As one of the earlier releases by The Smiths, "This Charming Man" did a lot to establish their style, from Johnny Marr's meticulous harmonic guitar arrangements to Morrissey's crooning vocals. Having become known for their brooding lyrics and unique guitar tones backed by a tight rhythm section, The Smiths were quite influential on their contemporaries and bands who would form later on. This song in particular was quite influential, as it contained some elements which weren't present in a lot of popular late '70s-'80s music. For instance, Marr creates a very interesting guitar tone which sounds to most listeners like a 12-string Rickenbacker, when, in actuality, it is a heavily overdubbed '54 Telecaster, utilizing techniques like reversing some of the overdubs and giving a long tail to the reverb to give it a strange, yet unique tone. Experimentation like this in the studio would make for several more songs that would set The Smiths apart from other artists of their time and impacted many modern musical acts in a way that would inspire them to make their own unconventional recording choices.
Got any favorite songs that use unorthodox recording techniques?
