Song · Morrissey
“First of the Gang to Die” by Morrissey
From the album You Are the Quarry (2004)
“First of the Gang to Die” by Morrissey appears on 12 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 2004 and 2025. It was first released in 2004 on the album You Are the Quarry. Its best result is #44 on the 99X Essential 99 of 2004. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #117 alternative song of 2004 and #6,073 alternative song of all time.
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"First of the Gang to Die" was the second single from Morrissey's 2004 album You Are the Quarry, out that July, with Morrissey writing the words and Alain Whyte the music. It tells the tale of a gang member called Hector, and it's widely heard as a salute to Morrissey's devoted Hispanic following, the quiffed kids in leather jackets who, as Whyte saw it, heard their own outsider feeling in his songs.
Jerry Finn produced and mixed it, with Whyte and Boz Boorer on guitars, Gary Day on bass, Dean Butterworth on drums and keyboards from Michael Farrell and Roger Joseph Manning Jr. BBC Radio 2 put it on the A-list, and it went in at number six in Britain, giving him back-to-back top-ten hits for the first time since 1989 and outlasting every other Morrissey single on the chart.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 99 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2004 | 107 |
| 2004 | 47 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2004 | 91 |
| 2004 | 87 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2004 | 100 |
| 2004 | 60 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2004 | 101 |
| 2004 | 44 | 99X Atlanta, GA | 99X Essential 99 of 2004 | 99 |
| 2004 | 51 | WHTG Monmouth-Ocean, NJ | G106.3 Top 106 Songs of 2004 | 106 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 1753 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1854 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 447 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 1883 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 1940 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2025 | 447 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
Also listed as: The First of the Gang to Die; First of the Gang To Die; First Of The Gang To Die.
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