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Thinking about it a bit overnight, is it worth considering that Morrissey may just be contrary to the extreme and likes taking stances very much against the current public opinion?
Reading some articles from the 80’s he said he was outwardly celibate and deliberately effeminate ‘because no one else was’, perhaps his current political positioning is of the same ilk - representing something he feels no one else is (in the public eye).
Anyway, some great tracks listed and linked to above. Am slightly surprised that The Queen is Dead hasn’t featured yet…
what difference does it makes
How Soon is Now.
Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before
In that order and I close my eyes to Morrissey's idiocy and focus on how good Johnny Marr is instead
Reading some articles from the 80’s he said he was outwardly celibate and deliberately effeminate ‘because no one else was’, perhaps his current political positioning is of the same ilk – representing something he feels no one else is (in the public eye).
Possibly, but it's hardly under represented - there's whole movements and news channels devoted to it nowadays, and as I said last night if he was taking a stance for free speech, I still wouldn't have chosen this one.
Am slightly surprised that The Queen is Dead hasn’t featured yet…
It has, rustyspanner firmly nailed his colours to that mast.
Does anyone else get the lyrics “Punctured bicycle on the hillside. Desolate.” ear-worming round in their head when sorting out tyres, or is it just me?
I don't disagree that Morrissey is a colossal bell end who really needs to have a think about some of his recent choices.
But where I do disagree is 1/ that he's anywhere near the Gary Glitter category; 2/ that
it’s a shame because there good music behind his crappy fronting.
he was never a crappy frontman, he was the perfect frontman and lyricist for the musicians behind him.
Anyway -
why do we expect our musicians to be absolute paragons? There's plenty of bellends out there, Gallagher anyone? And what about eg: Eric Clapton, who has a very nasty past before becoming an active and bankrolling vaccine sceptic. But is still a great musician......
If the answers aren't
How Soon Is Now
or
I can't stand the Smiths/Morrissey
there's something wrong with the forum
Reel around the Fountain not been mentioned yet?
That and How Soon is Now 🙂
@timmys - yes, regularly! And ‘under the iron bridge we kissed, although I ended up with sore lips’ gets lodged in my head too.
@theotherjonv - good point, well made. I entirely agree that I wouldn’t choose the right-wing-anti-immigration hill to die on either!
We used to have one of Mike Joyce's drumsticks sat on the mantlepiece at home and Johhny Marr once tried to buy my little brother's secondhand store jacket from him at an early gig.
I don't really have a favourite track, but There is a Light That Never Goes Out' reminds me of singing it on the - fairly narrow - summit ridge of Huayna Potosi in the Bolivian Andes.
I just ignore the new, not-improved, Morrissey. He's the musical eqivalent of one of those extraordinary footballers who, once retired, turns into a bit of a bell-end. It doesn't make them any less of a brilliant footballer. You know, like Diego Maradona for one. Or on a smaller scale Paul Merson.
he was never a crappy frontman, he was the perfect frontman and lyricist for the musicians behind him.
I rather thought my justification implied that comment was my opinion. For me he's a crappy front for the music because I detest how he sings but can appreciate the musicianship behind it.
And all this there are worse people they don't have to be perfect, for all that's true music is so tied to how you feel it's perfectly possible to feel a change in how you hear something without it being an active stance. If it triggers happy memories of a different time then that's fine but it's also possible to find you no longer enjoy music of its associated with repulsion for the singer having tainted how you feel while listening.
Maybe not their best song but Please let me get what I want is a favourite.
Honourable mention for Asleep too.
repulsion for the singer having tainted how you feel while listening
He’s just human and wants to be loved!
I never really clicked with them BITD, but can't deny that Ask is an absolute banger.
And the second half of Boy With the Thorn in His Side, when Morrissey stops singing and just harmonises over Marr's guitar is really lovely.
How Soon is Now is superb as well, but too atypical of their work?
Any that Morrissey isn't singing on
why do we expect our musicians to be absolute paragons?
That's a bit of a leap innit? I just expect them to make nice music and not be too objectionable.
Mozza is highly objectionable now, but that doesn't invalidate The Smiths music at all.
And fortunately nobody is interested in his contemporary material anyway.
How Soon is Now is superb as well, but too atypical of their work?
Yes I think so. But Morrisey's response to the TaTu version is the stuff of legends
Interviewer: Did you hear t.A.T.u's version of 'How Soon Is Now'?
Morrissey: Yes, it was magnificent. Absolutely. Again, I don't know much about them.
Interviewer: They're the teenage Russian lesbians.
Morrissey: Well, aren't we all?
As an aside, does anyone categorically know who the girl is in the HSIN video?
The name of the women in HSIN is unknown to a wider audience, simply known as A Girl.
rumoured to be
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Pressly but seems unlikely because she was born in 77 making her 8 at the time it was released
I can't believe no one has mentioned The Hand That Rocks the Cradle yet.
We may agree about hair clippers and toastie machines but that’s clearly horseshit 😂
@joshbegas - it’s a fair cop, guv 😂
My choices would be:
Bigmouth Strikes Again.
What Difference Does it Make?
There’s a Light That Never Goes Out.
Sheila Take a Bow.
Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before.
The Draize Train.
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.
William, It Was Really Nothing.
None.
And fortunately nobody is interested in his contemporary material anyway.
How contemporary are we allowed? This one's a classic imho.
They had a great sound but they just didn't quite do it for me - too bloody angst ridden by far..
How contemporary are we allowed? This one’s a classic imho.
I think we're safe with a 30-year-old song.
This was the only Smiths/Mozza song I liked when I was younger...
How soon is now.
If you want to enjoy the good bit without morrisey ,you can have this..
I think this is a better bigot-free HSIN option (and from only a couple of months ago);
I’m going for one from
There’s a Light That Never Goes Out.
Sheila Take a Bow.
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.
Or
Suffer Little Children
Depends on mood but There’s a light probably shades it.
Headmaster ritual, or Handsome Devil - the Peel session version is excellent.
I always felt that the fade-out on this song sounds amazing just as spring transitions into summer…
I would throw in Hand in Glove or, funny enough, Oscillate Wildly
I honestly don’t have a firm favourite I really like them all, last night I dreamt somebody loved me is doing it for me at the moment. I’ve listened to the albums all these years and never tire of them.
I bet they didn't realise there were so many other things called Smith when they picked the name.
This is like being asked to pick your favourite offspring.
Ask was the song that really got me into The Smiths, and Cemetry Gates is probably one of my favourites, if I had to nominate one.
i think that was the whole point of the name.
Reel Around The Fountain
There is a light
Please Please Please
This Night Has Opened My Eyes, I would add to the thread. For me, The Smiths were one of those bands that had a few really great songs but not up there with the greatest. Whatever you think of Morrissey, without him, the band wouldn't have got as far as they got on the songs alone.
Who do you count among the greatest, out of interest?
This is like being asked to pick your favourite offspring.
After they have been fighting for 8 hours solid, one of them has refused to eat their dinner, the other has drawn all over the wall and the baby is running around with no nappy covered in shit. Your tea has gone cold and dinner is burnt.
i think that was the whole point of the name.
I think that was the whole point of my post
I quite like this one