| "How Soon Is Now" | February 1985 |
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How Soon Is Now? (fade-out version) Well I Wonder UK 7" [Rough Trade RT176]
How Soon Is Now? UK 12" [Rough Trade RTT176]
Barbarism Begins At Home Greece 12" [Virgin VG2041Z]
How Soon Is Now? USA 12" [Sire 0-20284]
How Soon Is Now? (Phil Brown edit) Canada 7" [Sire 92 90077]
Additional information: This worldwide success prompted Rough Trade in the UK (and other international record companies with the licensing rights) to finally try "How Soon Is Now?" as an a-side as well. Unfortunately, the song's availability on the "William, It Was Really Nothing" single and the "Hatful Of Hollow" album hindered its success in the UK. Perhaps Rough Trade would have been better off following their initial decision of releasing "Nowhere Fast" as a single from the upcoming "Meat Is Murder" album. Besides the USA 12" mentioned above, this Smiths classic was made available again there as well as in Canada later in 1985 as a double a-side with "Shakespeare's Sister". Both are listed here. As seen above, "How Soon Is Now?" was released in Greece with a unique track listing combining the "How Soon Is Now" UK 12" tracks and artwork, with "Barbarism Begins At Home" as bonus title track. The 2008 reissue of the 7" single by Rhino UK was also included in the "Smiths Singles box" which compiled the band's first 10 UK singles (plus two bonuses). On each of the five weeks leading to the release of the latter box, two singles from it were put up for sale individually. Collectors could therefore buy two single reissues every week, or wait at the end of the programme to get all of them in the box, alongside the two bonus 7"s.
Artwork information: The photo for the USA 12" was taken in Glastonbury in 1984 and had originally appeared inside the gatefold "Hatful Of Hollow" LP. The rightmost third of the photo with Mike Joyce is found on the back of the cover.
Etchings on vinyl:
Additional release date information:
Chart peak information:
Promotion: Australia: This single was promoted by the usual Australian promo 7" and 12", identical to their stock counterparts except for the labels which were the black and white 'hat man' ones. The 7" was occasionally dispatched inside a generic CBS sleeve instead of the picture one. The promo 12" sleeve was the stock one, gold stamped on the back with the usual promo warnings. Canada: The promo version of this 7" single was identical to the stock one, it was also distributed inside a generic WEA sleeve, but the record's middle had a small hole with promo text next to it instead of the stock version's larger hole. Germany: Stock copies of the 7" and 12" were distributed with an Ariola press release. New Zealand: Stock copies of the 7" format were dispatched for promotion with a "Demonstration record" sticker on side B's label. Portugal: Copies of this 7" single were stamped in Portuguese for promotion. USA: Gold-stamped copies of the 12" were dispatched for promotion. The promo counterpart to the 7" was similar to the stock version, it bore the same catalog number, but it had the title track on both sides, promo text added on the record's label and was slipped inside a generic record company sleeve. An edit of the title track was included on a various artists promo cassette titled "What's Up" (PRO-C-2228) which was sent to radio around the time of release of this single. Because of the continued and gradual success of the song, it was included again on a different promo cassette sent to radio, this one from March 1985, titled "Album Network Tuneup" (PRO-C-2284). A video of the song was also included on the January 1985 issue of the Rockamerica promo video series.
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