How Soon is Now?

https://youtu.be/4PIi1LWkfDE?si=wdD82RQGE5rVRNhD

Friend Chuck Twardy introduced me to British post-punk band The Smiths back in the Reagan era and my ardor never waned over all these years, even after the group dissolved.

The band's songwriters -- guitarist Johnny Marr and singer Morrissey (birth name Steven Patrick Morrissey) -- are credited with pushing the boundaries of rock music with their rich melodic lines and lyrics about longing and isolation that are by turns plaintive and humorous. The band's following was serious and sizable.

Both Marr and Morrissey continue to record, with Marr's output surpassing Morrissey's in both style and substance -- and in quantity.

Still, as The Smiths, Marr and Morrissey wrote enduring songs in the indie rock vein. Among their more impactful is the lamentation "How Soon is Now?" It certainly is my favorite of their catalogue.

I recall being in Seattle with a friend, ready to ring in the new millennium. We wanted to be present in a tech capital if computer intelligence went kablooey.

While waiting in a night club to ring out 1999, I heard the needle drop on How Soon is Now? What an inspired choice, I thought, as I watched patrons flood onto the dance floor.

The song is about our universal need for human connection -- a valuable reminder then as we were worried that our cyber intelligence would evaporate.  

But it's also valuable for us today -- maybe more so -- as we stare down Artificial Intelligence, waiting to see who blinks first.