大象传媒

For fans of The Smiths, it's a pilgrimage.

And over the years, tens of thousands of them have made their way to Salford Lads' Club to replicate THAT photo.

(A bit like this)

'That photo' is of course of Morrissey, Johnny Marr et al brooding from the inner sleeve of the 1986 album The Queen Is Dead.

Morrissey's bum (photo by Stephen Wright)

It was taken one grey morning in Ordsall by a young ex-Poly student and Smiths fan called Stephen Wright who lived in a shared house in Longsight and used his bedroom as a darkroom.

Shot on his first Nikon with the wrong lens, it's now one of the most iconic rock photos of all time which recently appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, has even been hung on the wall of Manchester Art Gallery, and now takes pride of place in a new exhibition of Stephen's photography in Manchester.

From Mexico to Japan, Smiths fans still come to the Lads' Club on the corner of Coronation St (yes - that is the address) in Ordsall, to rest their bums on the same concrete pillars and stand where Morrissey stood. And have their photo taken, of course.

Amazingly, Stephen says that until two or three months ago, he had no idea of the fascination with it. For 19 years, the negatives of 'that photo' sat in boxes in what is now his little boy's toy cupboard. Now, he's dug them out and will even go into the dark room and send out prints to satisfy demand.

But as Stephen is keen to point out: "I didn't just shoot The Smiths, you know." Read an interview with Stephen Wright >>

Gregory Isaacs (photo by Stephen Wright)

For twelve years, Stephen made a living as a live music photographer snapping some of the greatest rock 'n rol'l legends at venues sadly no more like the Ha莽ienda and the Free Trade Hall.

James Brown, Gregory Isaacs, U2, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Grace Jones and George Clinton all feature in the first exhibition of Stephen's work in Manchester. Two of the Smiths - Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce - even turned up at the exhibition launch at Tampopo on Monday night.

Stephen is rightly proud of THAT photo of The Smiths - "Morrissey gave me a chance, when he could have gone to any photographer in the world. I am eternally grateful聟." but says that, in some way, all the photos in the exhibition are his favourites.

And the ones that got away? "I would have loved to have got Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley. Now they were something special."