Morrissey wants you to know that the Salford Lads Club photo was “soley” his idea
Morrissey has clarified online that the famous 1985 portrait of The Smiths outside of their local Salford Lads Club was “solely” his idea; any kudos to other band members for the artistic idea is misplaced.
In the famous photo, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke, and Mike Joyce are pictured outside the building on a dreary December day. It was used for the inner sleeve of the seminal 1986 album, The Queen is Dead.
Now, Morrissey has taken to his own website to address the apparent misconception that the whole group came up with the idea for the photo.
The former frontman began, “For those who care about detail, being photographed outside of Salford Lads Club was not a Smiths idea or design, it was solely my idea, to which as usual the other three initially viewed as more unnecessary Morrissey lunacy.”
He added, “Now that millions of people come from all over the world to be photographed on that very spot, it is claimed as a Smiths idea.”
Morrissey rebutted this idea, writing, “It wasn’t, it isn’t, and it never shall be. If I had suggested a photo outside Kellogg’s, the likelihood is that the other three would have done that instead.”
The Salford Lads Club is an important cultural hub and historic location for the region’s music history; today, it even has a Smiths Room, which is open for visitors throughout the year.
Additionally, the original picture, taken by photographer Stephen Wright, is currently displayed both in the National Portrait Gallery and in the Manchester Art Gallery.
Wright confirmed Morrissey’s claims in an interview with Manchester Evening News last year, when he explained that it was “Morrissey’s idea to go to Salford Lads Club,” where Wright used his £150 Nikon camera to take five reels of film containing 36 pictures each.
In 2024, Morrissey donated £50,000 to help save the venue after it faced a drop in grant funding, which saw its future on the line.
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