“Suedehead” by Morrissey

"Suedehead" was Morrissey's first move after the Smiths fell apart, his debut solo single in 1988 and later a cornerstone of his first album, Viva Hate. He didn't go far for help. Stephen Street, who had produced the Smiths, wrote the music, produced the record and played bass on it; he had originally been offering his musical ideas to Morrissey as possible Smiths B-sides before the band came undone. Vini Reilly and Andrew Paresi filled out the new solo lineup.

For the words, Morrissey reached back to his teenage years and the suedehead subculture, building the lyric around someone he remembered from that scene. The music is bright, chiming jangle pop that sounds as if the old band never left the room, with that plummy, aching croon floating on top, and nobody minded the family resemblance. The single went to number five in the UK and drew rave reviews that praised both its Smiths-like sound and the fresh Morrissey-Street songwriting team, and Morrissey kept Street on for the singles that followed.

"Hairdresser on Fire" rode along on the B-side, and the song later turned up again on the Bona Drag compilation. It remains one of the most successful songs of his solo career.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.