The Smiths -- "Shoplifters of the World Unite"
Q: Why do we shoplift? A: We shoplift because we are bored.
Winona Ryder, though, could only dream of being the kind of misfit Morrissey had in mind. The idea of the song seems to be that all misfits are criminals, or they might as well be - an idea that, to me, strikes at the core of what it was like to be alive in the 1980s. Morrissey's crime was being gay in the homophobic 80s. He could relate to the kleptos, too, though, and this song is one of the great rallying cries for that special type of human being that The Decemberists would later call "castaways and cutouts" -- in other words, anyone who doesn't fit in.
This track doesn't have quite the same Rickenbacker jangle as early Smiths recordings, but it proves that the band, even while moving into the later phases of its career, could adapt to more mainstream contemporary sounds without losing the essentials qualities that defined their sound. The heavily chorused guitar solo is vintage 1987 any way you want it.
One of the last great singles from a great band.
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