Bradford

Morrissey's praise for Bradford was far from a shocking revelation. The Blackburn, England, group's breezy, jangling riffs mirrored the Smiths' ringing guitars; moreover, Smiths producer Stephen Street even turned the knobs on Bradford's only LP, 1989's Shouting Quietly. Bradford were seen as inheritors of the Smiths' mope rock throne when they released their debut single, "Skin Storm," in 1988; it even immediately became a footnote in rock & roll history for being the first debut single on CD. Bradford opened for Morrissey that year at his initial post-Smiths gig at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall in England. However, vocalist Ian Michael Hodgson didn't have Morrissey's emotional range or flamboyant personality. After Shouting Quietly failed to sell, they were dropped by their record label and disbanded in the early '90s. In 1991, Morrissey covered "Skin Storm." Largely forgotten, Bradford received press in 2001 when former drummer Mark Andrew McVitie was accused of possessing child pornography. The police raided his home and reportedly discovered 1,200 images of child pornography collected on 51 floppy discs. McVitie was working as a part-time lecturer at Blackburn College. Because of the evidence, McVitie's name was placed on a list of registered sex offenders, and he was banned from working with kids.