From Music Rader:
"Funnily enough Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker were big touchstones for me in The Smiths at the time. I mean we didn't make that kind of music but I was listening to a lot of that… I've got no problem with that. I like it for what it is, but I just think guitar culture, one of the things that excited me when I was a school leaver was the opportunity to take guitar into the future."
And he sense that kindred spirit in his often unsung post-punk peers too.
"I recognised that in Will Sergeant from Echo & The Bunnymen, and John McGeoch from Magazine. I think Robert Smith doesn't get enough credit for what he does on the guitar – A Forest was a real game-changer, I think."