Girl-Afraid
Least Likely To
Hi everyone I'm new here and eager to get involved in Morrissey discussion. I'm 23, from the UK and discovered Morrissey around 7 years ago.
I heard my first Smiths' song when I was 16 or 17, it was: "I Don't Owe You Anything" on an xfm radio show. Up until then I had musical interests in mainstream pop, rock and indie and wasn't at all interested in real alternative sounds.
The graceful yet still determinedly working-class northern voice set something alight within me. The lyrics were unlike anything I had ever heard before or since for that matter and I was instantly drawn in like thousands before me.
I immediately went home and began streaming songs by "The Smiths" online, of course as this was a few years ago there weren't many outlets available and as none of my friends had even heard of them I had to rely on the internet as my only source of information.
Who was this person "Morrissey" and why did he only want to be known by his surname? This struck me as very working-class school and ever so slightly odd. But of course as I listened to more of these songs, I realised just why so many people before me had become enthralled by him. His poetry spoke to me in a way nothing had ever done before; he was singing about my life, the choices I had made, the regrets I had and the late stage teenage angst I was going through.
Songs like: "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" left me re evaluating my life and my favourite by far: "Back To The Old House" haunted me every time I heard the melancholy line: "When you cycled by it began all my dreams".
His lyrics actually formed an image in my mind of what he was really thinking and feeling when he complied them. So unlike the mainstream popular music of back then and today; which focuses on sex, money, sex, money, beauty, popularity and fame. Of course Morrissey's lyrics did brush over these but they were always clever, witty, tongue in cheek or something that actually struck a chord with your own life.
I wrote my University Dissertation on Morrissey and his effect on popular culture - so you can imagine every single word of those 10,000 was never a chore to write.
I have seen him live twice and hope to go again if he tours in the UK at sometime.
His art continues to mean so much to me and has helped me through so many difficult periods in my life. As Morrissey himself would say: "Gasping, dying but somehow still alive"
I heard my first Smiths' song when I was 16 or 17, it was: "I Don't Owe You Anything" on an xfm radio show. Up until then I had musical interests in mainstream pop, rock and indie and wasn't at all interested in real alternative sounds.
The graceful yet still determinedly working-class northern voice set something alight within me. The lyrics were unlike anything I had ever heard before or since for that matter and I was instantly drawn in like thousands before me.
I immediately went home and began streaming songs by "The Smiths" online, of course as this was a few years ago there weren't many outlets available and as none of my friends had even heard of them I had to rely on the internet as my only source of information.
Who was this person "Morrissey" and why did he only want to be known by his surname? This struck me as very working-class school and ever so slightly odd. But of course as I listened to more of these songs, I realised just why so many people before me had become enthralled by him. His poetry spoke to me in a way nothing had ever done before; he was singing about my life, the choices I had made, the regrets I had and the late stage teenage angst I was going through.
Songs like: "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" left me re evaluating my life and my favourite by far: "Back To The Old House" haunted me every time I heard the melancholy line: "When you cycled by it began all my dreams".
His lyrics actually formed an image in my mind of what he was really thinking and feeling when he complied them. So unlike the mainstream popular music of back then and today; which focuses on sex, money, sex, money, beauty, popularity and fame. Of course Morrissey's lyrics did brush over these but they were always clever, witty, tongue in cheek or something that actually struck a chord with your own life.
I wrote my University Dissertation on Morrissey and his effect on popular culture - so you can imagine every single word of those 10,000 was never a chore to write.
I have seen him live twice and hope to go again if he tours in the UK at sometime.
His art continues to mean so much to me and has helped me through so many difficult periods in my life. As Morrissey himself would say: "Gasping, dying but somehow still alive"
Last edited: