I know little about The Smiths even though were the most influential British guitar group of the 1980s, were an integral part of British cultural politics in the ‘80 and were influential on the Britpop movement.

The band lasted only five years, from 1982 to their acrimonious breakup in 198 and they are notable for the unique sound they infuse into all their material, a fusion of Morrissey's voice and an instrumental backing helmed by Johnny Marr's guitar.

This track-- "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side"---is from their The Queen Is Dead album(1986), which many regard as their peak.

It appears that the band's oppositional youth culture drew its strength from a nostalgic version of northern working class life in England as Morrissey mined the representation of the loneliness and longing and hopelessness in the proletarian domestic life in the kitchen sink dramas, social realist films. But then pop music is nostalgic to its bones.

Another song from The Queen is Dead album---"There is a light that never goes out":

This is the time-honoured Smiths formula of fruity bass, uplifting melody jarring with some of the darkest pop lyrics around, and of course a closing mantra to hammer it all home.