Six months earlier, the only other superstar survivors from the British punk wars, the Jam, had announced their breakup at the peak of their own career, their front man Paul Weller collapsing under the weight of the ‘spokesman-for-a-generation’ mantle and deciding that, at the age of just twenty-three, he needed to break loose and relieve himself

Ultimately, ‘This Charming Man’ lacked for an obvious meaning – Morrissey confessed that it was ‘just a collection of lines that were very important’ to him that he subsequently ‘stitched together’ – but that did not mean that it lacked for a feeling. With this song, more so than any of its predecessors (and many of its descendants), Morrissey

THE SAME MONTH that ‘Hand in Glove’ was released, May 1983, the Clash played their last-ever show with their founding partners of Strummer and Jones, at a massive American rock festival that signified their international success.