Paint a Vulgar Picture: Fiction Inspired by the Smiths
A charming man betrays friends in the name of celebrity. Love blooms by the cemetery gates. A sour rain falls on the new young Queen divine. Shoplifters of the world unite in order to tug a reluctant aardvark out of a hole. A sweet and tender hooligan swings a three-bar fire like it was a demolition ball. The middle classes rush and push to rid the world of chavs. The death of a Miami disco dancer inspires a new TV show. A naked birthday rendition of ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ is seen across the globe. Cranked up trannies tout their trade as long as there is light. This is what happens when you PAINT A VULGAR PICTURE.
Contributors include: Matt Beaumont, Kate Pullinger, Catherine O’Flynn, Chris Killen, Allison MacLeod, Scarlett Thomas, Willy Vlautin, John Williams and Helen Walsh.
The author on Paint a Vulgar Picture: Fiction Inspired by the Smiths
The year was 1991. I was bunking school, killing time in one of the greasy spoons up near Piccadilly Station. A mob of young scals with baby fringes and glue-sniffing complexions pour in. Behind them, but clearly with them, is this waif in a Smiths T-shirt. He’s thirteenish and he’s unbearably pretty and he stands out against the other urchins in their shell suits and LA Fox trainers. I’m besotted, I can’t stop staring at him but only when he speaks do I realise it’s a girl. I think about her non-stop and I return to the cafe the same time each week in the hope that she might be there. About six months later I see her down on the canal with some of the urchins. She’s wearing the same T-shirt, the same ragged cardigan. I’m with my boyfriend at the time and he tells me that’s where the rent boys hang. I’m fourteen years old and at this stage in my life I’m bang into acid house and ecstasy and up until now The Smiths’ clever conceits and gorgeous melodies are lost on me. Over that winter I buy all their albums and fall headlong in love with them. I never see the girl on the canal again but 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' will always remind me of her.
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