Who was "Q" magazine talking about when they said "the most influential British guitar group of the decade" , KMFDM or The Smiths?
The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The band consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce. Critics have called them the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s." Q" magazine's Simon Goddard argued in 2007 that the Smiths were "the one truly vital voice of the '80s", "the most influential British guitar group of the decade" and the "first indie outsiders to achieve mainstream success on their own terms". The "NME" named the Smiths the "most influential artist ever" in a 2002 poll, over the Beatles.
Mike Vickers Michael "Mike" Vickers (born 18 April 1940) is a British musician who came to prominence as guitarist, flautist and saxophonist with the 1960s band, Manfred Mann. He was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England. He originally played flute and saxophone but with the increasing popularity of guitars in bands it was decided that Manfred Mann should have a guitarist in its line-up. Vickers volunteered for this role but he was always happiest playing woodwind. His tough flute soloing on hard blues tracks such as "Without You" prefigured the work of Ian Anderson with Jethro Tull five years later. As the group were all multi-instrumentalists who delighted in instrumental solos, multi-tracking was used to allow Vickers to perform on guitar and woodwind on the same recordings, while drummer Mike Hugg similarly doubled on vibraphone.