Searing riffs from Marr. Searing vocals from Morrissey. It’s a formula that served The Smiths well. It’s a formula that might not be more obvious than on this single. From the first day I heard “Shoplifters”, I remember loving two things: the song title and Johnny Marr’s guitar brilliance from beginning to end. It’s still the same two things that grab me listening to it 30 years later.

“Learn to love me and assemble the ways. Now, today, tomorrow, and always. My only weakness is a listed crime. But last night the plans of a future war was all I saw on Channel Four.”