Tony Wilson and Morrissey: two Manchester heavyweights

Why didn't Tony Wilson sign The Smiths to Factory Records?

The Best Books About Music

The best books about music for International Book Lovers Day

Famous album cover stars

What do these famous cover stars look like now?

Manchester music legends: The Stone Roses, Oasis, Joy Division and The Smiths

The 50 best songs from Manchester

Smiths cover stars: Sgt Michael Wynn in Vietnam; Jean Marais in Orphee; and Joe Dallesandro and Louis Waldon in Andy Warhol's Flesh: Smiths cover stars.

Who are The Smiths' album and single cover stars?

Morrissey onstage in 1984; the Chernobyl disaster in 1986

How the Chernobyl disaster inspired one of The Smiths' best songs

Cicely Courtneidge and The Queen Is Dead: what's the connection?

Who is the voice at the beginning of The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths?

Six famous A-sides with six famous b-sides

B-sides that became more famous than the A-sides

Check out these amazing vocal performances from Chester Bennington, Alex Turner and Freddie Mercury

These isolated vocal tracks will blow your mind

The Smiths - with acclaimed bassist Andy Rourke.

The 10 greatest Andy Rourke basslines with The Smiths

The Smiths in 1984: Mike Joyce, Morrissey, Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke

Hand In Glove: How Johnny Marr and Morrissey wrote the Smiths' debut single

The Kooks - and the man that wrote "Kooks", David Bowie

All these bands named themselves after other people's songs

Johnny Marr onstage at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith; 12th April 2024

Johnny Marr brings Smiths hits and solo charm to Hammersmith

Brandon Flowers with the biggest question of 2008

10 songs that ask questions

The Smiths in 1984

This is how Johnny Marr came up with the How Soon Is Now riff

Masters of the b-side: New Order, The Stone Roses and The Smiths

The best B-sides by Manchester bands

Rivers Cuomo and a memorable talky bit from Weezer's The Sweater Song

Top 10 "talky bits" in songs

Tony Wilson, the mastermind behind Factory Records

19 indie record labels that changed the face of music