#65 The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths

The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time

2025 Album Rank

65

2011 Album Rank

58

Total Points

939.5

Year Released

1986

Billboard 200 Chart Peak

70

Weeks at #1

N/A

RIAA Sales Certification

500,000 (Gold)

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The Queen Is Dead Album Details

Released on June 16, 1986, The Queen Is Dead is widely considered the Smiths' masterpiece and one of the most influential British albums of the 1980s. Seamlessly blending Morrissey's sharp wit and literary lyricism with Johnny Marr's jangly, inventive guitar work, the album presents a biting critique of British institutions, pop culture, and romantic disillusionment. Despite its sardonic tone, the record bursts with emotional resonance, shifting between melancholy, defiance, and absurdity.

With standout tracks like There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, I Know It's Over, and the title track, The Queen Is Dead achieves both grandeur and intimacy. Marr's guitar textures range from soaring melodicism to abrasive riffs, while Morrissey's lyrics confront death, alienation, fame, and personal identity. The album cemented the Smiths' legacy as cult heroes and inspired countless indie rock acts in the decades that followed.

Interesting Facts about The Queen Is Dead

• The album's title track is a blistering attack on the British monarchy and tabloid culture. It includes a drum loop sample from The Funky Drummer by James Brown, processed through a primitive delay effect.
• There Is a Light That Never Goes Out was originally left off the album's first pressing but later became one of the Smiths' most beloved songs. Morrissey reportedly wrote the lyrics in one night while Marr was out of the studio.
• Cemetry Gates reflects Morrissey's obsession with literary plagiarism and poetic license. The lyrics reference Keats, Yeats, and Oscar Wilde, continuing his theme of romanticizing doomed artistry.
• Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others, the album closer, uses a complex studio trick: engineer Stephen Street faded the track in, then abruptly cut it out, and faded it back in again to create a dreamlike effect.
• Despite its polished feel, much of the album was recorded quickly at Jacob Studios in Farnham. Marr played many of the bass parts himself when bassist Andy Rourke temporarily left the band due to personal issues.
• The cover features French actor Alain Delon from the 1964 film L'Insoumis. Morrissey, who designed the sleeve, used Delon's defiant gaze as a visual metaphor for the album's themes of rebellion and disillusionment.
• Bigmouth Strikes Again was chosen as the lead single, though the label initially preferred There Is a Light That Never Goes Out. Marr doubled his guitar part with a detuned harmonizer to get a distorted, chiming tone.
• Frankly, Mr. Shankly was directed at Geoff Travis, head of Rough Trade Records, though cloaked in metaphor. Morrissey later said it was one of the most difficult lyrics to write on the album.
• The song Never Had No One Ever is often overlooked but contains some of Morrissey's most anguished vocals. Marr used a fretless bass to create its woozy, underwater feel.

The Queen Is Dead Tracklist

1. The Queen Is Dead
2. Frankly, Mr. Shankly
3. I Know It's Over
4. Never Had No One Ever
5. Cemetry Gates
6. Bigmouth Strikes Again
7. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
8. Vicar in a Tutu
9. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
10. Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others

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