The Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by the English alternative rock band The Smiths. It was released on 16 June 1986 in the United Kingdom by Rough Trade Records and released in the United States on 23 June 1986 through Sire Records. The album spent twenty-two weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at #2. Across the Atlantic, it reached #28 in Canada on the RPM 100 album chart and #70 on the Billboard 200 chart, and was certified Gold by the RIAA in late 1990. It has sold consistently well ever since. The album cover, designed by Morrissey, features Alain Delon from the 1964 film L'Insoumis. Guitarist Johnny Marr wrote several songs that would later appear on The Queen Is Dead while The Smiths toured Britain in early 1985, working out song arrangements with bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce during soundchecks. "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" was, according to Marr, "an effortless piece of music", and was written on tour in the spring of 1985. The song's lyrics refe...