Morrissey - is it just me who can't understand the worship?

equalsql

Saw 'Morrissey-Autobiography' in Smiths [no pun intended] on the bookshelf on Saturday and apparently part of the 'Penquin Classics' range of books... um I'm confused..has he finely reached deity status?

Lixarto

No, he just thinks he has.

bertie

I think narrating Bob the Builder was his finest hour

monquixote

It's going to be a big seller and I suspect it was his demand that it had to be a Penguin classic to publish it. A wheelbarrow full of cash trumps the integrity of the classics line.

I think Morrissey is a unique singer and has written some great lyrics, but there is no doubt he is a wanker of gargantuan proportions. As with Bono in the U2 thread it makes no difference to how much I enjoy his music. 

hywelg

What happens when he's no longer in Smiths? Rename the band Pound Shop?

He's not the first lead singer with a high opinion of himself though is he? Par for the course. Aparently Paul Rodgers is right bastard!
And I have it on good authority that Robert Cray is not very nice to his musicians as well.

ICBM

equalsql said:

Saw 'Morrissey-Autobiography' in Smiths [no pun intended] on the bookshelf on Saturday and apparently part of the 'Penquin Classics' range of books... um I'm confused..has he finely reached deity status?

Perhaps they mistook him for a penguin.

chillidoggy

monquixote said

I think Morrissey is a wanker of gargantuan proportions. As with Bono

Two birds killed with one stone there, and I couldn't have put it more eloquently.

Deadman

Wooohoooo! A Mozza thread. Get in there.

Deadman

equalsql

hywelg said:

 Aparently Paul Rodgers is right bastard!

  Funny I'd heard that too, I know Andy Fraser has a pretty low opinion of him and he (allegedly) still  treats Simon Kirk as a session player and not an equal (which he was IMHO)

ToneControl

you normally need a lot of self confidence to want to be a lead vocalist, some of them have way too much of it

equalsql

ToneControl said:

you normally need a lot of self confidence to want to be a lead vocalist, some of them have way too much of it

 I've met so many so called singers who are full of themselves but are musically shite, and a fewer number of really great singers who have zero confidence. It's a funny old world.

bertie

being a good singer,  and being good at fronting a band  -  don't  necessarily require the same talent.   

Those having both,  are rare. 

Its a hell of a lot easier to be a good guitar player, than the an averagely good  "front man who can sing"

holnrew

I don't think The Smiths would have been any worse off with a different singer.

randomhandclaps

I think Bertie is right. 

The appeal of a frontman very often goes beyond their vocal talent. There are plenty of bands where it's questionable if they would have had such success had their frontman not been good looking or been arrogant or been comedic or regularly set his head on fire.......

 

gilby

I never really followed any of the careers of the smiths after the split despite being a fan. (ok, I bought the modest mouse album earlier this year).
I just felt it was the band as a whole that made The Smiths work. Mike and Andy were brilliant and distinctive as a rhythm section. They were just as important as the "stars" of the band. It wouldn't have been the same without them.
I remember getting in late one night over twenty years back, flicking on the box and finding Sinead O'Conners the lion and the cobra gig on the box and I was elated to hear that same rhythm section there, shame they weren't on the album (although that's a great album in its own right). I'm not sure if they ever worked together since that tour but then Andy did have his nasty habit.
I have a similar view with The Who, individually the members don't all astound me, but as a unit it becomes something fantastic. I find the idea if them performing without Keith and John a bit odd but that's just my opinion.
Going back to topic, I think I would of much preferred Morrisey to have left music and gone off to write some awful poetry in a dingy bedsit somewhere.

ToneControl

That's Entertainment!

Lixarto

Yes, the Jam were better than the Smiths

Emp_Fab

I don't really know anything about him other than he appears to be called lots of rude names quite often.  I have, however, heard him singing and he always gets me reaching for the off switch immediately.  Mainly because of his extended vocal range.  Man, it must kill his throat to go from G2 all the way up to er... B2.

gilby

There's a lot of morbidity on the first album, subject matter was quite dark on a lot of songs but he showed a viscous sense of humour in later smiths albums. No, I don't think he's got a good voice but it suited the bands "indie" status.

Just for the record, I loved The Jam too although after reading that he sends his kids to private school I find myself cringing a little on hearing Eton Rifles.

Deadman

Lixarto;69371" said:

Yes, the Jam were better than the Smiths

Moz covered it bizarrely enough.