How Soon is Now? Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The eerie guitar tremolo beginning of "How Soon is Now?" by English rock band The Smiths alerts the listener to a song that is gripping on different levels: the music itself, with its somewhat fractured rhythm, drives the narrative of lyrics that seem to express both the fragility and despair of the loneliness often felt in youth.

The song, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr, was originally released in 1984 as the B-side of the single "William, It Was Really Nothing", and did not do very well overall in the charts. Not typical of The Smiths' usual style, it nevertheless gained popularity on the nighttime British radio shows hosted by DJs Janice Long, Annie Nightingale and John Peel, and has since been described as the "Stairway to Heaven" of the 1980s, appearing on several lists of greatest songs. Live performances of "How Soon is Now?" are relatively rare owing to the difficulty of producing the iconic sounds without supporting studio technology.

Several cover versions of "How Soon is Now?" have appeared over the years, most notably perhaps the 1990s version by the band Love Spit Love (an offshoot of the Psychedelic Furs) which was used by The WB Television Network for the theme song of the "Charmed" TV series.