The Smiths: Crisp songs and salted lyrics

WHY CHOOSE a name like The Smiths? "It's a very stray kind of name, very timeless," explained the colourful Mancunian Morrissey, who gives words and voice to this four-piece group. Morrissey teamed up with guitarist Johnny — who writes the music — last summer. They are simply a rock'n'roll band. They have appeared all over Manchester in venues as diverse as petit bourgeois hotel bars to the hi-tech Haçienda. It was at the Haçienda that we, the public, goose-pimpled to the spectacle of Morrissey mercilessly flailing a bunch of daffodils against the matt black stage.