The Smiths Are Dead
Image: Bieno

The Smiths are arguably one of the most important musical groups to emerge from the UK independent scene in the 1980s.

The Greater Manchester group was formed in 1982 and comprised lead singer Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and drummer Mike Joyce. Together the famous four-piece released four influential studio albums, including their self-titled effort, Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead, and Strangeways Here We Come, before a bitter break up in 1987 resulted in each member of the group going their separate ways.

Why are we telling you all this, we hear you ask. Well, recently, as spotted by LineofBestFit, it appears that a group of fans led by a programmer & artist named Bieno have got together to immortalize the group in their very own computer game for the Commodore 64 and Oric computer, letting you play as Morrissey following the band's split ahead of the recording of his 1988 debut solo album Viva Hate.

The game is played with a text parser and sees Morrissey trying to collect the sheet music for his solo single Suedehead which has been divided into 4 pieces. It includes appearances from several notable music industry figures such as Morrissey's manager Gail Colson, the producer Stephen Street, Durutti Column guitarist Vini Reilly, and the owner of Rough Trade Records Geoff Travis. So if you're a music fan, who loves classic adventure, this may be one worth taking a closer look at.

You can grab the game for free here for either the Commodore 64 or the Oric here. It was also briefly available as a physical cartridge for the Commodore 64 (costing €24.95) from amigastore.eu but seems to be sold out as of writing.

[source commodore-plus.itch.io, via morrissey-solo.com, thelineofbestfit.com]