Andy Rourke of The Smiths, an influential and well-liked indie rock band, that rose from their humble beginnings in Manchester, England has reportedly died at the age of 59.
Rourke passed away at age 59. According to Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, Rourke was suffering from pancreatic cancer.
“Andy will always be remembered,” Marr said via Instagram, “as a kind and beautiful soul by everyone who knew him, and as a supremely gifted musician by people who love music.”
“He will never die as long as his music is heard,” Smiths vocalist Morrissey said via his website. “He didn’t even know his own power and nothing that he played had been played by someone else.”
On The Smiths recordings in the 1980s, Marr said, “Andy reinvented what it is to be a bass guitar player.”
Rourke created pulsating lines brimming with the melody for his bass sections, performing a kind of musical alchemy that was a wonderful counterpoint to Marr’s jangling guitars and Morrissey’s vocals.
The former would always be there to guide you home if you got lost while attempting to follow one of the latter. Rourke played with Marr and Morrissey during their solo careers after The Smiths broke up, among other projects he worked on. He collaborated with a variety of musicians, including Peter Hook, the bassist for New Order, Sinéad O’Connor, and Badly Drawn Boy.
Rourke described the beginnings of the band to MOJO magazine before he passed away, revealing that he had studied classical guitar but later switched to bass after finding that the bassist in an early band he played in with Marr could only play one song: “Don’t Believe A Word” by Thin Lizzy.
“I just got really into it,” Rourke said — and that included an appreciation for jazz and funk. “I started listening to Stanley Clarke and, dare I say, Level 42 — though not for very long. I was just pushing the boundaries, seeing where I could take it.”
When he played with The Smiths, Rourke said, there was a natural tension between him and the drummer, Mike Joyce. For the first year, the two rarely spoke.
“It created quite a dynamic but aggressive sound. Even on the quiet ones, there’s some kind of angst there between us, so not talking much probably helped us. There was nothing contrived about it. We were duelling off each other,” Rourke added.
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