Morrissey and the Smiths have always been the indie dance party DJ’s secret weapon (and in certain cases, not so secret). An empty floor or a disinterested crowd can be easily assuaged with a quick dose of “This Charming Man” or “William It Was Really Nothing,” leaving the only question a game of what to play next in order to keep momentum flowing (hint: it probably rhymes with “Boy Collision”).
For nights that are all Morrissey and the Smiths — like Thursday’s A Rush And A Push party at Dusk in Providence — the game changes ever-so-slightly. Instead of using Morrissey and Marr to ignite the dance floor, the DJ has to choose the right selection from the Manchester musicians’ catalog to keep things going. It’s like a pro sport’s all-star game; every participant is fairly great at what they do, but each does have a specific role on the team.
We reached out to A Rush And A Push DJ John O’Leary for five songs we’ll most likely hear at tomorrow’s get-together, similar to what we did when he guested at Superstition’s post-punk party last year; we asked him for tunes that will keep the flow of the night rolling, and ensure no one stands on their own, leaves on their own, and goes home and wants to die.
“This little experiment in full Smiths immersion was the idea of Dusk’s bar mistress extraordinaire, Danielle Tellier,” O’Leary tells us. “She’s the one who contacted me and said ‘All Smiths all night — what do you think?’ I asked her for her list of favorites and she had as hard a time as I did whittling it down.” Those included the Smiths’ classics “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” “Handsome Devil,” and “Still Ill,” as well as solo Morrissey favorites like “Southpaw,” “Jack The Ripper,” “You’re Going to Need Someone By Your Side,” “National Front Disco,” and “Angel, Angel Down We Go Together.”
When you have five hours to fill, things get interesting.
“I may play that one twice,” adds O’Leary about “Angel, Angel Down We Go Together,” off Moz’s 1988 record Viva Hate. “Luckily, we will have from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., so there will be plenty of time to get around to everything from the hits to the rare stuff.”
Here are O’Leary’s picks, with blurbs written by the charming man himself…
1. “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” (b-side to “William, It was Really Nothing” Rough Trade, 1984)
“Good times, for a change”
“On paper, this track has all the makings of disaster; It’s a waltz in 6/8, for one. It’s only 1:50 long and the last half of it is almost all mandolins. It’s a testament to Johnny Marr’s genius as a composer and arranger that somehow everything works. When it comes to delivery, Morrissey surely knows how to be over-the-top, but he also knows when understated is what works instead, and he does it really well here.
Also, for folks of a certain generation this song brings back memories of the museum scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where John Hughes used the Dream Academy’s instrumental version. Still gets me right *here* every time.”
2. “What Difference Does It Make?” (The Smiths, Rough Trade, 1984)
“But still I’d leap in front of a flying bullet for you”
“One hell of a guitar riff. Johnny Marr never had a problem coming up with them, but this one is one of my favorites. I only got to see the Smiths one time. It was 1986 on the Queen Is Dead tour, but they played the hell out of this one.”
3. “Still Ill” (The Smiths, Rough Trade, 1984)
“It just wasn’t like the old days anymore/No, it wasn’t like those days”
“This album came out the year I graduated high school (!). Time passes, that’s how it goes. It says a lot about the power of the Smiths’ music that 30-plus years later I can be in a club or a bar, a Smiths song like “Still Ill” will come on and people of all ages, from cranky folks my age to kids who weren’t even born when this album was released will sing along.
That’s what we’ll be aiming for this Thursday; dance, sing along, and put aside dreary life in New England January for a few hours. If Morrissey/Marr taught us one thing, it’s that music can help you do that.”
4. “Suedehead” (Viva Hate, HMV, 1988)
“Why do you come here?/When you know it makes things hard for me”
“OK, Morrissey’s first single probably seems like a bit of an obvious choice. What can I say? It’s a great track. The first post-Smiths track from Moz, when everyone was asking: “Who could possibly step in to fill Johnnny Marr’s shoes?” The answer was the superhuman genius that is Durutti Column’s Vini Reilly. It really was a great idea Moz had there.”
5. “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” (The Queen Is Dead, Rough Trade/Sire, 1986)
“Take me out tonight/Where there’s music and there’s people/And they’re young and alive”
“Boston people will of course know DJ Chris Ewen, who is one of the giants of the Boston music scene. His “Heroes” night has kept the indie/post-punk/new wave music of the ’80s alive to this day. Again, music fans from any generation find emotion, depth and substance in it. It really is quite a thing. Of the countless times I’ve heard Chris spin “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” over the years at Manray, “Heroes” or wherever, NEVER once have I seen it empty a dance floor. People on their way out of the club will toss their coat back at the coatcheck guy and run for the floor when it comes on. It’s that powerful a piece of music, there’s not much else I can say about it.”