The Smiths
- Thread starter Woebot
- Start date
And I pretty much detest everything he's ever done; I saw the Smiths just after Hand in Glove came out and then - and through the subsequent 23 years - I thought the self- absorbsion, vanity, conceit and milk toast whiteness of the music betrayed everything we fought the punk wars for. In the meantime I've gotten to know loads of people, otherwise exemplary, who go all weak kneed for the old poseur, and make you feel brutish if you dont 'get it''; well I don't get it; he's a pretentious autodidact, borderline racist with a bratty adolescent neediness unbefitting a man in his late 40s; only Bryan Ferry comes close in the all round annoyingness stakes...confucius said:
D
droid
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I hated them for years because of Morrissey, but got sucked in during my late teens....
Is it possible to like the Smiths and hate him simultaneously?
Is it possible to like the Smiths and hate him simultaneously?
D7_bohs said:
Like the man said ^^^^
jenks
thread death
been waiting for this topic to come up. i thought the general mood would be one of disdain at best
i cannot help but love both the smiths and morrissey
it comes down to being 16 when the smiths first broke - a love affair i have yet to overcome, despite being embarressed and appalled by mozzer at various times.
when i hear 'well, i wonder' or 'life is a pigsty' i can forgive him ( a very morrissey idea - forgiving, not forgetting)
yes, he is the arch anti-modernist but he is also the man who understands what it means to be a pop fan - the devotion and irrational nature of the inkie trawling, the furtive listening to the charts on a tuesday lunchtime, how it all matters.
also if it hadn't been for him i wouldn't have read all that i have and that being sixteen, clumsy and shy was ok
bracewell is very good on him in in his 'england made me'
i think that even as 40 approaches he still taps into the adolescent in me, that one that still hoarsely cries...and i know that sounds daft
i cannot help but love both the smiths and morrissey
it comes down to being 16 when the smiths first broke - a love affair i have yet to overcome, despite being embarressed and appalled by mozzer at various times.
when i hear 'well, i wonder' or 'life is a pigsty' i can forgive him ( a very morrissey idea - forgiving, not forgetting)
yes, he is the arch anti-modernist but he is also the man who understands what it means to be a pop fan - the devotion and irrational nature of the inkie trawling, the furtive listening to the charts on a tuesday lunchtime, how it all matters.
also if it hadn't been for him i wouldn't have read all that i have and that being sixteen, clumsy and shy was ok
bracewell is very good on him in in his 'england made me'
i think that even as 40 approaches he still taps into the adolescent in me, that one that still hoarsely cries...and i know that sounds daft
jenks said:
now, i'm not trying to denigrate your experience in any way at all, jenks, but there is a really big flipside to this point which was always my main problem with mozzer. so many people say that the smiths offered them this kind of vaildation, helped them get through those awkward, alienated teen years. however, i really think a lot of it was based upon an extraordinarily contrived, narcissistic, elitist kind of otherness, a "they don't understand me, but that's because i'm so much better than them" outlook, which is the worst thing about adolescence and adolescents. i say this as someone who was a long way from being an alpha-kid, too.
jenks
thread death
i probably agree with you - there is something incredibly narcissistic in it all but yet it did still matter immensely that there he was saying these things and in such an entertaining manner.
i think in many ways he is an incredibly odd man - witness that bizarre interview with Jonathan Ross on tv a couple of years ago - quite clearly the only place he makes any kind of sense in is as a musician because as a person he is vain. conceited and monomaniacal. However, he always manages to pull something out of the bag before he entirely condemns himself completely.
and somewhere inside of me that adolescent still lives on, in spite of myself and in full knowledge of how self indulgent adolescents can be
i think in many ways he is an incredibly odd man - witness that bizarre interview with Jonathan Ross on tv a couple of years ago - quite clearly the only place he makes any kind of sense in is as a musician because as a person he is vain. conceited and monomaniacal. However, he always manages to pull something out of the bag before he entirely condemns himself completely.
and somewhere inside of me that adolescent still lives on, in spite of myself and in full knowledge of how self indulgent adolescents can be
geto.blast
snap on rims
stelfox said:
yeah i think there s lines that shouldn t be crossed.
D7_bohs said:
oh dear... I've just recently acquired a fondness for Brian Ferry as well (and just to push some of you over the edge - also George Michael) may not be your cup of grime, but how can anyone deny the awesome beauty of these masterfully crafted pop songs?
sufi
lala
don't particularly remember the videos at all......WOEBOT said:
i do clearly remember witnessing morrisey on totp prancing around with a load of daffs in his pants in about 1982, i was utterly appalled, but remember having the distinct impression that it was the shape of things to come...
was i not perhaps with you that evening matt?
Actually, i have to admit to been a Roxy fan as a kid - It's Biryani's* subsequent rise to huntin' shootin' fishin' prole hating minor gentry that annoys meconfucius said:
*Anyone else remember how the NME used to irritate him no end by varying his name outlandishly?
