The Smithereens exploded into the cultural consciousness with the brooding "Only a Memory," the power-pop quartet's first appearance on the Billboard charts.
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The Smithereens formed in Carteret, N.J. in 1980 when frontman Pat DiNizio placed a classified ad in a local alt-weekly seeking a drummer to play on a demo tape. Dennis Diken answered the call, and after introducing DiNizio to his school pals Jim Babjak (lead guitar) and Mike Mesaros (bass), the foursome began gigging as the Smithereens, a name inspired by Looney Tunes gunslinger Yosemite Sam. DiNizio's original songs drew on the sound and spirit of swinging London, in particular bands like the Who and the Kinks, while also embracing the aesthetics of Brill Building pop songcraft: "Listening to Buddy Holly, I rediscovered my enjoyment of simple pop structures and pretty melodies… I've always thought of him as a kindred spirit," DiNizio told The Boston Globe in 1988.
Following a pair of small-press EPs, the Smithereens issued their Don Dixon-produced debut LP Especially for You in July 1986 via mid-major Enigma. When the record's first single, the saturnine "Blood and Roses," landed on the soundtrack of the action thriller Dangerously Close, the Smithereens' accompanying music video caught on at MTV, and Especially for You climbed to number 51 on the Billboard 200. Kurt Cobain's journals cite the album among his personal favorites; he also noted that Nirvana listened to the Smithereens alongside the Beatles during the recording of Nevermind.
The Smithereens recorded and mixed their sophomore album Green Thoughts at Hollywood's Capitol Studios over a 16-day span during the waning weeks of 1987. Dixon and the band spent the first two days of the sessions cutting the album's basic tracks, with a focus on keeper takes for Mesaros' bass and Diken's drums. The Smithereens then re-recorded the vocals and guitars, unveiling a more muscular sound in the vein of their live performances. ("That's partly because they were able to buy Marshall [amplifiers] between albums," Dixon explained.) The Smithereens recorded Green Thoughts with an emphasis on energy and spontaneity, striving to finalize each song for the album after the first or second take. "If it's not happening then, it usually doesn't happen," DiNizio told the Chicago Tribune in 1988.
DiNizio wrote the opening riff to "Only a Memory" during soundcheck for the Smithereens' January 1987 performance in Madrid. Had the band's roadie not been present with his pocket tape recorder, DiNizio later said, "I would have never remembered it otherwise."
Enigma released Green Thoughts on March 22, 1988, followed two weeks later by "Only a Memory," which topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts and reached number 92 on the pop Hot 100. The Smithereens' follow-up, 11, was an even bigger hit, spawning the band's first Top 40 entry, "A Girl Like You."
