ON THIS DAY IN 1987 - THE SMITHS HAD ALREADY BROKEN UP WHEN THEIR FINAL ALBUM ARRIVED

ON THIS DAY IN 1987 — THE SMITHS HAD ALREADY BROKEN UP WHEN THEIR FINAL ALBUM ARRIVED 🎧

On September 28, 1987, The Smiths released Strangeways, Here We Come. It was their fourth and final studio album — but by the time listeners could buy it, the band that created it had already ceased to exist.

The album had been recorded that March at The Wool Hall in Somerset. 🏚️ Despite the ending that followed, producer Stephen Street remembered the sessions themselves as happy, without the terrible studio tensions people might imagine when hearing a band’s last record.

Musically, The Smiths were still moving forward. Johnny Marr wanted to escape the narrow “jingle-jangle” description attached to his playing, and the record opened up their sound with keyboards, heavier guitars and more space in the arrangements. 🎛️ Songs including “Girlfriend in a Coma,” “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” and “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” showed a band refusing to repeat itself.

Outside the studio, however, the management situation remained unresolved. Street later identified it as the main problem looming over the group. In August 1987, Marr left, and The Smiths separated before the album reached the public. 💔

That meant Strangeways arrived without a functioning band behind it. Marr later said the breakup handicapped the reaction to the record, obscuring what he already knew was strong work. He would also identify it as his favorite Smiths album, praising its bravery, atmosphere and room to breathe. 💿

So the final Smiths album was not created as a farewell. It became one only after the music was finished — a confident last statement released into the silence left by its makers. 🖤

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