Panic Yea-Sayers: Smiths of the Week "This is the first Smiths single that uses a different tune and manages
to avoid both ropey introspection and clever-clever adolescent poetry. Now
it seems my goading has borne fruit." Smiths-Speak: Didn't some say 'Panic' was slightly similar to T Rex's 'Metal Guru'? "I liked the film for 'Panic' that was made by Derek Jarman. It had
a nice intensity about it." "I was... asked to write words for... 'The Draize Train', which I thought
was the weakest thing Johnny had ever done. Geoff Travis came to see me one
day with the tape of it and said, 'It's the best thing Johnny's written and
it's a Number One single if you put words to it'. But I said, 'No, Geoff,
it's not right'. So, yes, there was pressure to write lyrics, but I thought
they were better as they were." "I've got an Epiphone Coronet with one pickup, and I string it with the high
strings from a 12-string set. It's a really zingy, trebly guitar. I used that
on a lot of things that people think are 12-string... I also used it on the
studio version of 'The Draize Train,' along with two Rickenbackers. I was
working with Alan Rogan, the famed English guitar technician. He said, 'Well,
if you want a Pete Townshend sound, I'll bring down two of Pete's guitars.'
I don't know whether Pete knows about that!"
"Brilliant." - Unknown Reviewer
Panic
Vicar
in a TutuThe Draize Train
Released in July 1986
"Just when you thought it was safe to write off The Smiths
as the ultimate albums band, here comes 'Panic' to re-establish Morrissey
and Marr as undisputed champions of pop's most vital artform. As well as being
throughly superior to the rest of this week's crop, 'Panic' should also finally
knock the dour bastards myth on the head once and for all. The very thought
of Morrissey ever getting involved in anything more dangerous than a nosebleed
is funny enough, but when he brings the young lad in at the end for the 'hang
the deejay' chant, it's impossible not to join in and echo the sentiments
of anyone who has ever once attended a youth club disco. 'The music that
they constantly play says nothing to me about my life,' croons Mo, but
a few blasts of 'Panic' and that particular situation will soon be put to
rights. Johnny Guitar hasn't sounded as damned EMPHATIC since 'Hand In Glove'
and with 'Vicar in a Tutu' and a ludicrous instrumental funk workout on the
12-inch, it sounds as if The Smiths are back with a vengeance. Brillliant."
- Unknown Reviewer
- Steven Wells, New Musical Express, June 26, 1986
"The influence of T-Rex is very profound on certain songs
of The Smiths i.e. "Panic" and "Shoplifters". Morrissey
was himself also mad about Bolan. When we wrote "Panic" he was obsessed
with "Metal Guru" and wanted to sing in the same style. He didn't
stop singing it in an attempt to modify the words of "Panic" to
fit the exact rhythm of "Metal Guru". He also exhorted me to use
the same guitar break so that the two songs are the same!!!"
- Johnny Marr, Les Inrockuptibles, 4/21/99
"'Panic' came about at the time of Chernobyl. Morrissey
and myself were listening to a Newsbeat radio report about it. The stories of
this shocking disaster comes to an end and then immediately we're off
into Wham's 'I'm Your Man'. I remember actually saying 'what the fuck has this
got to do with people's lives?' And so 'hang the blessed DJ'. I think
it was a great lyric, important and applicable to anyone who lives in England.
I mean, even the most ardent disco fan wouldn't want to be subject to that stuff
would they?"
- Johnny Marr, New Musical Express, February, 1987
"Well, it was whispered somewhere in the corridors of the British Isles,
I can't remember where, but... I don't know, everything has its reference
points, I suppose. Like the clothes we wear have their reference points...
I thought the song was extremely funny, I really did. And I thought it was
extremely funny to hear it on national daytime radio on the few occasions
it was actually played in the mish-mash of monstrous morbidity... I think
it was quite amusing -- a tiny revolution in its own sweet way."
- Morrissey, Record Mirror, 2/14/87
- Morrissey, Creem, July, 1987
- Morrissey, NME, February 13, 1988
- Johnny Marr, Guitar Player, January, 1990
"To those who took offence at the 'burn down the disco'
line I'd say -- please show me the black members of New Order! For me, personally,
New Order make great disco music, but there's no black people in the group.
The point I'm making is that you can't just interchange the words 'black'
and 'disco', or the phrases 'black music' and 'disco music'. It makes no earthly
sense... 'Panic' came about at the time of Chernobyl. Morrissey and myself
were listening to a Newsbeat radio report about it. The story about this shocking
disaster comes to an end and then, immediately, we're off into Wham!'s 'I'm
Your Man'. I remember actually saying 'what the fuck has this got to do with
peoples' lives?' We hear about Chernobyl, then, seconds later, we're expected
to be jumping around to 'I'm Your Man'... And so -- 'hang the blessed DJ'.
I think it was a great lyric, important and applicable to anyone who lives
in England. I mean, even the most ardent disco fan wouldn't want to be subjected
to that stuff, would they?"
- Johnny Marr, NME, February, 1987
