The Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by the English 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 reached number two on the UK album chart, maintaining a chart residency for 22 weeks, number 70 on the Billboard 200, and was certified Gold by the RIAA in late 1990. It has sold consistently well ever since. 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. After releasing their September 1985 single, "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" (which is included on "The Queen Is Dead" in an updated, slightly re-mixed version), The Smiths turned to recording their third album. Marr produced the album with singer Morrissey, and worked with engineer Stephen Street, who had assumed the same role on the band's previous album "Meat Is Murder". Street recalled, "Morrissey, Johnny and I had a really good working relationship — we were all roughly the same age and into the same kind of things, so everyone felt quite relaxed in the studio". At the time the group was having difficulty with their label Rough Trade, which Street characterised as "Rough Trade and EMI trying to sign up everything". Street noted, "But this didn't get in the way of recording because the atmosphere