Stephen Street: 'I really thought The Smiths would get back together'

The ace producer on his time with Morrissey and co, as well as making classic records with The Cranberries and Blur 

Stephen Street is doing a speaking tour with Mike Joyce of The Smiths to mark the 40th anniversary of their album, The Queen Is Dead. Picture: Richard Purden

Under the coloured glass bulbs of the Top of the Pops studios in November 1983, The Smiths performed their second single, This Charming Man. A band discordant with the times, frontman Morrissey batted away balloons with gladioli while sporting costume jewellery, his quiff matched by Johnny Marr’s bowl cut and Beatles-style Rickenbacker guitar.

This look, as much as the infectious chiming guitar, had Stephen Street — himself part of Britain’s Irish immigrant community, like the band in front of him — completely drawn in.