joe frady
Vile Refusenik
looks like the Strangeways cover to me. But what t-shirt is M wearing?
Odd photo anyway.
Strat Moz just looks...queer?
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looks like the Strangeways cover to me. But what t-shirt is M wearing?
Odd photo anyway.
Believe me, I was doing the same this morning until I remembered that there were more pictures Vini Reilly took of our guitar heroes. I also found the clip of Moz wearing the Strangeways shirt (at ~ 1:43).í was forensically studying the Davalos cover and comparing hairlines, foreheads and nostril shadows, at 3am {god help me}, and decided ~ No Dick. It must just be Stephen's wrinkles. Apologies for getting excited.
If you do not find that letter, you shall be severely spanked with a wet plimsoll...
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Believe me, I was doing the same this morning until I remembered that there were more pictures Vini Reilly took of our guitar heroes. I also found the clip of Moz wearing the Strangeways shirt (at ~ 1:43).
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Aaaand you can put your plimsols in the dryer because I found the letter.
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Edit: the complete Viva Hate Songbook, as posted on Street's old website, can be accessed here:
(Flash Player required - do not attempt on mobile, it's a pain in the arse)
Thank You.
Fascinating.
"Every situation of course would be very clear before any movement occurs " ~ what a delightfully odd thing to say.
So less than 3 weeks after the "NME " hits the stands, it's over. You can sense a certain desperation between the lines. And the heartless hand of EMI on the shoulder. But not on Johnny's back í'm sure.
Poor sod. Wishing someone well after their new dawn honeymoon, his pop world asunder, sitting in his widow's weeds...
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Morrissey moved fast. And wanted Smiths laid to rest, seems forever.
We usually get the picture of Morrissey being incapacitated and heart broken by Marr’s split. But closer to the truth we see Morrissey not depressed, full of hope and motivated to move on and succeed.
Thoughts?
Morrissey moved fast. And wanted Smiths laid to rest, seems forever.
We usually get the picture of Morrissey being incapacitated and heart broken by Marr’s split. But closer to the truth we see Morrissey not depressed, full of hope and motivated to move on and succeed.
Thoughts?
í think M. is stronger and more rigourous than generally considered, given his lyrical concerns. Three parts "Irish defiance", working class work ethic {fear of poverty} and contrarian bugger {he likes being the salt in the wound of Pop}. Plus more than a dash of EMI bully boys.
You only have to skim "Autobiography" to be awed at how he "got himself out of the situation he was in". From Queen's Square to Sweetzer Avenue is a journey that could only be achieved by a certain type of character, and probably only at a specific point in this country's history. That Pop pathway, open to poor Irish immigrants such as McCartney, Morrissey and Lydon is now walled up, accessible only in that brief blip in time when Pop really mattered.
In August 1987 í think Morrissey knew that if he didn't keep moving he would die. He had to get out of another situation. Yes, there was alot of Hate in the air. But also "Viva" ~ 'to live'.
Plus, maybe he was on good meds, that week...
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Aaaand you can put your plimsols in the dryer because I found the letter.
Another Saturday nite, drying my plimsolls. Plus ça change...
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í think M. is stronger and more rigourous than generally considered, given his lyrical concerns. Three parts "Irish defiance", working class work ethic {fear of poverty} and contrarian bugger {he likes being the salt in the wound of Pop}. Plus more than a dash of EMI bully boys.
You only have to skim "Autobiography" to be awed at how he "got himself out of the situation he was in". From Queen's Square to Sweetzer Avenue is a journey that could only be achieved by a certain type of character, and probably only at a specific point in this country's history. That Pop pathway, open to poor Irish immigrants such as McCartney, Morrissey and Lydon is now walled up, accessible only in that brief blip in time when Pop really mattered.
In August 1987 í think Morrissey knew that if he didn't keep moving he would die. He had to get out of another situation. Yes, there was alot of Hate in the air. But also "Viva" ~ 'to live'.
Plus, maybe he was on good meds, that week...
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I think immediately after the catastrophic final b-sides sessions (late May 1987), when Johnny had left to LA and it must have dawned on Morrissey that things weren't working out anymore, he really was in a very bad state. I don't believe that Grant Showbiz was exaggerating when he said that he felt it was necessary to spend the night at Morrissey's flat to look after him because he'd never seen him so upset and he "wasn’t so much crying as physically swooning."
But I also think that at some point M managed to channel those strong feelings and "hate "can be a very powerful driving force.
Very much agree with this part "In August 1987 í think Morrissey knew that if he didn't keep moving he would die. He had to get out of another situation."
He once said that he always has to keep moving and I think that's something that still applies. Even if he's moving in weird directions, he doesn't seem to stand still. Irish defiance indeed.
A small thing that's been bugging me for some time is this tiny detail from Rogan’s revised edition of "The Sausage Appliance". Were the documents backdated or was it really "officially"/unofficially over before June 1987? Johnny was still gushing about M on KROQ, 28 May 1987. "He's brilliant, he's marvellous. I miss him. I haven't seen him for a week and I really miss him."
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Was Cilla really that hellish..?
í think a similar situation developed around 1990, when Morrissey was approaching a stasis of some kind, in his mind {personally í loved all that era to death, but that's as likely coloured by the first flush of falling, as after a year or so of swooning & swithering, í took the plunge in '90}. After waiting for a couple of years for Johnny's call that never came, he pled Guilty, laced up his DMs, threw on his best diaphanous blouse, and moved forward.
As for the Rogan thing, he does tend to unearth tiny gobbets of small print marginalia and come on all Moses-like {he has got the beard?} and present them as gleaming tablets of utter fact.
í don't know about that particular Rogan bug, but it could have been that that particular M/M legal partnership ended on 31st of May, prior to another partnership being established, ready and set for the Glory Days of The Smiths Imperial EMI Phase. M'lud..?
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Morrissey moved fast. And wanted Smiths laid to rest, seems forever.
We usually get the picture of Morrissey being incapacitated and heart broken by Marr’s split. But closer to the truth we see Morrissey not depressed, full of hope and motivated to move on and succeed.
Thoughts?
He has described the pressure he felt from EMI at that time, and how he thought it was 'too early' but his hands were tied. I'm sure that comes into it.
Yeah, it’s amazing. With the usual picture of Morrissey that’s painted even by him, one would think that he would have gone into a deep depression, crumbled up or just be stubborn, aloof and just refuse to do anything because of these pressures from EMI, gladly slinking back into obscurity.
But, that wasn’t the case. And he had the drive to succeed even right after the so-called ‘catastrophe’ of the Smiths break up. My point is, he always had that drive, even if Marr never showed up, he would have eventually made his mark as a writer or writer/singer.
All that anger and misery had to go somewhere, seems natural he would channel it into an album. I see VH as a Smiths break-up album and it's a great one. Totally disagree that he would have made it alone, though.
Even in his first radio interview he did as a solo artist for KROQ in 1990 he still said he'd get back together with Johnny immediately if he asked him to. And yes, I agree, his appearance on Jonathan Ross sort of marked a new beginning but at the same time it seems like a final plea for reconciliation. A powerful moment anyway.
There's a number of dramatic key events in his career and in most cases he came out of them stronger (at least artistically) in my opinion.
It just struck me as odd that he mentioned this in passing while he spent what felt like decades dissecting marginal minutiae in other places.
How did Johnny manage to escape EMI's grab anyway? After all, they were quite happy to have "two acts for the price of one"...?
His drive is so strong that eventually he would have made it alone as a writer or would have eventually found
someone to write music with.
And his determination and success so soon after the split points to the truth of this.
Marr and Morrissey were needed to make The Smiths, but Marr was not needed to make Morrissey what he always was and forever will be.
Your point on his determination and success so soon after the split is nonsense, he was always going to succeed after The Smiths as they had built up a huge fan base by then. If he hadn't met Johnny he still may have carved out a career in music but I don't think it would have been anywhere as successful as it has.