The story behind THAT picture of The Smiths
“They were pictured by a fan learning to be a photographer”
An old invoice records the date. It was on December 13th 1985 that a young photographer took a few pictures.
It was a cold Friday afternoon. The location was Salford Lads Club and the subject was a band. The fruits of that combination now hang in the National Portrait Gallery.
The image of The Smiths, taken by Stephen Wright deserves the overused description of iconic. The picture was also used on the inner-sleeve of the group’s album The Queen Is Dead.
They had stood next to the tiled mural of Lancashire inside Victoria Station. and a gaudy chrome escalator in Manchester’s Arndale was another option photographed by Stephen.
But as Stephen recalls it was the first location which would become part of music history worldwide.
“It was good to take a picture that was well known. It is fairly unique in that sense. If I had not been a novice photographer at the time I would have done different things.
“Of all the days to go and do something of such an important band of its era – a dark December day – we were lucky to have got anything. It was really nice to go and see it later in the National Portrait Gallery, and at Manchester Art Gallery.
“It is nice to think that people have got prints of it to put on their walls as far as Japan and America.”
He added: “It was Morrissey’s idea to go to Salford Lads Club. I had shot them previously at various live events – at the BBC and at Manchester Free Trade Hall – which was the Morrissey bum and flowers pictures, with him in a stripey shirt waving flowers about.
“I had sent those pictures down and then out of the blue the record company Rough Trade rang me up and asked me if I would like to take more pictures of the band.
“So we met at Piccadilly Station and someone said ‘where’s your car’, and I said ‘I haven’t got one’. So we took a cab to Salford Lads Club. Then we did some at Victoria Station, but it was too dark and didn’t work. Then we went to the Arndale and stopped as it was wet and cold.
“We also did some in Coronation Street at the other end of the street from the Lads Club – one of those has just been used on Mike Joyce’s book cover.”
On that day Stephen shot five reels of film with 36 pictures on each, with a £150 Nikon camera. The black and white image of The Smiths is one of the most famous in rock history – and it put Salford Lads’ Club on the map.
Framed by the building’s arches, it captured the band at the height of their powers looking naturally casual. The fact it was taken with cheap equipment gives it a 1950s and 1960s grittiness. The Smiths would later use period black and white pictures, including one of Salford playwright, Shelagh Delaney, and actress Billie Whitelaw on album and singles covers.
Of the Salford shoot, Stephen said: “We came to the club first and shivered. Johnny Marr looks a bit pale even in black and white. They were pictured by a fan learning to be a photographer.
“If you compare that with the modern day – hairdresser, make-up artist, three assistants, and big reflectors – it is so far removed. It was literally one man, one bag, one Nikon FE camera.”
He added: “I am an honorary member of Salford Lads Club – which is marvellous. The club does great work and them selling T-shirts reproducing my pictures and prints has helped. A lot of the credit should go to Leslie Holmes, manager of the club, who set up The Smiths Room there and the heritage idea of the club’s link with the group.”
Stephen will be making a return trip to the Lads Club in June. Today the Lads Club noted the anniversary of the picture on social media. They said: “Taken in December 1985, that image became one of the most recognisable photographs in British music history and changed the story of our building forever.
“To celebrate the 40-year anniversary of The Queen Is Dead, Stephen Wright will be returning to the Club on Sunday 14 June for one day only, to take new portraits outside those same iconic doors. This is a rare opportunity to step into music history and be photographed by the man behind one of the most famous images ever captured in Salford.”
Portraits are £6 per person and free for under 16s. All proceeds support the club’s youth programmes, community work and heritage preservation. If you’d like to purchase Stephen’s prints, you can see his work here: www.smithsphotos.com
Last year the Club was on the brink of being closed for good as the 122-year-old institution was running out of funds. A campaign led by the Manchester Evening News helped raise £273,000 in just six weeks with Morrisey contributing £50,000 and Salford City Council £100,000.
Earlier this year the Grade II listed building in Ordsall was awarded a grant of £438,000 from Historic England to help urgently needed restoration work.
