Damon Albarn: ‘Brexit has revealed terrible truths about the mental health of the English’ - The Irish Times
The Blur frontman on ‘Merrie Land’, Britpop, Oasis, Morrissey and John Lydon
Excerpt:
When The South Bank Show profiled Blur in 1999, Albarn revealed that when Morrissey claimed there will never be another important British band after The Smiths, his teenage self wanted to prove Morrissey wrong, while also harbouring the fantasy to say the exact same thing when he got to be on The South Bank Show himself.
“Oh, I was absolutely mortified that he said that,” Albarn howls in horror at his younger, cockier self. “You can’t do that! I’ve adored The Smiths and Morrissey my whole life.”
Recently, Morrissey endorsed a far-right fringe party, For Britain. “I don’t understand it at all,” Albarn says. “I think you have to talk to the individual to understand what they’re trying to say, but he’s a tricky fellow. My only communication with him was a series of hilarious emails when I tried to get him on the Gorillaz album, Humanz. I’d a great tune for him called Circle of Friends, but I couldn’t convince him, so he was one of those that got away. I don’t agree with his politics at all, but it doesn’t mean that when a Smiths song comes on that it doesn’t move me.”
Related item:
The Blur frontman on ‘Merrie Land’, Britpop, Oasis, Morrissey and John Lydon
Excerpt:
When The South Bank Show profiled Blur in 1999, Albarn revealed that when Morrissey claimed there will never be another important British band after The Smiths, his teenage self wanted to prove Morrissey wrong, while also harbouring the fantasy to say the exact same thing when he got to be on The South Bank Show himself.
“Oh, I was absolutely mortified that he said that,” Albarn howls in horror at his younger, cockier self. “You can’t do that! I’ve adored The Smiths and Morrissey my whole life.”
Recently, Morrissey endorsed a far-right fringe party, For Britain. “I don’t understand it at all,” Albarn says. “I think you have to talk to the individual to understand what they’re trying to say, but he’s a tricky fellow. My only communication with him was a series of hilarious emails when I tried to get him on the Gorillaz album, Humanz. I’d a great tune for him called Circle of Friends, but I couldn’t convince him, so he was one of those that got away. I don’t agree with his politics at all, but it doesn’t mean that when a Smiths song comes on that it doesn’t move me.”
Related item:
- Damon Albarn on trying to get Morrissey on a Gorillaz track - July 12, 2018
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