Thursday, January 01, 2009

Memory Lane: New Year's Eve Edition

In this clip, Johnny Marr reminisces about the Smiths' first gig in America, headlining at Danceteria on New Year's Eve 1983 when some chick who worked the coat check there named Madonna opened for 'em (it seems the New York crowd liked her better than the brooding Brit boys).



Around the same time, the determined Michigander apparently also made quite an impression on the crowd at the legendary Hacienda in Manchester. From a message board): "Madonna was known simply as the Smelly American back then. When she came to the Hacienda for The Tube, she did her dance number without deodorant and stunk the club out. Her performance was instantly forgot, but her armpits were nominated for a Fac number!" (HUH? Next thing you know they'll be making fun of her teeth!) (Madonna photo by Amy Arbus)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hee hee. you're welcome. if only i'd been on the ball back then. imagine the bragging rights, being able to say, "i was there!"
if all goes well, i might be heading to manchester (at last!) for Morrissey's 50th b'day concert. i'll pop by the remains of the hacienda to see if there's any 'funk du madge' still lingering.

Bryan said...

hahaha! The guy who waves sort of looks like you Ken!

Anonymous said...

Well, maybe she was wearing deodorant, but she was just nervous. Anybody who performs in public knows it's a terrifying experience. Everyone gets nervous, and everyone sweats.