The hidden messaging technique Arctic Monkeys copied from The Smiths
Discovering The Smiths was a pivotal moment in the life of Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner. His driving instructor, of all people, brought them into his existence, and it opened his eyes to a completely new method of songwriting.
However, the influence of The Smiths on Arctic Monkeys wasn’t just musical. The legendary Mancunian band used their releases as a method of secret communication with their fans. Morrissey took it into his own hands to imprint hidden messages into their vinyl. They were unique to the person who acquired the release and quickly became folklore among their adoring fanbase.
The 7″ single release of ‘This Charming Man’ was inscribed with “Slap me on the patio”, referring to their song ‘Reel Around The Fountain’. Meanwhile, the 12″ version featured the lyric “will nature make a man of me yet” imprinted on it.
On the band’s LP Meat Is Murder, they etched “Illness as art” and “Doing the Wythenshawe waltz”, the latter a reference to Johnny Marr’s stomping ground. Additionally, on the release of ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’, they simply wrote, “Our souls, our souls, our souls”.
Of his love affair with The Smiths, Turner explained to NME in 2012: “The guy who taught me how to drive lent me two Smiths LPs – the first record and ‘Hatful Of Hollow’. I’d been bought a Best Of on CD by an aunt before then, but I wasn’t quite ready for it. But he lent those two records to me one afternoon, and I put them on the record player in my mum and dad’s living room. It was something about the ceremony of taking it out of the sleeve, putting it on the turntable and feeling that you almost had to sit with it that got me into that band.”
“I sometimes think that if it hadn’t been for that format, in a way, it might have taken me ages to discover them,” he pondered.
After discussing how he became a fan of the legendary group, Turner revealed: “The Smiths used to write messages in the grooves [etchings]; we started doing it too because of them. We used to put our friends’ names on the middle of the early records, some of the boys from back home. I think we actually wrote Nick’s [O’Malley, bass] name on one of them before he was in the band!”
As this was during the early days of the band, and vinyl was out of vogue when Arctic Monkeys made their breakthrough, information on their secret etchings is limited outside of Turner’s admission. However, it does demonstrate the impact those albums by The Smiths had on him and the regard he held them in.
Turner concluded: “I was maybe 17 when I got those Smiths records. We’d started the band around then, and this driving instructor would always say, ‘You should cover this song!’ He turned us onto a lot of stuff, and I always think of him when I think of that band now. He comes to shows every now and again. I’ve still got his two Smiths records up at my mum’s. He never got them back!”
If anybody reading this owns an early Arctic Monkeys record, look at the etchings hidden within the vinyl, and discover whether there’s a secret message waiting for you. If you’re fortunate, you may find the limited edition Nick O’Malley special.
