Morrissey A-Z: "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful"

BookishBoy

Well-Known Member






We kick off two weeks of W's with this Morrissey/Whyte composition, the first single from Your Arsenal - reaching #17 on the UK chart.

What do we think?
 
I absolutely loved this when it came out and was one of those songs that was constantly on repeat and played to death on my new CD player as I’d kicked vinyl into touch as I thought I was embracing the future 😬

But I always had something at the back of my mind as to why it was a single when there were clearly stronger and better songs that could have been a single on the album, tracks 1 and 2 for example....
 
Great song. Can't think of anything witty to say. The song is witty enough.
 
I like it and it was a great single but Morrissey's blue shirt is really the star of the video. 8/10
aretha-franklin-beautiful-gowns.gif
 
Ugh, I never warmed to this one, I remember buying it on that day and just feeling so...underwhelmed. It's kind of endearing, I guess, but just such a weak lead-off single for the wonderful Your Arsenal album. It got absolutely slated in the NME - which doesn't, in and of itself, mean anything, but would they have been able to do that if the first single had been stronger?

Cute video, though. Especially that bit around 1.53 where Morrissey cracks into a laugh...
 
I completely agree that there were better choices for a lead single on YA. Back when unreleased songs were played live, it was a mainstay on the 2nd leg of the KU tour... maybe that influenced the decision? Around this time, I pretty much accepted anything Morrissey did as falling somewhere on the Genius Spectrum... but, still, am I the only one who found the "laughing" kind of grating? 6.5/10
 
I can't help thinking that maybe the substandard nature of the two singles that preceded Your Arsenal, played a part in the album not going on to be a big seller in the U.K.

Andrew Collins did indeed give this song a savage yet amusing review in the NME, "the ex-Smith's worst single", "the sound of five men bashing around in the darkness in search of a tune merely drains you of the will to live" and "the live B-side of Suedehead was played by monkeys who clearly hated Viva Hate." :ROFLMAO: And these were comments from a pro-Morrissey journalist who would later give positive reviews to this album and Vauxhall and I.

After the slightness of Kill Uncle, Morrissey really could have done with releasing a single with some lyrical substance. Both this and Fatty are more like novelty songs.

I don't hate it, but it has a "this'll do" feel and Morrissey should have been capable of much more. I don't think he's sung it for decades, so presumably it's not a personal favourite for him.

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 106th from 264 solo songs.
 
Worse, these songs (this and Fatty) were unmarketable in the US. They had to wait for Tomorrow to make any sort of impact there. Which is a shame as he was at his peak in terms of popularity over there at this time.

Still, I do enjoy it. Really fun song, great live, too, in Paris 1992, with 6000 French people singing along to every word. Which ended up on Beethoven.

8,3
 
love it,catchy as F,so many great lines in it.im sitting here scratching my arse wondering how anyone couldnt like this,the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same things i suppose.
9 middle-eights/10 break fades.
 
I remember feeling underwhelmed when I first heard it. Morrissey acting Willy and childishly with a hahahaha chorus and rather basic musicianship. On the upside, YA came as such a positive surprise after this single.
Over the years, I discovered that singing along to the silly chorus can be an effective way to vent off frustrations. So I appréciâtes it more now.
 
A song I've played to death, and yet still love. It's a frivolous, extremely catchy pop song - what do you people want? :ROFLMAO:
Great riffs and interplay in the guitars and Moz's vocals just soar above, always with a tongue (mostly) in cheek to tone down some of the catty presentation.
The lyrics are simple, but can be funny ("if they're Northern, that makes it even worse") and endearing ("it should have been me").
Not much more to say apart from: it was great when I first heard it, and it's still great now.
9/10
 
Incredibly weak lead single. Like someone said, it's a novelty song - just like Fatty. Fatty, however, is much...worse.
 
The video is better than the song.
The song, I’m still undecided 29 years on. As far as things go though, the US release on purple vinyl is lush and with that, I’m going to play it shortly. 💜💜💜
 
(y)

VERY CATCHY Moz Masterpiece. Moz being a Masterpiece machine
as opposed to the suco producing machine of:handpointright::guardsman::handpointleft: who at 60 yr
of age is opening for the Cvunteers FFS , teenagers!! a 60 yr old twat!:hammer:
 
Middling. Moz completely carrying another unimpressive tune with his voice and vocal melody.
 
The video is better than the song.
The song, I’m still undecided 29 years on. As far as things go though, the US release on purple vinyl is lush and with that, I’m going to play it shortly. 💜💜💜
Always got the impression Janice that your not one for making rash decisions 👊
Any chance of a phot of it please 👍
 
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