NME named the Smiths the "most influential artist ever" in a 2002 poll. In 2003, four of the band's albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The band consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce. Critics have called them one of the most important bands to emerge from the British independent music scene of the Eighties Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Marr, the group signed to the independent record label Rough Trade Records, on which they released four studio albums: The Smiths (1984), Meat Is Murder (1985), The Queen Is Dead (1986) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987). They also released several compilations, and numerous non-album singles..