Jordan Bassett of NME on his complicated relationship with Morrissey

An honest attempt here (my opinion!) by Jordan Bassett to wrestle with Morrissey's "complex legacy".

https://www.nme.com/blogs/ill-still-listen-morrissey-but-it-wont-be-the-same-2497598

Which starts with the killer sentence: "If you want to really test your faith in humanity, pay a visit to the forums sections of morrissey-solo.com..." - which I'd hope we can all agree with.

 

[Stephen Hofmann]

That's a good point re the comparison with Ryan Adams - who has actually hurt people through his actions in real life. (Although the very first thing I thought when that particular story broke was "oh my god didn't those women know who they were getting involved with?" It's been clear since the very early 2000s that Adams was kind of unhinged...

I went off him when he did that BBC sessions show and disrespected Janis Ian and Neil Finn and acted like a berk.

 

[joe frady]

For my sins, í still see an ocean of difference (or at least a good-sized village pond) between those who say things í might happen to disagree with, and those who cause actual, real physical hurt: Lennon, Adams et al.

Those who draw ire vs those who draw blood.

.

 

[Deleted member 27456]

Interesting post.



But besides people not taking into consideration or even understanding his emotional outbursts and strong feelings about animal rights issues, they most likely won’t understand what he is actually saying in that interview, and when the comment is, as it almost always is, taken out of context, then the reader, fan or not, can only read it one way, which of courses is detrimental to Morrissey.

Then again, maybe Morrissey not being clear or explaining himself, is his way of stirring up publicity for a subject he cares intensely about, therefore give a voice to the voiceless.

This a brilliant observation from you. This is just what moz is all about. The vast majority of his lyrics, views, opinions are all imho are like the hardest crosswords in the world, the lucky few are able to fully understand and understand his perceived mis-understandings.

What really annoys me the most when I am asked by some what music I am into, and I say "Smiths/Morrissey" I get the usual "oh he's so depressing" clearly the gloves are on and I am ready strike, then my ego drops and I simply explain that it does take a degree of intelligence to work out what hes about.

I explain "lazy sunbathers" to them and guess what...? They start howling with laughter! I also have to explain that he wrote the song because of a German sunbather stole his sunbathing spot.

We all abhor being misunderstood...

Jason