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On The Balls Review of Morrissey's new album in The Quietus

JD68 said:
So by your logic only vegetarians listened to the Smiths?

You do seem to spend a lot of time posting on an internet forum about someone you're supposedly not interested in.
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This happens a lot with Morrissey. It’s ****ing weird if you ask me.
 
I’m a vegetarian and I listened to The Smiths!

PS Rich, do you think those of us criticising Morrissey for the widely reported hard-right/Katie Hopkins-esque political views etc have it wrong? Is there an irony, nuance or something we are missing here? I can’t see it from what I have read, but I’m not a fan post-Smiths so there may well be a lot I have missed. I’m interested as I was a Smiths fan and I’m trying to understand what the hell changed!
 
Maybe nothing changed. Maybe those were always his views, but he could see they'd go down like a lead balloon with his then-young fans. Maybe Johnny Marr kept him on the strait and narrow.

It raises an interesting point; if you really like an artist's work, then find out they hold opinions which are anathema to you, does your opinion of their work change for the worse? If Morrissey always was a racist, should this affect your opinion of his work with The Smiths?
 
Im sure he holds some views that I don’t agree with. Let’s face it he’s lived a life of privilege for decades so he’s unlikely to align with my political views. The problem is wading through the mass of partially reported rubbish that comes through every time he has a new album out (This has been happening for nearly 30 years!) He said on stage the other night (and I’ve seen a v good quality video - so he did say it!) that he will do no more print interviews as he is constantly being misquoted, quoted out of context etc...as he is clearly someone who doesn’t fit with any “standard” way of being a “pop star”.
I think the “media” struggle to understand how this outsider can not play the game and be so popular. E.g. He announced 2 dates in London and they sold out immediately so he’s added another 2.
I’ve always liked this outsider aspect to him ever since I heard Hand In Glove.
The new album is damn good by the way. Up there in his top 3 solo albums. There isn’t one lyric that doesn’t make you think.
And remember Smiths fans, back then he said “all reggae is vile”. (He clearly didn’t mean that as loved the early 70s reggae pop hits like Desmond Dekker, Dave and Ansil Collins etc)
So now, as then, I take most of what is reported with a pinch of salt and enjoy the music and the joyous events that are his gigs.
That’s me done!
 
Good post.

The thing is, there are bucket loads of artists who voice left wing opinions, which means that by definition there will be lots of people who disagree with them, but they get very little stick.

I admire Morrissey for going against the mainstream populism of the entertainment industry, even though I don't agree with everything he says (and I've criticised him on here myself).

You're right as well, the new album is surprisingly excellent. His best work in years.
 
Morrissey used to write lyrics that made you think, by which I mean to see things from a different perspective, and they were often oblique, treating the listener as an active participant in creating their own meaning, as a lot of poetry or literature does.

Even with The Smiths there's the odd track which is an uncomfortable listen, such as 'Suffer Little Children' or 'Meat is Murder', but the listener can basically see where he's coming from. He ramps up this discomfort another notch with some of his earlier solo work - and I would single out 'National Front Disco' and 'November Spawned a Monster' here, which are clearly right wing. Does he really think that? Is he just inviting us to examine a viewpoint others might hold?

With the new album any residual ambiguity is gone for good. His lyrics are now about as profound as 'She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah' type pop music, but far more annoyingly pretentious, and the music is Moz by numbers. It's just not a good album and especially disappointing because of what he's done before.
 
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Private Eye are at it!
 
The thing that strikes me about the whole "quotes affair" is that. Those who see some intellectual clarity and a fellow traveller in Mozza must feel gutted that in reality, he hasn't a freaking clue about abuse and the nuances of it. It's doubly ironic for me as, a very good friend of mine and huge Mozza fan was the star witness in a recent trial that sent a couple of serial abusers and rapists to jail.
 
irons1965 said:
What a great start to the morning reading that.

I nearly choked laughing at the line 'Jesus, the c***’s got about as much sense of f***ing lyrical rhythm and meter as a f***ing goat with a coal scuttle tied to its f***ing hind leg, hasn’t he?'

Excellent.
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I was just about to paste that exact quote, but you’ve beaten me to it.

Brilliant.
 
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