In October 1985, British pop publication Smash Hits hit the newsstands, and alerted the general masses of the unlikely friendship between Morrissey and Pete Burns, frontmen of legendary indie darlings of the day The Smiths and goth-pop hit-makers Dead Or Alive, respectively.

“Before I met Peter I had a very strange impression of him — I just went by strange gossip and hearsay and mythology and so I thought he was a half-crazed oddball,” Moz told the magazine for its now legendary joint cover story on the pair.

More:: Dead Or Alive frontman Pete Burns dies at 57

Six months prior, these two flamboyant music biz outsiders even shared a stage together, during a Smiths gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall, for a performance of lead Meat Is Murder single “Barbarism Begins At Home.”

Burns admitted in the Smash Hits interview, “I followed them on a whole tour. I was like a crazed groupie. Morrissey would be in some clapped-out hotel somewhere and I’d show up — because I could always find him.”

What a time, folks.

By several accounts, Burns, who passed away on Sunday (October 23) after suffering a cardiac arrest, and Morrissey were friends for several years. Above, flip through photos from the Royal Albert Hall performance by these two icons of the era and their Smash Hits cover spread together. (You can read the full joint interview here.)

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