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How Soon Is Now?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "How Soon Is Now?" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by The Smiths from the album Hatful of Hollow |
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| Released | January 28, 1985 August 31, 1992 (re-issue) |
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| Format | 7" single, 12" single | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | Mid-1984 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 3:53 (7"), 6:43 (12") | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Rough Trade RT176 (7"), RTT176 (12") |
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| Writer | Johnny Marr Morrissey |
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| Producer | John Porter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Smiths singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"How Soon Is Now?" is a 1984 song written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr and first released by their band The Smiths. Sire Records chief Seymour Stein called it "the 'Stairway to Heaven' of the Eighties",[1][2] while co-writer Johnny Marr described it as "possibly our most enduring record. It's most people's favourite, I think."[3]. Despite its prominent place in The Smiths' repertoire, however, it is not generally considered to be representative of the band's style.[4]
Originally a B-side with "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" on the 12" single version of "William, It Was Really Nothing" in 1984, the song was subsequently featured on the compilation album Hatful of Hollow and on US, Australian and Warner UK editions of Meat Is Murder. It was belatedly released as an A-side in the UK in 1985, reaching #24 on the singles chart. The single did not make the US Top 40.
Although a club favourite, "How Soon Is Now" did not chart as well as writers Morrissey and Marr had expected. Most commentators put this down to the fact that the song had been out on vinyl in a number of forms before being released as a single in its own right. The original track ran for nearly 7 minutes; however, the 7" single edit cut the length down to under 4 minutes. The complete version is generally used on compilations.
Contents |
The song contains only one verse which is repeated twice, plus a chorus and a bridge. The subject is an individual who cannot find a way to break out of his shyness. Two couplets from the song are well known in pop culture, the opening to the verse: "I am the son, and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar / I am the son and heir, of nothing in particular", and the chorus: "I am human and I need to be loved / Just like everybody else does". The opening was adapted from a line in George Eliot's Middlemarch: "To be born the son of a Middlemarch manufacturer, and inevitable heir to nothing in particular".[1] While the track is cited as having changed US media perception of the band as "some wacky gay-rock crusade", the lyrics have also been taken as specifically relating to contemporary Manchester gay club culture.[1]
The tune is built around a guitar chord that rapidly oscillates in volume. As to how the distinctive resonant sound was achieved, Marr gave the following account to Guitar Player magazine in 1990:
- The vibrato sound is fucking incredible, and it took a long time. I put down the rhythm track on an Epiphone Casino through a Fender Twin Reverb without vibrato. Then we played the track back through four old Twins, one on each side. We had to keep all the amps vibrating in time to the track and each other, so we had to keep stopping and starting the track, recording it in 10-second bursts... We did it in three passes through a harmonizer, set to some weird interval, like a sixth. There was a different harmonization for each pass. For the line in harmonics, I retuned the guitar so that I could play it all at the 12th fret with natural harmonics. It's doubled several times.[5]
The song was originally included as a bonus track on the 12" single release of The Smiths' "William, It Was Really Nothing", released in the UK on 24 August 1984. According to John Porter: "I thought 'This is it!'...but I don't think the record company liked it...They totally threw it away, wasted it".[6] The track was subsequently included on The Smiths' compilation album Hatful of Hollow, relased on 12 November 1984.
The Italian 12" pressing of "William, It Was Really Nothing", on Virgin Records, featured an out-take version of "How Soon Is Now?", which has not been released in other territories.
The song was released on Sire Records in the US, backed with "Girl Afraid", in November 1984. It was expected to sell well and, for the first time, a video was made to promote a Smiths track. However, the song failed to chart. Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis blamed poor promotion: "I can't understand why 'How Soon Is Now?" wasn't a top 10 single, but perhaps I'm being naive. If only their singles had been played on the radio".[7]. Morrissey expressed his disappointment in an interview with Creem magazine: "It's hard to believe that 'How Soon Is Now' was not a hit. I thought that was the one..."[8].
"How Soon is Now?" was released as an A-side in the UK on January 28, 1985. The 7" featured an edited version of the track, and the B-side was "Well I Wonder", from the about-to-be-released Meat Is Murder album. The 12" single included a new instrumental track, "Oscillate Wildly". In spite of being considered, by this time, something of a classic, "How Soon Is Now?" only managed to rise to #24 in the UK singles chart. According to John Porter, "Everybody knew the Smiths' fans already had it".[2]
Following the acquisition of the Rough Trade catalogue by Warner Bros. Records, "How Soon Is Now?" was issued again as a single in the UK in September 1992. A 7" single and cassette featured the editied version, backed with a live version of "Handsome Devil", recorded at The Haçienda on 4 February 1983 (this had originally been the B-side to The Smiths' first single "Hand in Glove"). Two CD singles featured tracks from The Smiths back-cataolgue which were, following the demise of Rough Trade, unavailable in the UK at that time. The re-issue reached #16 in the UK singles chart.
"Morrissey and co have once again delved into their Sixties treasure-trove, and produced a visceral power capable of blowing the dust off Eighties inertia. The majestic ease of Morrissey's melancholic vocals are tinted with vitriol, as they move through vistas of misery with plaintive spirals around the pulse of Johnny Marr's vibrato guitar. The string's muted strains conjure wistful signs that bridge the schism between crass sentimentality and callous detachment. Each repeated phrase intensifies the hypnotic waves, with results that outflank anything since 'This Charming Man'. Catharsis has rarely been tinged with so much regret, and shared with so much crystalline purity." - Melody Maker, 2 February 1985
"For the most part, Morrissey is the Hilda Ogden of pop, harassed and hard done-by. I guess what seems like meat to one man sounds like murder to another." - Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 9 February 1985
The single's cover art was a still from the film Dunkirk (1958) featuring British actor Sean Barrett, praying but looking sufficiently as though he was holding his crotch to have the sleeve banned in the US,[9] where a photograph of the band backstage at the 1984 Glastonbury Festival was used instead. According to Morrissey: "'How Soon Is Now?' was released in an abhorrent sleeve - and the time and the dedication that we put into the sleeves and artwork, it was tearful when we finally saw the record..."Cite error: Invalid tag; name cannot be a simple integer, use a descriptive title
A music video was made using the 7" edit of the song. It intercut clips of the band playing live (including a shot of Johnny Marr showing Morrissey how to play the guitar), an industrial part of a city, and a girl dancing. Whilst unauthorised and heavily criticised by the band[1] (Morrissey: "We saw the video and we said to Sire, 'You can't possibly release this... this degrading video.' And they said, 'Well, maybe you shouldn't really be on our label.' It was quite disastrous")Cite error: Invalid tag; name cannot be a simple integer, use a descriptive title the video has been credited with helping make the song their most famous in the US, along with heavy exposure on college radio.[10]
"How Soon Is Now?" was always considered a "major problem" to play in concert, and live versions are rare.[1] One was used to open Morrissey's album Live at Earl's Court. Another was recorded during the concert for The Smiths' live album Rank, but was not used. Instead, a raw version of this song (and entire concert) appeared on the bootleg A Bad Boy from a Good Family. The song was recently performed live by Morrissey at the Rock Am Ring Festival in 2006.
"How Soon Is Now?" has been covered by various artists, including the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. (their cover of the song is featured on the album 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane) in 2002 — a version which is "just silly" according to Johnny Marr[11]; UK indie band Hundred Reasons; US post-core band Quicksand (bonus track on their Slip album) in 1993; US post-grunge band Everclear; UK band Paradise Lost (on the limited edition Say Just Words EP); and industrial rockers Snake River Conspiracy.
The guitar track was sampled, with the band's approval, in 1990 by indie-dance band Soho on their UK Top 10 single "Hippychick".
The song became well-known to television viewers as the theme from Charmed, in a cover version performed by Psychedelic Furs spin-off band Love Spit Love; the same recording had earlier featured on the soundtrack for another tale of young witches, the film The Craft.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine rated the song #486 in its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at #28 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In 2006, "How Soon Is Now?" was voted runner up in VH1’s "Top Lyrics" poll for the lyrics, "So you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry, and you want to die" and marginally missed out on top spot to U2’s "One".[12] In May 2007, NME magazine placed "How Soon Is Now?" at # 7 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever.
- "How Soon Is Now? [edit]" – 3:53
- "Well I Wonder" – 4:00
- in original green sleeve
- "How Soon Is Now?" – 6:43
- "Well I Wonder" – 4:00
- "Oscillate Wildly" – 3:24
UK 7" and 12": THE TATTY TRUTH / none
- The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for naming each episode after an 80s hit song, named an episode after this song.
- The song is featured in the movies The Midnight Hour (1985), The Craft (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), and Closer (2004).
- The song is referred to in Capcom's video game Killer7, its title scrawled on a wall. The message is part of a puzzle, incorporated due to the game's protagonists, the Smith Syndicate.
- The song is featured in the American version of Queer as Folk (Season 1).
- The opening of the song was used as background music for a Lexus commercial.
- The record sleeve is featured in the film The Science of Sleep. It sits above Stēphane's bed.
- One of the song's instrumental sections also appeared in the mid-1990s on a UK radio station 95.8 Capital FM jingle.
- In Max Brooks book, 'World War Z', the song is referenced as being performed instrumentally to a movie.
- Instrumental portions of the song were used in a Labatt Ice Beer commercial featuring Alexander Godunov (circa 1992)
- Featured as the theme song to the US television show "Charmed" from it's premier on October 7, 1998 to it's Finale on May 21, 2006.
- ^ a b c d e Simon Goddard (2004). The Smiths - Songs That Saved Your Life: pp.107-114
- ^ a b Johnny Rogan (2006). Morrissey: The Albums: p.38
- ^ Uncut, March 2007: p.48
- ^ All Music Group review
- ^ Guitar Player magazine, January 1990. Retrieved from http://foreverill.com/disc/howsoon.htm
- ^ Johnny Rogan (1994). The Smiths: p.75
- ^ Johnny Rogan (1994). Op Cit: p.103
- ^ Creem magazine, 1987
- ^ David Bret (2004). Morrissey: Scandal & Passion: p.58
- ^ Johnny Rogan (2006). Op Cit: pp.53-54
- ^ Uncut, March 2007: p.48
- ^ BBC News, April 2006
- Simon Goddard (2004). The Smiths - Songs That Saved Your Life. ISBN 1-903111-84-6.
| The Smiths |
| Morrissey - Johnny Marr - Andy Rourke - Mike Joyce |
| Craig Gannon - Dale Hibbert |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: The Smiths | Meat Is Murder | The Queen Is Dead | Strangeways, Here We Come | Rank (live) |
| Singles: Hand in Glove | This Charming Man | What Difference Does It Make? | Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now | William, It Was Really Nothing | How Soon Is Now? | Shakespeare's Sister | That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore | The Boy with the Thorn in His Side | Bigmouth Strikes Again | Panic | Ask | Shoplifters of the World Unite | Sheila Take a Bow | Girlfriend in a Coma | I Started Something I Couldn't Finish | Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me | There Is a Light That Never Goes Out |
| Band-assembled compilations: Hatful of Hollow | The World Won't Listen | Louder Than Bombs |
| Other compilations: Stop Me | Best...I | ...Best II | Singles | The Very Best of The Smiths |
| Related |
| Rough Trade Records |