The Fifth Smith
Not a Replacement, but an Addition. Craig Gannon and the Smiths
In early 1986, the Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke was arrested on drug possession charges (specifically, Heroin), which resulted in his being sacked from the group. The dismissal was largely, though certainly not wholly, motivated by the expectation that Rourke would be unable to obtain the necessary works visas for the North American leg of The Queen Is Dead tour (which was scheduled to begin that summer).
While it is generally reported that Johnny Marr invited guitarist Craig Gannon1 to replace Andy Rourke on bass, in fact it was Guy Pratt2 who was brought in to fill Andy’s shoes3. According to Gannon, he was invited by Marr to play rhythm guitar in order to complement the latter on lead guitar4.
“I never touched the bass at all and I was never asked to. The first time I met Johnny he sounded me out to see if I'd be interested in replacing Andy on bass so it's true that was the first offer but that's as far as that went. I've said it many times and some people still don't seem to want to believe it but I was asked to join The Smiths as a guitar player and I joined as a guitar player. It wasn't an afterthought of Johnny to stick me over on guitar as some people want to believe, it was planned and there were definite reasons for it. Since then I usually play bass on my own music and sometimes other peoples but I was and am a guitar player5.” -Craig Gannon
As it turned out, Rourke’s drug charge resulted with a two-year suspended sentence and a fine of £1,000. Despite expectations to the contrary, each of his work visa applications for the North American leg (Canada and the United States) of the upcoming tour were approved. A couple of weeks later Messrs. Morrissey and Marr reinstated Rourke as an active member of the Smiths.
As mentioned above, Gannon’s involvement with the Smiths was limited to the guitar: “Me being there freed Johnny up a lot to embroider his guitar parts.” Consequently, Rourke’s return to the group only resulted in the departure of Pratt, thus leading to the emergence of Gannon’s affectionate moniker of “The Fifth Smith”.
Gannon participated as the second guitarist in all three legs of The Queen Is Dead tour (UK, North America, and then back to the UK), which ran from July to October 1986.
In the recording studio throughout 1986, Gannon was involved on several Smiths’ tracks:
-The singles ‘Panic’ (recorded in May 1986) and ‘Ask’ (recorded June 1986).
-An early, slower version of ‘Sweet and Tender Hooligan’, which was recorded in May 1986 during the sessions for the aforementioned ‘Panic’ single. This version of the song was not released by the Smiths and was instead replaced by the one recorded for John Peel's BBC radio program in December of 1986.
-‘The Draize Train’ instrumental track (also recorded in May 1986), which was included on the B-side of the 12-inch format of the ‘Panic’ single as well as appearing on the B-side of the 12-inch Greek release of ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’' and the B-side of the Germany-only ‘Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others’ single.
-‘Golden Lights’ (recorded alongside ‘Ask’ in June 1986) and released as a B-side on the 12-inch format of the ‘Ask’ single.
-‘You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby’, ‘Half A Person’, and ‘London’ (the last three songs all recorded in October 1986), all of which subsequently appeared on The World Won’t Listen (along with ‘Panic’ and ‘Ask’) and the Louder Than Bombs (with the latter having the addition of ‘Golden Lights’) compilation albums.
Gannon also appears on the Smiths’ Rank live album, which was recorded at the Kilburn National Ballroom (London) concert on October 23, 1986 on the final leg of The Queen Is Dead tour.
Depending on who one speaks to, either the Smiths dropped Gannon from their lineup at the conclusion of The Queen Is Dead tour or Gannon himself opted to leave the Smiths. It must be noted that Gannon was never a formal member of the Smiths, being a hired as a touring and session musician just like bassist Darryl Jones of the Rolling Stones.
Post-Smiths, Gannon collaborated with Morrissey beginning in late 1988 on the recording of ‘The Last of the Famous International Playboys’ and ‘Interesting Drug’ singles (Gannon appears in the promotional music video for the former along along with Rourke and Joyce, who also participated in the recordings), which were released in February and April 1989, respectively. Gannon also performs on each of these singles’ B-side tracks; ‘Michaels Bones’ and ‘Lucky Lisp’ on the former, and ‘Such a Little Thing Makes Such a Big Difference’ on the latter.
Additionally, he played on ‘The Bed Took Fire’, which was intended to be the B-side to the ‘Interesting Drug’ single; however, Morrissey was not satisfied with the song and it was shelved. While recording the tracks for Bona Drag during the winter of 1989-1990, Morrissey asked producer Stephen Street to assist him in remixing the song. This new mix was pleasing to Morrissey, and he released it as a B-side on the ‘Piccadilly Palare’ single (released October 1990) albeit under the alternate title ‘At Amber’.
The original version of the song languished for Twenty-One years before it was finally released in October 2010 (in its original form and under its original title of ‘The Bed Took Fire’) on the remastered, 20th anniversary reissue of Bona Drag.
Gannon participated in Morrissey’s first concert as a solo artist at Wolverhampton Civic Hall in Wolverhampton, England on December 22, 1988. Subsequent to this, his involvement with Morrissey ended. Gannon’s only remark on why his time with Morrissey ended consists of “There are reasons too long to go into as to why I didn't carry on6.”
As of early 2013, Gannon reported that he had not had any contact with Morrissey for well over a decade:
“I've not had any contact with Morrissey for years. I think the last time I saw him was at his flat in Altrincham around 1989 when we met to talk about writing together. At that point I'd also written a song he'd written lyrics to which he wanted to release as his next single7.”
In 2013s Autobiography, Morrissey makes a couple of impolite remarks about Gannon, writing that hiring him was "a fascinating bungle", as well as that "Nothing useful vibrates in Craig's upper storey". What could have led Morrissey to make these unflattering observations, especially given that Gannon’s efforts on behalf of the Smiths largely garnered praise, is not known. While most would chalk it up to being in keeping with his reputation as being “difficult”, it is more probable that it is simply his honest, unfiltered recollection of his time working with Gannon.
Gannon responded to Morrissey’s jibes via social media on October 31, 2013, describing them on his Facebook page as "Blatant bitter lies, all will become clear very soon...". However, this post was deleted by Gannon the following day.
In January 2018 it was announced that Craig Gannon along with Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce were to collaborate under the name Classically Smiths (in effect, a partial Smiths reunion), which was promoted as a chance to hear some of the Smiths’ most memorable songs performed by the trio in collaboration with the Manchester Camerata Orchestra. Unnamed guest singers were to provide the vocals on the select songs.
The concerts had been tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2018 in Manchester, London and Edinburgh. Unfortunately, they were cancelled almost immediately after the announcement when Andy Rourke rejected claims he would be taking part.
While it was reported that Rourke had initially stated that he was “thrilled and excited” by the prospect of a reunion, within a day Rourke issued a statement claiming he had never agreed to taking part and that “false statements” had been made on his behalf.
“Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not…
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.”
— William Shakespeare. As You Like It
Born July 30, 1966 in Manchester, Gannon joined Aztec Camera in 1983 on guitar. In 1984 he briefly joined The Colourfield, and went on to join The Bluebells. Gannon is now a composer for film and television.
Bassist Guy Adam Pratt was born in London on January 3, 1962. He has worked with artists including Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Robert Palmer, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Tears for Fears, among many others.
Guy Pratt is said to have assumed that his replacing Rourke on bass was effectively a fait accompli considering his impressive resume; surely he was more than a match to the contributions of the recently fired Rourke. Pratt later wrote: “let’s face it, how many people would be bothered [by his replacing Andy]?”.
According to author Tony Fletcher, Pratt spent nearly two weeks with both the band and Rourke, learning bass lines and participating in rehearsing. Pratt quickly realized that filling Andy's shoes would be a formidable task - perhaps one he could not effectively accomplish. In fact, he marveled at the “sophistication” of what he was expected to learn.
According to Pratt, his proverbial sigh of relief was "almost palpable" when it was announced that Rourke would be rejoining the Smiths.
The Guardian. I started something I couldn't finish: the Smiths reunion that wasn't. January 30, 2018.
Koepenick, Sean. Ear Candy Magazine, Interview with Craig Gannon (February 2012)
Koepenick, Sean. Ear Candy Magazine, Interview with Craig Gannon (February 2012)
Koepenick, Sean. Ear Candy Magazine, Interview with Craig Gannon (February 2012)