Which English indie rock band released the 1986 album “The Queen Is Dead”? The Smiths released the album on June 16, 1986, through Rough Trade Records.
The Queen Is Dead was the Smiths’ third studio album and was created primarily by vocalist Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, who wrote extensively while the band worked in and around Manchester. Its music combines indie rock, jangle pop, and post-punk, with Marr’s bright guitar work contrasting with Morrissey’s distinctive, often melancholic lyrics.
The record includes “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side,” “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” and “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” one of the group’s most enduring songs. Although it was initially planned for an earlier release, disputes with Rough Trade delayed it by several months.
The Smiths are sometimes confused with later British indie bands such as The Stone Roses, but The Queen Is Dead belongs firmly to the Smiths’ mid-1980s catalog. It was the band’s third album, following Meat Is Murder and preceding Strangeways, Here We Come.