Yea-Sayers:

Smiths of the Week
"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

"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."
- Steven Wells, New Musical Express, June 26, 1986

Smiths-Speak:
"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

Didn't some say 'Panic' was slightly similar to T Rex's 'Metal Guru'?
"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

"I liked the film for 'Panic' that was made by Derek Jarman. It had a nice intensity about it."
- Morrissey, Creem, July, 1987

"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."
- Morrissey, NME, February 13, 1988

"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!"
- 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