“Barbarism Begins at home” by The Smiths

On Meat Is Murder, the Smiths' second album in 1985, "Barbarism Begins at Home" is where the gloom gives way to a groove. Andy Rourke's bass line runs the whole show, a funk figure repeated until it hypnotizes, while Johnny Marr chops out guitar in the Chic manner and adds piano, and Mike Joyce keeps the floor bouncing.

Over that groove Morrissey goes after corporal punishment and the cruelty adults visit on children; he and Marr wrote it in the band's Manchester rehearsal room, where it started out as "Fascism Begins at Home". The Smiths produced it themselves, with Stephen Street engineering. It got only a limited release in Germany and Italy that April and had to wait until 1988 for a UK single, but on stage it became a favourite for as long as the band lasted.

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