Morrissey / Smiths in the media

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/mus...funk-groove/4JYjPHVupfN7v5tJlxzTGO/story.html
Brownout gives Black Sabbath tunes a Latin-funk groove
by Steve Smith, The Boston Globe

Q. The Latin-American community is passionate about heavy metal. What accounts for that?

A. It’s funny, my brother-in-law says that Mexicans are about the three M’s: metal, Morrissey, and mariachi — Morrissey was a big thing, too, for some reason. I agree with you, in Laredo metal was a big thing. I think that there’s a lot of struggle with certain communities and certain parts of the country; it’s a good escape for people to just let it all out through some heavy music. The Morrissey thing, I just never quite got it; I have a lot of respect for Morrissey and the Smiths, but I never connected with it. I think metal makes a little more sense.
 
http://www.independent.ie/entertain...ut-me-seminal-acts-are-electric-30538529.html
Don't you... forget about me: Seminal acts are Electric
Independent.ie


Many other bands fade in and fade out over the years with comparatively little fanfare. Yet there's something especially compelling about the outfit that denounces a life of rock 'n' roll, packs up shop and rides off into the sunset. When these bands re-emerge blinking and mumbling how it was all fields around here once, it reminds us that anything is possible. If someone like Kate Bush can pull off the biggest comeback-kid stunt of all time, can a Smiths' reunion tour be that far behind? (In a word, yes. "I'd rather eat my own testicles than reform The Smiths, and that's saying something for a vegetarian," Morrissey has famously intoned).

Several great acts are conspicuous by their absence from the new (old) wave. Britpoppers like Elastica and Ride have yet to enter the fray. Police, Pink Floyd, The Jam and ABBA still have their fans chomping at the bit for news of a revival. Nostalgia has always been big business, but nowadays the possibilities of your teenage idols showing up at a venue near you are closer than ever. Turns out it really is better to burn out than fade away.
 
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...dy-smiths-inspired-self-titled-album-20140901

Ryan Adams' Moody, Smiths-Inspired Self-Titled Album

'Ryan Adams' influenced by Velvet Underground and the singer's struggles with Meniere's disease

by Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone

Ryan Adams has revealed his latest studio LP Ryan Adams a week early. Adams had previously unveiled the moody album tracks "My Wrecking Ball" and the Elvira-starring video for the single and album opener "Gimme Something Good," but now you can stream Ryan Adams in its entirety over at NPR.org. Adams told Rolling Stone that his 11-song self-titled affair, due out September 9, was inspired by the Smiths and the Velvet Underground as well as his struggles with the inner ear disorder Ménière's disease...
 
cool, i was just reading about this in mojo not half an hour ago. sounds promising as i liked some of his stuff a lot. he seems like a believer
 
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention...ant-anchor-abel-ferraras-overwrought-pasolini
Abel Ferrara’s 'Pasolini' is an intriguing mess
by Catherine Bray, HitFix

VENICE — "Pasolini is me." So sang erstwhile Smiths frontman Morrissey on single "You Have Killed Me" from "Ringleader of the Tormentors," an album recorded in Italy. The very next track on the album opens with a sample of a very distinctive sound: the siren of an Italian ambulance. At the Venice festival, it's impossible to go for more than a day without hearing this dolorous yet urgent wail on the Lido; it's an unofficial soundtrack. These congruences were very much slushing around my head as I sat down for Abel Ferrara's "Pasolini."

Prior to the festival, Maestro Ferrara, the man who brought "The Driller Killer," "King of New York," and the original "Bad Lieutenant" into the world gave various interviews about the project. Like Morrissey, he is an inveterate quote machine, an expert in controversy, and the words that drew the most attention were electrifying: "I know who killed him." ...

On reflection, it's another work by Morrissey that comes to mind in light of Ferrara’s bullish press-baiting: a case of "Bigmouth Strikes Again."
 
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/27/when-bob-dylan-met-the-beatles

When Dylan met the Beatles – history in a handshake?
Fifty years ago this week the Beatles and Bob Dylan got together to share a few joints – and the world of music was never the same again. Or so the story goes. But does pop culture really work like that?

by Andrew Harrison, The Guardian

...Morrissey meeting Johnny Marr? The guitarist tramped over to Stretford specifically to knock on the future Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now hitmaker's door and demand that they write songs together (plus they'd already met once at a Patti Smith concert).
 
http://www.avclub.com/article/what-entertainment-did-you-unfortunately-inflict-y-208652
What entertainment did you unfortunately inflict on your parents?
A.V. Club


Will Harris

My answer to this question isn’t terribly amusing, but it underlines somewhat the reason why I didn’t feel particularly outraged by Henry Rollins’ reaction to Robin Williams’ suicide. Not long after I discovered The Smiths, I listened to “Asleep,” from their Louder Than Bombs compilation, and I was profoundly moved by the sad but lovely song. So much so, in fact, that I played it for my mother and sister. What never occurred to me, however, was that the decision to play the song for my mom might possibly be viewed as a couched cry for help. It was not. As miserable as I’ve been in my life—and in my pre-marriage and pre-parent days, there were some times when I was pretty f***ing miserable—I’ve never found my mind drifting in any remotely serious way toward the possibility that suicide might be a legitimate solution. I have never understood why anyone would choose that path, and I don’t suppose I ever will. Unfortunately, my mother did not know I felt this way, and now that I’m a parent myself, I’m still horrified at what thoughts I might have caused to cross my mother’s mind when I played “Asleep” and kept looking at her, waiting for her reaction to what I thought was a lyrically depressing but musically beautiful song, never imagining that it would be to fear the worst about where her eldest child’s mind was drifting at the time. Is it any wonder I immediately got a teary-eyed hug from her upon its conclusion?
 
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/80s/the-smiths-were-never-really-found-in-the-80s--trust-us/2191873
The Smiths were never really 'found' in the '80s ... trust us
by Steve Spears, Tampa Bay Times

On the occasion of this my 50th "Never Found in the '80s" entry, I'm doing it again. I'm featuring a band that everybody thinks everybody has heard of, but not according to my criteria of choosing musical acts for this series. Do not forget that this series is written from an American perspective, so mainstream charting success in Europe doesn't count. I'm an American, sue me.

The Smiths may seem like a household name now, but in America in the '80s? No way! In the '80s, The Smiths had a total of two songs make it on the U.S. Dance chart: today's featured song and The Boy with the Thorn in His Side both charting in 1985. But, they never cracked the American Top 40...
 
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/01/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/courtney-love-memoir-rs/
Like many authors, Courtney Love is a victim of writer's block.
by Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone

For over a year, the Hole singer has been penning a memoir with Rolling Stone writer Anthony Bozza. "The Girl With the Most Cake" was originally supposed to hit bookshelves in December 2013 before being pushed back to early-2014. Three-quarters of the way through the year and Love's memoir is still nowhere on the release schedule, and as the singer tells Paper, don't expect to be reading her life story anytime soon. As it turns out, not everyone can write a 460-page autobiography as quickly and easily as Morrissey.
 
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/o...ut-he-discovered-the-undertones-30567046.html

Gerry Anderson: John Peel was like someone you'd meet in a garden centre, but he discovered the Undertones

We look back at some of the late Gerry Anderson's wit and wisdom during his time as a Belfast Telegraph columnist

This was the man who broke the Undertones from my home city, also the Smiths, Joy Division, New Order and The Fall; quirky, odd bands that you knew wouldn't have made it without his help.
 
http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...-and-disappearance-eleanor-rigby-armond-white
Working Class Goes to Hell: Drop and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
by Armond White, National Review

When The Smiths updated “Eleanor Rigby” as “Vicar in a Tutu” (1986), the new song satirized a pre-millennial sense of spiritual isolation. Skepticism, tradition, impudence, and desperation were examined and then redeemed for a powerful and refreshed sense of identity. Challenging pop and religious heritage, and hearing its echo, the Smiths were also marvelously rooted to it. In The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Benson and cast seem unaware they are rootless.
 
http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2014/09/12/moto-360/
Moto 360 smartwatch review: A beautifully flawed watch

Android Wear is like a cat, sometimes it listens. Other times, it doesn’t even care that you’re there.

But when it does understand you and is tied into your Google account it’s still a little like magic. I can tell the watch to play The Smiths and without reaching into my pocket, I’m listening to the musical stylings of Johnny Marr and Morrissey. It tells me how long my commute will be, alerts me to new emails and text messages (which I can read on the tiny screen) and generally keeps my Android phone in my pocket.
 
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