R.I.P. Andy Rourke, The Smiths’ bassist
The British musician, who had been living with pancreatic cancer, was 59
Aux News The Smiths
Andy Rourke, longtime bassist for The Smiths and an innovator of their seminal sound, has died. Bandmate Johnny Marr confirmed the news in a statement shared on social media early this morning. Rourke was 59.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Andy Rourke after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer,” Marr wrote. “Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans. We request privacy at this sad time.”
In a longer statement shared to Instagram, Marr recalled meeting forming a fast friendship with Rourke “as schoolboys in 1975.” The pair played music together for years before The Smiths, which officially formed in 1982 after Marr connected with singer Morrissey, who shared his own statement eulogizing Rourke earlier today via his website.
“Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments … as if their death is there to be used. I’m not prepared to do this with Andy. I just hope … wherever Andy has gone … that he’s OK,” Morrissey wrote. “He will never die as long as his music is heard. He didn’t ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done. He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity – never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that.”
The Smiths’ addictively dreamy, danceable sound (Rourke once said he “wouldn’t be happy with a bassline unless you could hum it”), political through lines, and unusual influences buoyed the band, and they signed with Rough Trade in 1983.
Across The Smiths’ classic four-album run (1984's self-titled debut, 1985's Meat Is Murder, 1986's The Queen Is Dead, and 1987's Strangeways, Here We Come), Marr wrote that Rourke “reinvented what it is to be a bass guitar player.” Marr specifically highlights Rourke’s contributions to The Queen Is Dead—which NME named the greatest album of all time in a 2013 list—as “so impressive that I said to myself ‘I’ll never forget this moment.’”
Although The Smiths’ ultimately dissolved in the face of irreconcilable differences between Morrissey and Marr (not to mention drawn-out disagreements over royalties), Rourke played Madison Square Garden with Marr last September, a performance that would be his last. Marr described sharing that stage with Rourke as “a matter of personal pride, as well as sadness.”
Read Marr’s full statement on Rourke below:
Andy Rourke RIP.
Andy and I met as schoolboys in 1975. We were best friends, going everywhere together. When we were fifteen I moved into his house with him and his three brothers and I soon came to realise that my mate was one of those rare people that absolutely no one doesn’t like.
Andy and I spent all our time studying music, having fun, and working on becoming the best musicians we could possibly be. Back then Andy was a guitar player and a good one at that, but it was when he picked up the bass that he would find his true calling and his singular talent would flourish.
Throughout our teens we played in various bands around South Manchester before making our reputations with The Smiths from 1982 to 1987, and it was on those Smiths records that Andy reinvented what it is to be a bass guitar player.
I was present at every one of Andy’s bass takes on every Smiths session. Sometimes I was there as the producer and sometimes just as his proud mate and cheerleader. Watching him play those dazzling baselines was an absolute privilege and genuinely something to behold. But one time which always comes to mind was when I sat next to him at the mixing desk watching him play his bass on the song The Queen Is Dead. It was so impressive that I said to myself ‘I’ll never forget this moment.’
We maintained our friendship over the years, no matter where we were or what was happening and it is a matter of personal pride as well as sadness that the last time Andy played on stage was with me and my band at Maddison Square Garden in September 2022.
It was a special moment that we shared with my family and his wife and soul mate Francesca.
Andy will always be remembered, as a kind and beautiful soul by everyone who knew him, and as a supremely gifted musician by people who love music.
Well done Andy. We’ll miss you brother.
Johnny x
26 Comments
Thank god Morrissey kept it classy. I was afraid we’d have another dismissive comment about Rourke being just a “session musician”.
It’s certainly not the worst thing he could’ve said, but without any kind of mea culpa, there’s something transparently disingenuous about “I’ve done nothing but shit on the guy and minimize his contributions for thirty years, but now that he’s dead, he was a genius that always knew how much I valued him.”
All true.
Best rhythm section in rock!Those songs would be pretty bland without that propulsive engine behind them.
Agreed! “Barbarism Begins at Home” needed that groove for Marr’s jangley guitar lines to glide over.
During the band’s heyday and the years after, Smiths fans tended put all their focus on Morrissey, while critics tended to put all their focus on Marr. Meanwhile, Rourke is over here making their songs truly great. What a legend who never got a tenth of the credit he deserved.
That band’s a prime example of the whole being better than the sum of its parts.
‘this charming man’ is such a fun tune to play on bass.
The Smiths had one of the most underrated rhythm sections ever. All of the attention went to Marr (not without reason, he was one of the best guitarists to come out of the 80’s), but without Rouke and Joyce, I don’t know whether those songs would have been nearly as good.
It’s always the way. Nobody gave Bill Wyman or Charlie Watts props either.
True. Most people probably couldn’t name Wyman at all, and the joke on Watts was that he looked like he’d been dead since 1973.
His bass lines were so fluid and melodic, they just dance around the guitar parts.
A huge loss. What an incredible player. Occasionally, when the Smiths come on the jukebox, someone will ask “Morrissey or Marr,” and my answer is always “Rourke.”
A legend. It was only a few years ago I read Marr’s book and realised he used to play lead, rhythm, strings, and allsorts. Made so much sense with the way he played bass.Was genuinely saddened by the news.
I know it’s only been a few hours, but I’m kind of bummed out that this story isn’t getting more comments. The Smiths were a really important band, and in particular were important to LGBTQ youth at a time when heroes were hard to come by. I know Morrissey gets a lot of flak for being a crank these days, but The Smiths (and Morrissey’s early solo albums, to be honest) shouldn’t ever be forgotten. Then again, their first album is nearly 40 years old by now, so this might say more about me getting old than anything else.
It’s a shame what Morrissey has done to their legacy. Maybe Gen Z won’t have the “Come to Smiths” moment of discovery that Millennials and younger Gen X’ers did because of his near constant hateful babble and terrible new albums.
Most early 80s New Wave and post punk hasn’t aged well. The Smiths are timeless.
Disagree with the premise that most early 80s New Wave and post punk hasn’t aged well.
What’s funny is their unique sound probably cost them some potential fans during their 80s run, while now many of their contemporaries have now been forgotten and they’re celebrated for that uniqueness.
What’s funny is that for some reason the film 24 Hour Party barely mentions the Smiths. I realize the film is “only” about Factory Records except it isn’t because it’s also about the Manchester music scene. So we get an hour of kissing the Happy Mondays’ asses and nothing on the Smiths. No Marr, no Happy Mondays.
Then again, their first album is nearly 40 years old by now, so this might say more about me getting old than anything else.I think just as big a factor is that the AV Club ain’t what it used to be.
The music section in particular is all but dead.
I don’t expect we’ll ever see again the equivalent of What Ever Happened to Alternative Nation? and the like. That was just amazing stuff that pulled in hundreds of comments every time.Hell, it would be easy to restart Who Charted?, which was basically an excuse to throw a top 40 chart out there from some random era and get people bullshitting about music.
He must have been a good guy if he was able to stay in the good graces of both Marr and Mozz
Rourke (and Mike Joyce for that matter) is as vital to The Smiths’ sound as Morrissey or Marr. The four of them were a band in the truest sense that way. There are few bassists with as much color and life in their playing as Rourke, and one whose style is immediately recognizable. An absolute legend.
Who dis bitch?