12. smiths, "paint a vulgar picture"
why here? "the golden age" ends on one of those blips that radiohead made all the rage several years ago; the sharp beat of the drum seems a nice refutation of that.
why this song? i recently compiled a smiths disc and that necessitated a relistening to, among their other records, strangeways here we come. i was struck by how shiny and spangly the track was. oh, sure, the singles, the smiths best of volumes 1 and 2 followed by the very best of the smiths has made a mockery of the song's intent but, still, they can never taint you in my eyes.