the smiths

It's 30 years since Manchester four-piece The Smiths changed the face of British pop with their debut single Hand In Glove. In this half-hour Culture Show special, fellow Mancunian and lifelong fan Tim Samuels sets out to find out why The Smiths have such a special place in the hearts of a generation of Brits. The Smiths were only around for five years in the mid-eighties, but to this day the sentiment their music evokes is strong. Samuels pays visits to a variety of dedicated fans including fashion designer Wayne Hemingway, poet Simon Armitage, Labour MP Kerry McCarthy and Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher to analyse the look, the lyrics, the issues and the riffs that made The Smiths Britain's first, and arguably best ever, indie rock band.

This in-depth retrospective surveys the history and music of the Smiths via interviews with the band, expert commentary and insights from insiders, including producer Stephen Street. Performance footage and TV clips round out the program.

20 July 1986, University Of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. Panic - Shakespeare's Sister - Frankly, Mr. Shankly - Vicar In A Tutu - Ask - I Want The One I Can't Have - Cemetry Gates - Never Had No One Ever - Is It Really So Strange? - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore - What She Said (with Rubber Ring intro and outro) - The Queen Is Dead - Money Changes Everything - I Know It's Over - Bigmouth Strikes Again - (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame/Rusholme Ruffians - Hand In Glove

Thirteen Smiths' recordings, half of them in a club with a live audience. These alternate with five rock videos, two directed by Derek Jarman (Panic and Ask), two by Tim Broad (Girlfriend in a Coma and Stop Me...), and one by Paula Grief and Richard Levine (How Soon Is Now?). It concludes with Jarman's short film, "The Queen Is Dead," with a three-song soundtrack. The rock videos, particularly Jarman's, are filled with multiple and superimposed images, changing tints, and little narrative coherence; they get their pace from the music's rhythm. Androgyny, dancing children, belching smokestacks, graffiti, angry young men, a waif in a cap: collages of modern alienation.

1987. Denver, Co. One crazy night in the life of four friends reeling from the sudden demise of iconic British band The Smiths, while the local airwaves are hijacked at gunpoint by an impassioned Smiths fan.

This DVD contains an incredible amount of insight into the two songwriting talents of The Smiths: Morrissey and Johnny Marr. Seen here for the first time is a less-than-usual guarded, open-but-cautious early Morrissey in a revealing unedited interview.

Never was the pain of adolescence so vividly soundtracked as it was by The Smiths during their brief tenure in the 1980s. So hopelessly romantic and so utterly British, the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Marr was almost too perfect to exist for any length of time, as it entwined poetry and melody with timeless brilliance. Glorious Noise is feature length documentary film which reviews the entire career of The Smiths. Beginning with their formation in Manchester in the early 80s, and taking flight through their four pivotal albums, their legendary live performances and their controversial behaviour, culminating in their abrupt demise, the film covers the full story of the finest British act of the past thirty years.

Set list: 01. Hand In Glove 02. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now 03. Girl Afraid 04. This Charming Man I 05. Pretty Girls Make Graves 06. Still Ill 07. Crack On The Head I 08. This Night Has Opened My Eyes 09. Miserable Lie 10. You've Got Everything Now 11. Handsome Devil 12. What Difference Does It Make 13. These Things Take Time 14. This Charming Man II 15. Hand In Glove II

It was recorded almost on 23 October 1986 at National Ballroom in Kilburn, London

Mark Ellen introduces The Smiths in concert at The Assembly Rooms in Derby. Setlist: Handsome Devil, Still Ill, This Charming Man, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Reel Around The Fountain, What Difference Does It Make?, Miserable Lie, This Night Has Opened My Eyes, Hand In Glove, These Things Take Time, You've Got Everything Now