How Soon is Now: The Song The Smiths Were Forced to Bury But That Refused to Die
The Smiths could never catch a break. In 1984, Johnny Marr crafted a song that would become one of their fans’ most cherished tracks: “How Soon is Now?” But it didn’t really sound like The Smiths. Producer John Porter pushed for it to be a single, but Rough Trade shot it down, at least at first. This is the story of that song, from Marr’s marathon songwriting session, the literary references Morrissey pulled from to write the song in a single day, the studio tricks the band used to record it, and it’s delayed success.
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WATCH NEXT:
✓ Why The Smiths Buried “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” https://youtu.be/1WDde_epr6U
✓ Placebo is “The Filthiest Band in Britain” https://youtu.be/PqqZMFWMPFU
✓ Frankly Mr. Shankly “Bloody Awful Poetry” https://youtu.be/tPJAN4sOSkI
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Poetic Wax is hosted by Andy Fenstermaker.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 The Song The Smiths’ Label Tried to Bury
0:56 Four Days, Three Songs
2:19 An Elvis Song, A Reel of Tape, and Three Amplifiers
7:27 A Letterbox, Two Takes, and a Line from Middlemarch
9:57 The Single That Wasn’t Allowed to Be a Single
13:07 The Song That Refused to Stay Buried
14:37 When Failure Became Success
The Smiths “How Soon is Now” (Official Music Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnpILIIo9ek
The Smiths “How Soon is Now” Live on Top of the Pops (Feb. 14, 1985) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svhiw-XK3aU
Johnny Marr on Writing “How Soon is Now” https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbtN60UMrSI/?igsi=NXZ5YnRzcGYwOXpu
The Smiths “The Queen is Dead” Under Review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGR74B9kqQE&t=24s
#vinylcommunity #vinylrecords #vinylcollection #andyfenstermaker #vinylchannel #poeticwax #musicessay #musicstory #albumstory #musichistory #albumhistory #musicdocumentary #thesmiths #johnnymarr #morrissey #roughtrade
@AndyFenstermaker
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Next, I dig into the story of "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" 👉 https://youtu.be/1WDde_epr6U
@factoryfactory7142
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Oh those alcolic afternoons…..
@ohraisins
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
5:38 That's the technique I heard was indeed the main thing as it was so hard to keep the tremelo amps together. This is such a great breakdown thank you!
@johnwscarpenter
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Definitely one of my favorite songs in college in the mid '80s.
@gordonrolandpeden3058
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Nice photograph of Genesis P Orridge of Throbbing Gristle chatting to Geoff Travis of Rough Trade with his album DOA under his arm
@floodgatestudios1825
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
The comments are better than this bullshit video
@spindriftdrinker
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I don't get it. I am a big Smiths fan and I like dozens of their songs. "How Soon Is Now?" has always seemed to me to be an average, middling Smiths song. Not bad, but not great. I don't understand the enduring enthusiasm for this. Kind of like the Beatles "Day in the Life". I like the song but so many people ( including Lennon ) treated it like some kind of epic masterpiece. I don't even think it makes the top 3 best songs on Sgt. Pepper.
@Alun49
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
When I bought Hat Full Of Hollow and hear HSIN it hut me like a sledgehammer. I really liked The Smiths, but that song is on a different level in every respect.
@snidelywhiplash
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
How in Buddha's name – after 16 fantastic minutes of exposition about this critically important song – HOW did you muff the lyrics? I thought I was the only one who did things like that! 😂
@mistersharpus6085
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Completely agree that this is one of the greatest songs ever written. It never disappoints, even after 1000s of listens.
@scottstevens7639
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I was fortunate enough to see them live and they did play this song.
I was even more fortunate to catch some of their soundcheck beforehand, where Marr was feeding the ‘big bend’ note into an early version of a looper pedal.
Although impossible to recreate fully, they managed to play a reasonably passable version live with the help of a little technology.
@mooseyard
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
My friends and I were really into the Smiths in 1984, and one of us put on “How Soon Is Now” at a college dance that summer; it cleared the floor. Nobody had heard it, nobody wanted to dance to it. By the end of the year, KROQ was playing it every hour and it was a huge hit, at least among the “modern rock” listeners in LA.
@isfahani
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I heard this song late at night on the left side of the dial. I soon learned that the rest of the band's output sounded nothing like this. Disappointing, to say the least.
@fretless05
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
It's funny what songs the studios think will be good and what fans actually love. As you noted, this song is maybe the first people think of when they're asked about the Smiths. Along the same lines, the Clash's Train In Vain was initially held off and album and was later added to London Burning as a bonus track not even listed on the track list, but was also one of their biggest hits. Producers are often too far removed from the people buying and listening to the music they put out.
@priestfan81
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Janice Long.
@albin2232
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
The most amazing thing about Johnny is that he's not an idiot.
There aren't many of them.
@JohnM...
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
The Smiths really went downhill after album 2. When i heard 'Girlfriend in a Coma' i just rolled my eyes and internlly said 'oh, ffsk. That's the end of the Smiths'.
@Scott-i2b
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Its not exact, but i have played this tune on a Fender Chorus 10 forever.
16 Clumsy and Shy is the only Smiths song that comes close IMO
@KurtDeyoung-u9v
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Big fan here !
@MarimboBeats
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Bo Diddley did not invent the son clave known from Afro-Cuban music. He may have popularised it, but he didn’t invent it
@paulcory8691
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
The beginning of that song and the first few lines of lyrics are absolutely magical, such pure studio alchemy. Ive heard it hundreds of times and it still stops me in my tracks
@HaveaThink1
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Shame you did not play snippets from the songs you referred to in your video
@FergusGrant
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
There was no such thing as "tucked away" on a Smiths B-side at the time The Smiths were alive. Every fan knew they were buying a 12 inch with 3 special songs but 'How Soon is Now?' was always considered one of the best and people were perplexed as to why it wasn't the A-side. To me, at least, 'William…' felt slight in comparison.
@dkb219
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
To this day, I think that How Soon is probably one of the most interesting and original guitar parts of all time. It sounds like nothing else but itself.
@babylemonade2868
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
The cover version is better than the original l. Morrissey sux
@TonyTiger-q6s
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Completely forgetting the song tucked away on the B side which is another one of the Smiths best songs in ‘well I wonder’
A beautiful track and a complete opposite in emotion to ‘how soon is now’….
@MaxHymes-c8q
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Great piece. 10 to 1 that quote actually goes "we got well stoned," not 'we got, well, stoned." Looks to me like a US editor assumed the commas were needed, being unfamiliar with the use of "well" to mean "very."
@mayhem492
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
What was Gen P Orridge doing in the introduction?
@scotttill3847
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I had thought that Johnny had used an Echoplex on this track, but that was not the case. Thanks for the deep dive on this track, as it is my favorite The Smiths song.
@Boothmeister
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I once was given money by my mother to get chips from the local chipshop for dinner. They had a 7” record jukebox as it was the 80s after all. I spent all my money playing How Soon Is Now? I think I got three plays and during the fourth the guy behind the counter turned it off and gave me my money back, he swore about the song and that if I played it again I was banned from the chippy!
Around about that time I heard Venus in Furs, Kashmir & How soon… around about the same time, I thought music was wonderful with how grand it was … little did I know those songs were the kind that bands only make once if at all.
@deadinthewater218
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Great upload. This is my least favorite Smiths song even though I still love it. They played it on the radio too much back in the day.
@AJ-oc5eh
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
but wasnt this song on hatful of hollow? i rememeber in about 1985, 86 everybody unanimously thought this was an incredible song…the big hit. but this was in canada
@erimart63
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Not a banger but more interesting than a banger
@skaworld509
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I saw them in 1984 (Waterford, Ireland) and Jonny held up the gig for a while getting the tremelo together
@serafinamu
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
In the second shot your cat looks exactly like a raccoon.
@TheManOnTheRail
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Johnny Marr solo version is so good.
@corkscrewfoley
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I have to be part of a small niche who doesn't like 'How Soon Is Now.' I'm into shoegaze and post-rock, and this should be right in my wheelhouse. It's too long and it doesn't do anything for me. I will never unrefute it's importance to the band's history, and this is my favourite band, but I just can't enjoy it, and heaven knows I've tried.
@chrisconklin873
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
Im looking forward to receiving my vinyls,cd,tshirt,and autograph from Marr's new album sometime this week. I love your channel
@orthobro2911
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I was a HS sophomore outside Denver in 1984. I found Hatful in an import bin and bought it because I liked the cover and song titles – it’s how I discovered many great bands. Instantly changed my life. The video became a regular on a local TV channel that showed indie music videos late at night (“FM TV” the show was called.) Of course the girl became my teen ideal. And I think it makes the band look cooler than they ever did after.
@bobparker8294
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
This is going to make some people mad, but I never cared for The Smiths. Nothing agasinst them; their music just never spun my chakras. That said, I think "How Soon is Now" is one of the best songs of the era. It's a monster of a song and I never get tired of it. In fact, it was the first Smiths song I ever heard. I thought that was what the band sounded like all the time, so I bought the album. There was nothing else like it among the tracks. I guess I never got over that disappointment.
@morgancorey982
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
For what it is worth, the engineer of the album refutes the three amp / stopwatch version of the “How Soon is Now” guitar part. He says it was done using a drum machine as the side chain to create the tremolo effect. Just thought I would mention this…
@josemigueltrujillodiaz9123
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I first heard it on Jack Bender's 1985 film The Midnight Hour. Also, check the version by Quicksand. 😉
@josemozgonzales187
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
À massive thank you Poetic Wax for this vidéo.
It made me smile and cry of emotion at the same time.
A feeling that always happens every time I listen to the smiths stories.
Thank you àl bunch again.
@Mark-tw5ws
October 6, 2026 at 11:14 pm
I have an original Canadian Press of Meat is Murder. It's an unlisted track on this version.