Day After Day #144: How Soon is Now?

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

How Soon is Now? (1984) 

A lot was going on musically in the early '80s. New wave, metal, hip hop, hardcore, you name it. One of the more interesting bands to emerge during that time was the Smiths.

Formed in Manchester, England, in 1982 by singer Steven Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, the band filled out its roster with Mike Joyce on drums and Andy Rourke on bass. After releasing a few singles, the Smiths released their self-titled debut in February 1984, which featured Morrissey's mopey baritone and Marr's distinctive guitar chime. The album went to #2 on the U.K. albums chart and #150 on the Billboard 200.

The band released a few non-album singles that fall, including "William, It Was Really Nothing." One of the B-sides of that single became one of the biggest songs of the Smiths' career. "How Soon Is Now?" started with an instantly recognizable tremelo guitar effect, while Morrissey's protagonist sings about being painfully shy and alone.

"I am the son/And the heir/Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar/I am the son and heir/Of nothing in particular/You shut your mouth/How can you say?/I go about things the wrong way?/I am human and I need to be loved/Just like everybody else does."

I was listening to a lot of metal and hard rock and AOR stuff at the time, so when I saw the video on V66, a Boston-area music video channel, it immediately jumped out at me. The song didn't sound like anything else I was hearing. 

"There's a club if you'd like to go/You could meet somebody who really loves you/So you go and you stand on your own/And you leave on your own/And you go home and your cry/And you want to die/When you say it's gonna happen now/What exactly do you mean?/See I've already waited too long/And all my hope is gone."

The band thought they had a hit on their hands, but their label Rough Trade felt it was too different from their regular sound and made it a B-side. British radio stations began playing the song anyway and it was soon included on a compilation album Hatful of Hollow in November 1984. It was released in the U.S. as a single the same month and re-released in the U.K. two months later. It didn't chart in the U.S., but made it to #24 in the U.K.

The Smiths were upset that the song had been mishandled, but it has since become a fan favorite. 

The band released three more albums over the next three years before splitting up. Morrissey went on to a fairly successful solo career, while Marr has released solo work and collaborated with Electronic, Modest Mouse and Oasis. Joyce and Rourke both toured with Sinead O'Connor and have worked many artists over the years. Morrissey and Marr have steadfastly refused many big-money offers to reunite the Smiths. Rourke passed away last year after a battle with pancreatic cancer.