Morrissey A-Z: "The Kid's A Looker"

BookishBoy

Well-Known Member



Today's song is this Morrissey/Boorer composition, recorded for a BBC Janice Long session in June 2011 and then released as a digital only addition to the re-issue of "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" in April 2013.

What do we think of this one?
 
Not at all as bad as many make it out to be. Sure, it’s simple and we had all heard it before, but it’s still energetic. And the lyrics, although a bit crude, have a bite to them and some wit. I rarely listen to it, but when I do I enjoy it.
 
Is this really as bad as people make it out to be? Yes, much of the instrumentation is basic four-chords-and-thrash that has been done to death, but with better production, this could grow into a minor gem. The keyboards in the chorus, coupled with the wordless vocals is very nicely done, and the lyrics, while, as someone already stated, there isn’t much there, it does contain semblances of classic Morrissey wit and wisdom. So, no, not great, but nowhere near as awful as most make it out to be.
5/10
 
The J's and K's have been brutal! This is like a 4th rate Boy Racer/Dagenham Dave at best. Makes both of those seem like 10's in comparison.
And all of this just increases the feelings I had at the time that the pretty decent "How Can Anyone Know How I Feel" was treated way too harshly. If this was a concert and these were being played in this order people would be tearing up their chairs and throwing them at the stage.
 
love it.if there was a recorded version of this then people might change their minds.clever lyrics about the pop idol generation,who cares if the effects of the pop industry forced your son to commit suicide,we move on to the next one,these record companies dont give two flying f.u.c.k.s. about anything but money.
ps-apart from the la laas bit which is impossible to do live.
10 kids /10 lookers.vivamozz.
 
This is literally the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped. Just embarrassingly poor. I'd rather listen to 'Tony the Pony' than this, and I hate 'Tony the Pony'. What is really painful is that Morrissey was hawking this and the almost-as-execrable 'People Are the Same Everywhere' around as new songs while he was trying to get a record deal. Like he was proud of this stuff, and thought people would sign him on the strength of it.

I can still remember the crushing disappointment of hearing that 2011 radio session - tuning in all excited, then thinking "what is this rubbish?" Truly the low point of Morrissey's musical career.
 
Awful
Up there with the worst

the opening lines always remind me of that Paul from Viva Morrissey who incidentally I noticed at a few gigs in 2011 were this song was premiered and given a run.
 
The three or four new songs were not a big hit in 2011. When I listen to this again, I see and hear it the same way as back then. I don't like the complete instrumentation. Especially the drums are much too loud and present. Of course, a complete studio version could have been given a chance, but I can see where this is going with "Scandinavia". Nowhere slow. In 2011, Morrissey was still being eaten out of the hand to such an extent that at the summer concerts, e.g. in Berlin, the new songs were celebrated without mercy. It was Morrissey and he couldn't make any mistakes, even if ROTT and Refusal hadn't exactly been enthusiastically received. Something was brewing. Morrissey's output became increasingly smug and unpleasantly exalted. He developed a penchant for crude lyrics as well as rather strained and silly vocal lines (Lala Lalala Lalalalalalala). And there was no one left to ground him.

Music for people in ivory towers.
 
If this song came about, in part, due to Bieber's heavy media saturation in 2010 onwards (not forgetting Morrissey was still scathing about him 3 years later), then there's something wonderfully tone-deaf and perverse about Justin being subsequently pictured in a Smiths' shirt and then 'thanked' on Central.
FWD.
 
Good dynamic rocker. If Speedway is 10/10 and Bobby is 1/10, I give this song 5/10. But of course it is the weakest track from BBC Maida Vale Session .
I hope that someday it will appear on some kind compilation release along with other rare songs ( like Action Is My Middle Name or I'm playin easy ... )
 
It's crass to paraphrase one's own takes, but I remarked in 2011 when this was first aired that I was overjoyed this song existed, as it primarily meant that "One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell" was no longer his worst song ever.

Those 2011 songs really did a number on my fandom. The subsequent racism hasn't helped, either.
 
It's a very poor performance from Morrissey and, being generous, a full studio recording would surely have been superior. I think this might be one of his worst vocals and worst vocal melodies. The non-chorus is awful and Morrissey at his laziest.

The verses aren't too bad and I don't have too much of an issue with the intentionally disposable music.

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 248th from 264 solo songs.
 
Two days in a row and I am, it seems, once more in the minority – for I like The Kid’s A Looker. I mean, it’s not great – but then again, it is a rather obscure track, a digital only download of a radio session available to people buying a single that already been released 24 years earlier. Taking it for what it is, just a little throwaway gift from the vaults, I enjoy it. It’s a humorous enough little jab and the shallowness of popular culture and, I feel, could have benefitted from the full studio treatment – perhaps this would have swayed some of the naysayers?

I assumed that the la la’s and da, da’s – essentially the only words of the chorus, was a little jab at the disposable subjects of the song - Morrissey is quoting them, quoting what they have to say of worth, which is... nothing. A throwaway chorus for throwaway people?

This video is a little more interesting to watch...

 
Two days in a row and I am, it seems, once more in the minority – for I like The Kid’s A Looker. I mean, it’s not great – but then again, it is a rather obscure track, a digital only download of a radio session available to people buying a single that already been released 24 years earlier. Taking it for what it is, just a little throwaway gift from the vaults, I enjoy it. It’s a humorous enough little jab and the shallowness of popular culture and, I feel, could have benefitted from the full studio treatment – perhaps this would have swayed some of the naysayers?

I assumed that the la la’s and da, da’s – essentially the only words of the chorus, was a little jab at the disposable subjects of the song - Morrissey is quoting them, quoting what they have to say of worth, which is... nothing. A throwaway chorus for throwaway people?

This video is a little more interesting to watch...
I'm sure that was the intention of the chorus. That doesn't make it any more enjoyable to listen to though...
 
For those asking for an alternative recording.

 
I prefer the Temple Lane version ^^^
That said, the link for the very rare promo rip of Janice Long featuring People.., Action... & Kid's... is still live if anyone wants the whole JL session (@320 via Irregular Regular).
It is the only known official digital source for People Are The Same Everywhere.
Download Here.
Regards,
FWD.
 
It is a bit of a ramshackle, mess, but it almost worked live, almost...well, it was ok at York Barbican...though I do seem to remember an enormous fist fight taking place at the same time. "Them were the days..." sigh.
 
This is literally the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped. Just embarrassingly poor. I'd rather listen to 'Tony the Pony' than this, and I hate 'Tony the Pony'. What is really painful is that Morrissey was hawking this and the almost-as-execrable 'People Are the Same Everywhere' around as new songs while he was trying to get a record deal. Like he was proud of this stuff, and thought people would sign him on the strength of it.

I can still remember the crushing disappointment of hearing that 2011 radio session - tuning in all excited, then thinking "what is this rubbish?" Truly the low point of Morrissey's musical career.
I'd take "Get off the stage" any time over this one because that one still has an Irish pub singalong vibe to it.
The lalala chorus here is so cringeworthy and unbearable, no wish to ever sing along.
 
Some posters on this thread have described this as 'Embarrassingly poor' and 'Up there with the worst'.

I didn't remember it as being THAT bad so I listened back.

They were right, I was wrong.
 
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