The band was based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Marr. They signed to the independent record label Rough Trade Records. On this, they released four studio albums: "The Smiths (1984), "Meat Is Murder" (1985), "The Queen Is Dead" (1986) and "Strangeways, Here We Come" (1987). They have also released several compilations, and many singles that were not released on any of their studio albums.