way that I've never fully been able to without feeling like a self righteous douche. And it's the first time that I'd ever really heard anyone SING about how vacuous the popular music around them is. Plenty of artists SAY it, but SINGING about it struck a chord in me. I get a bit sick of people who listen to good music but are quite happy to sit back and let other people be lulled into listening to vacuous, shallow and extortionate musical spam and not say anything about it; about the people listening or the talentless and self interested cons making and producing the stuff. That final chorus is just, in my mind, irresistible. "HAND THE DJ, HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ! HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ, HAND THE DJ - HANG THE DJ!"

Most importantly though, aside from being a great song for me on its own terms, it opened a big ol' floodgate of appreciation. It started me off on a turnaround which turned into a love affair. I fell in love with The Smiths and it's been increasing exponentially over the months since.



I can appreciate that not everyone's going to get The Smiths. There are lots of things people say about them that I can argue against but I can understand that for some people they still don't click. And however erudite, insightful and wry Morrissey was in the 80s, he's one of the biggest twats on the face of the earth now. But let's not talk about that.