The Smiths

The Smiths was the band's debut album, released on Rough Trade on 20 February 1984 and produced by John Porter, with the band credited as co-producers^[2]. An earlier set of sessions with Troy Tate at Elephant Studios in London was shelved, and Porter's sessions began in September 1983 at Matrix, Pluto and Strawberry studios^[2].

It reached number two in the UK and spent 33 weeks on the chart^[2]. Reviews at the time were mixed, but retrospective assessments are far more favorable, and it is widely regarded as one of the most influential British albums of the 1980s^[2]. Its themes include unrequited love, isolation, identity and sexual confusion^[2]. "This Charming Man" was absent from the original UK LP but appears on the US edition and on every pressing since the 1992 reissues^[2].