...I work in advertising and I have recently seen a couple of notable Smiths references soon to be seen by many.

1) Nissan Motor Corporation is re-launching the new MAXIMA later this year. One of the commercials that they will use during the launch involves a slow-mo shot of the car coming towards the camera in a very dramatic fashion. The tag line is displayed and during the whole sequence, "How Soon Is Now?" is being played as the theme music. It's actually quite impressive.

2) On a more lame note, FOX has a new show coming out this fall called "MANCHESTER PREP". Basically, the show is like the movie "Cruel Intentions" but made for TV. Anyhow, at least one of the promotional commercials that will air has "How Soon Is Now?" in the background as the "theme" music.

Imagine my surprise this evening when watching EastEnders (the UK soap) when Sonia (who had just been rejected by a man!) was looking through Smiths CDs on Matthew's (a market trader) stall. Matthew commented that he didn't know Sonia liked the Smiths and suggested that Morrissey wasn't the sort of music she should be listening to to cheer herself up!

I'm afraid it was the usual stereotypical reference to the Smiths and Morrissey being miserable, let's all commit suicide etc etc! Still, it's better than no mention at all.

There was a Smiths reference today on VH1, during Pop-Up Videos - One-Hit Wonders. On Dream Academy's "Life In a Northern Town", bubbles came up mentioning bands from Northern England in the 80's. One of them was The Smiths. The next scene passed by the Salford Lads Club and another bubble came up asking where the Smiths had taken photos for their The Queen Is Dead album. An arrow and another bubble came up pointing to the Salford Lads Club in the video.

...In the middle of the video a series of pop-ups contains names of famous bands who emerged from the northern England scene in the late 70's/ early 80's. Among others mentioned were Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order and last but most definitely not least our favourite, The Smiths! I thought that would be the only mention, but I was wrong. The video proceeded to have more pop-ups related to The Smiths, including one in front of the Salford Lads Club. I was very pleased.

In the recently released Grant Gee film on Radiohead titled Meeting People Is Easy, Thom Yorke makes the following reference to The Smiths: "the freakiest thing about all of this [referring to Radiohead's incredible success after OK Computer] is the idea that you would be one of those bands to somebody. I remember listening to Strangeways... by The Smiths ... and the thing about it being imprinted on your heart, every note of it ... I just have to remember that every time I meet someone that age who comes to our shows, it's not a big deal for me ... but I have to remember what a big deal it is for them."

This transcription may not be 100% accurate, as it's hard to decipher exactly every word Thom says amidst all the background music, but it's basically something close to what I've typed.

Just saw a TV broadcast from the German NBC section. On the show GIGA, there was interview with Suzie, the singer of the German retro-trash-pop-band "Ralley", which is in fact one of the most interesting German bands in years. The interviewer asked her about her favourite musicians and she answered with a shy smile on her face:

"Morrissey ... I really love him, his music ... since he was the singer with The Smiths ... this is really the music that I like ... I'm not sure if anyone of you know Morrissey, but I really appreciate him."

Suzie seemed to have doubts whether the interviewer knew Morrissey, as she was one of those stereotype-MTV-girlie-VJ - types, who might rather be listening to Britney Spears or Brandy crap. Whatever. Check out Ralley. They're lovely!

Annually, a Local Radio station (97x) that reaches from Cincinnati to Dayton, Ohio holds something called "The 97x Modern Rock 500" - the top 500 modern rock hits of all time. Being a devout Morrissey / The Smiths fan, I decided I'd stay tuned in whenever I could throughout the three day period of the countdown to see if I could catch a couple Moz / Smiths tunes (not to mention some New Order, Cure, and other woosy bands I'm into). Well, as it dwindled down to the last few songs I'd figured that the only Moz I was going to here was "Panic" which had been played much earlier on in the countdown. #2 was REM w/ "Radio Free Europe", which isn't a bad song, so I decided to stay tuned in for the big #1. And what was #1 you ask? Well none other than those handsome devils themselves with "How Soon Is Now?". At least to say I was delighted. Although not one of my favorite songs by a longshot, it's a hell of a lot better than Nirvana or Ben Folds Five. Out of 500 songs, being number one is quite an honor. Maybe Ohio doesn't have such bad taste after all...

I`m embarrassed to admit it but I was just watching an awful TV-Talkshow (Bärbel Schäfer) about how fat people could dare to wear bikinis in the summertime - or something of the like - and as an intro-music for one of the guests they actually played "LAST NIGHT I DREAMT THAT SOMEBODY LOVED ME" by the Smiths. URGH!

Considering this was the first time I ever heard a Smiths Song on German Television I was shocked.

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