It has been noted that The Smiths Are Dead is a new text adventure title for the Commodore 64 which puts players in Morrissey‘s shoes as he attempts to record his first solo single. In the game, the sheet music to ‘Suedehead’ has been lost and so Morrissey must try to track it down through clues offered by Gail Colson, Geoff Travis, Stephen Street, Vini Reilly and Andrew Paresi.
“With The Smiths the bar has been set high and now, having to focus on my solo career, I will have to work hard to live up to it and not disappoint anyone,” read the description for The Smiths Are Dead.
“I have to move and the first thing will be to talk to Gail Colson, my new manager. We are about to start recording my first solo album and we need to catch up.”
Street was the producer of Morrissey’s debut album, Viva Hate, and also featured as the bassist. Reilly on the other hand served as the guitarist and Paressi as the drummer.
Developers Bieno, Chema Enguita, DOM, Elweezo, Karmic, Narcisound, Stephen Wright and Team Kali intended for the game to tie in with the 35th anniversary of ‘Suedehead’.
The developers also advised making a map of the game’s locations in order to situate the player in The Smiths Are Dead, to interact with as many people as possible, and to examine everything that is present in the scene.