Morrissey during the 80s

Steven Patrick Morrissey better known as Morrissey has been active in the music industry since the late 1970s and the Bardsmen has made an outstanding impression with lyrics, vocals and sometimes his own social views.

He started in the punk scene in the late seventies when Manchester became a real hotbed of punk talent. He briefly led the Nosebleeds who also featured Billy Duffy who went on to huge fame with The Cult. Duffy had introduced Johnny Marr to Morrissey and in 1982 The Smiths were formed.

The Smiths had a 5 year existence but for a Indie band they had made huge strides and became a regular in the charts and mainstream music. They signed to Rough Trade Records and were massively championed by Radio One DJ's John Peel and Kid Jensen.

During the 1980s The Smiths had released four studio albums with three number twos and 1985 offering 'Meat is Murder' reaching number one. They released 19 singles and were very prolific during this half decade they were around. They achieved two top ten hits with 1984 'Heaven Knows I'm miserable now' and 1987 'Sheila take a bow'.

During the last album, the cracks had appeared and the effectively the band had split. The late 1980s saw Morrissey embark on a solo career which would go well into the 2010's. He teamed up with ex-Smiths producer Stephen Street and released his first album 'Viva Hate' and two huge singles complimented the album 'Suedehead' a reverence to James Dean and 'Everyday is like Sunday'. The album went to number one in the UK album charts.

During the latter part of the 1980s he released a number of non album singles with 'Last of the famous international playboys' and 'interesting drug' which both went top ten and 'Ouija board, Ouija Board' punctured the top twenty.

The 1980s saw from a quiet beginning to one of the biggest names in rock and he played a huge part in the indie rock scene which was seen as battling against the takeover of the synth brigade.