Single, 1986
. . .
“Hang the DJ”
The ink had barely dried on all of the reviews of The Queen is Dead when The Smiths issued their next single, “Panic,” the result of their first foray into the studio in 1986, a May session in London, and the first Smiths recording to feature Craig Gannon on second guitar.
Inspired in equal parts by Marr wanting to do a T.Rex rip and Morrissey being outraged after a BBC Radio 1 DJ played a Wham! song right after a breaking news story about the Chernobyl disasters, “Panic” kicked off the third — and final — phase of The Smiths career, a year that would produce nearly two dozen songs and lead to the burnt-out state that caused Johnny Marr to walk away from the whole thing.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2305: The Smiths – “Panic”