The Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (Rough Trade)

Morrissey desperately tries to divert our attention from this weedy, half-cocked song (which is apparently the original 'demo' recording) by doing a horrible impersonation of Frank Ilfield (useless '60s yodelling pop star)! Their weakest single, and definitely time for a change of tack. (Steve Bush, Smash Hits, September 11, 1985)

Call me predictable, call me boring, call me sentimental - I don't care. The worries of the world float away as the new single from the ever lovable Smiths arrives on my desk. Still on Rough Trade, still adorning the covers with Morrissey's heroes (Truman Capote looking like Ernie Wise this time), and still making the most perfect pop music ever created. A light 'Williamesque' backing has Morrissey trilling and warbling his exquisite way around Johnny Marr's simple melodies. After the slip that "Shakespear's Sister" proved to be and the questionable decision to release "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" - probably the only track on Meat Is Murder that shouldn't have been a single - the group brush off the dust from a thousand gleeful cries of 'has-beens' and resume normal service. Single Of The Week, obviously. (Eleanor Levy, Record Mirror, September 21, 1985)