The 20 best Smiths tracks, as voted by NME.COM users

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20. What: ‘Girlfriend In A Coma’. Fact! ‘Generation X’ author Douglas Coupland titled one of his books after the song. Check out our latest special issue dedicated to The Smiths here.

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19. What: ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Love Me’. Fact! The song was edited for the single release, losing the piano introduction found on the album version.

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17. What: ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’. Fact! This was the only single from ‘Meat Is Murder’. Check out our latest special issue dedicated to The Smiths here.

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16. What: ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’. Fact! The song was banned by the BBC because of a reference to “plan a mass murder” at the time of the Hungerford massacre.

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15. What: ‘Cemetry Gates’. Fact! It was a late addition to ‘The Queen Is Dead’ because, at first, Johnny Marr didn’t believe that the guitar part was interesting enough to be developed.

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14. What: ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’. Fact! The song is thought to be about Morrissey’s short-lived friendship with The Assosciates’ Billy Mackenzie.

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13. What: ‘I Know It’s Over’. Fact! During night in the summer of 1985 at Marr’s home in Bowdon, Greater Manchester, the duo wrote this song, ‘Frankly Mr Shankly’ and ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’.

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12.What: ‘Ask’. Fact! The song features Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals. Check out our latest special issue dedicated to The Smiths here.

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11. What: ‘Still Ill’. Fact! Although the definitive version appears on their self titled debut, most fans consider the Peel session version which appears on ‘Hatful Of Hollow’ to be superior.

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10. What: ‘Hand In Glove’. Fact! Morrissey claimed that after Marr gave him a demo cassette of the song, he went home and wrote lyrics for it in the span of two hours, conscious of the fact that it would be the group’s first recorded work.

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9. What: ‘The Queen Is Dead’. Fact! The music for this song emerged from a pounding 13-minute jam session with Marr capturing accidental feedback from his wah-wah pedal.

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8. What: ‘What Difference Does It Make’. Fact! Originally single cover star Terence Stamp denied permission for the still to be used, and some pressings featured lead singer Mozzer in a re-enacted scene. Eventually, however, Stamp changed his mind, and the covers featuring Morrissey are now very rare and collectible.

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7. What: ‘The Boy With The Thorn In His Side’. Fact! Morrissey revealed “The thorn is the music industry and all these people who never believe what I said, tried to get rid of me.”

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6. What: ‘Panic’.Fact! This song was written as a negative reaction to an incident where BBC radio DJ Steve Wright played Wham!’s ‘I’m Your Man’ following a news report of the Chernobyl disaster.

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5. What: ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’. Fact! Spitting Image did a sketch which saw a Princess Diana puppet singing a customized version of this track.

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4. What: ‘ Bigmouth Strikes Again’. Fact! The sleeve notes credit the backing vocals to one Ann Coates but it’s actually just a sped up Morrissey.

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3. What: ‘How Soon Is Now?”. Fact! The line “The heir to nothing in particular” is from George Eliot’s 19th century novel Middlemarch.

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2. What: ‘This Charming Man’. Fact! Rough Trade suggested the band should release this track as a single instead of ‘Reel Around The Fountain’.

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1. What: ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’. Fact! A chapter in Irving Welsh’s ‘Trainspotting’ was named after this song. Check out our latest special issue dedicated to The Smiths here.

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