It was low-key, minimalist, and self-deprecating, just like their music. And it was so different from everything else going on in popular culture at the same time in the 80's, especially in America, where everything in the late 80's was about about flash, image, tabloid tv, and hairsprayed bangs to heaven.

Remember, this album and video came out when the likes of Michael Jackson's Bad, Whitesnake, Poison and Europe were ruling the charts at the same time. Wang Chung and Glass Tiger played at our grad night earlier that year at Disneyland — ugh. (Wanted to go see Oingo Boingo play that night in LA instead, but it didn't work out).

The Smiths and their music was one of the reasons I was able to survive at this juncture in time as an American teenager. It was a really crappy time for American music and pop culture generally.

GO COUGS.