Bullied by Marr?

[Amy]

During an idle moment I was browsing through some old Morrissey album reviews, and came across this one -

http://cd.ciao.co.uk/You_Are_The_Quarry_Morrissey__Review_5453113 .

A user review and not remarkable by any means, but I couldn't help noticing on the section about "I Have Forgiven Jesus", this statement: "Morrissey was bullied by fellow ex-Smith Johnny Marr while at school, and to this day only counts 6 people as friends". Now that's either a) a very bad attempt at sarcasm and a far too literal interpretation of Morrissey's "I have 7 friends" comment on Jonathan Ross :rolleyes: , or b) a severe inaccuracy stemming from nothing other than pure ignorance. Either way I found it bizarre. Morrissey and Marr at the same school? News to me!

[bikubesong]

Did Moz and MArr go to school together? Marr is 4 years younger, isn't he? I find it bizarre too:P

[lilikoi]

Did Moz and MArr go to school together? Marr is 4 years younger, isn't he? I find it bizarre too:P

they did not!

[Jones]

People who have read one article on The Smiths two years ago are prone to make wild assumptions on the basis of their very sketchy remembrance of said article.

And sometimes people that don't like Morrissey write all kinds of rubbish about him on the Internet.

[bikubesong]

they did not!
Ok, good to know. But the article?

[lottie]

Ok, good to know. But the article?

always remember...
The media/press is an ARSE
;)

[lilikoi]

Ok, good to know. But the article?

well, everything the author writes about the song 'I have forgiven jesus' is pretty silly...

actually, the whole article is pretty useless. he describes every single song as completely autobiographical and nothing else.

[nightandday]

During an idle moment I was browsing through some old Morrissey album reviews, and came across this one -

http://cd.ciao.co.uk/You_Are_The_Quarry_Morrissey__Review_5453113 .

A user review and not remarkable by any means, but I couldn't help noticing on the section about "I Have Forgiven Jesus", this statement: "Morrissey was bullied by fellow ex-Smith Johnny Marr while at school, and to this day only counts 6 people as friends". Now that's either a) a very bad attempt at sarcasm and a far too literal interpretation of Morrissey's "I have 7 friends" comment on Jonathan Ross :rolleyes: , or b) a severe inaccuracy stemming from nothing other than pure ignorance. Either way I found it bizarre. Morrissey and Marr at the same school? News to me!
LOL Poor Morrissey - imagine being, at the age of 14, bullied by a 10 year old kid! :D :D That has to be the funniest thing I've ever read on the subject of The Smiths.

This hardly has anything to do with the media/press being an arse, except if you count Internet as media... this was not written by a journalist, it's just a review posted by an Internet user on the site http://cd.ciao.co.uk . That would be like reading a user review on IMDB and then complaining that film critics are ignorants.

By nature of Internet as a media, there are all kinds of things written in blogs, forums, user reviews etc. I've read many Internet reviews and articles that were far better, more accurate and insightful than most magazine articles, but I've also read utter nonsense. There's no reason to complain about it - those people are in the same position as we are, nobody chose them and gave them the job to write, they aren't paid for it.

Besides, you can also leave a comment on the review.

The existing comments are almost as funny as the review itself:

"great review, I have ummed and aaaahhhed about his stuff of late and am more inclined to buy now! good scissor sis review too

well written review sounds like some good and rather average music il have to give it a try thanks james

Never been a Smiths/Morrissey listener but found your review extremely accurate. Loads of fine detail here. As usual, an Excellent piece of work. Thanks "

:rolleyes:

[Practising Troublemaker]

Yeah I defiently do not think Marr and Morrissey attended the same school plus I can't imagine Marr being a bully or even if he was bullying Morrissey why would Mozza had been happy to form the Smiths with someone who attempted to make a mess and misery of his life? All I know on the school lives is that Morrissey hated secondary school as demostrated in Headmaster Ritual and I know Marr and Rourke attended the same school.

[lilikoi]

Morrissey was never bullied in school at all, he said he could avoid that because he was very athletic and good at sports. otherwise he would have been bullied for liking oscar wilde so much.

[The Cat's Mother]

Morrissey was never bullied in school at all, he said he could avoid that because he was very athletic and good at sports. otherwise he would have been bullied for liking oscar wilde so much.

Didn't Morrissey in fact describe himself as having been 'an obstreperous little bully' at age 9 or 10? It's on one of those Youtube clips where he and Marr visit a primary school.

[Jones]

Didn't Morrissey in fact describe himself as having been 'an obstreperous little bully' at age 9 or 10? It's on one of those Youtube clips where he and Marr visit a primary school.

Yes he did. He talks some crap sometimes doesn't he? :D

[The Cat's Mother]

Yes he did. He talks some crap sometimes doesn't he? :D


I'd be sadly disappointed, as the mother of a child who suffered years of bullying at school, if Morrissey was being altogether sincere. :(

[nightandday]

Morrissey was never bullied in school at all, he said he could avoid that because he was very athletic and good at sports. otherwise he would have been bullied for liking oscar wilde so much.
Didn't Morrissey in fact describe himself as having been 'an obstreperous little bully' at age 9 or 10? It's on one of those Youtube clips where he and Marr visit a primary school.
I believe that Morrissey was just referring to himself having been opionated or talking back to the teachers, or something like that. He described himself once or twice as having been a bit impertinent... I can't remember the exact words, it was in a Smiths-era interview. By all accounts, Morrissey was never a physically aggressive person - quite the opposite. He's supposed to have been quite sociable and well-adjusted in primary school. He's said many times that he had a horrible time in his secondary school, St Mary's. His schoolmates and his sometime English teacher Aileen Power seem to agree. Morrissey wasn't particularly popular with either the pupils or the teachers in St Mary's. I doubt that anybody in the school, with the possible exception of his English teacher and a few friends he had, had any idea which authors Morrissey might like, or that they cared to find out. But he was regarded as a bit weird, because he was a withdrawn, unaggressive boy who seemed to be 'in his own world'; among other things, he was ridiculed for his 'effeminate' way of speech, which, as one of his schoolmates said, simply meant that he didn't have as pronounced Mancunian accent. Aileen Power said that some of the male teachers thought he was 'effeminate'. But he was never bullied - because he was good at sports (and, I suspect, the fact because he was tall for his age might have had something to do with it as well - bullies usually pick on the smaller and weaker kids).

Marr and Morrissey first met at a Patti Smith concert in 1978, but Marr was just a 13 year old kid then. The next time they met was in 1982.

[Amy]

"Marr and Morrissey first met at a Patti Smith concert in 1978, but Marr was just a 13 year old kid then. The next time they met was in 1982"

Marr was 15 at least, and I always thought Morrissey said 1979? So Marr may have been 16. lol, yeah, I found it rather amusing to imagine a tall teenager being bullied by a small child :rolleyes: and I'm pretty sure Morrissey wasn't physically aggressive in primary / high school. Just mentioning the "obstreperous little bully" thing - In the Earsay interview from 1984, Morrissey recalled that at one point, his class were asked to write about their favourite book - he chose a dictionary and was 'virtually expelled for being so obstreporous and peverse". Could this be the correct, and rather misinterpreted, source?
I'd be enormously disappointed if Morrissey ever did bully other classmates, but I doubt it a great deal.

[Amy]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8PDHQgJ8oQM

There's the link for the Earsay interview... some classic quotes in there!! (God, I love him.... "The rather lanky, bespectacled, spotted..failures were attracted to me as friends". Pretty spot-on description of Moz himself during that time) :D

He regrets not sowing his seeds :p and didn't spend nights fumbling in haystacks. Great interview.

[imogen11]

Didn't Morrissey in fact describe himself as having been 'an obstreperous little bully' at age 9 or 10? It's on one of those Youtube clips where he and Marr visit a primary school.

hehe, I love that clip. He was taking the piss when he said that.
But to answer the original question, NO they did not attend school together. NO he never bullied Morrissey as a child! Hell, they didn't even meet until briefly in 1978 & then a few years later hwen they started the Smiths so it's a complete load of shite. Read the Severed Alliance and it will answer your question :)

[nightandday]

"Marr and Morrissey first met at a Patti Smith concert in 1978, but Marr was just a 13 year old kid then. The next time they met was in 1982"

Marr was 15 at least, and I always thought Morrissey said 1979? So Marr may have been 16.

The Patti Smith concert was in February 1978, or was there another one? Johnny would have been 13 at that time.

[nightandday]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8PDHQgJ8oQM

There's the link for the Earsay interview... some classic quotes in there!! (God, I love him.... "The rather lanky, bespectacled, spotted..failures were attracted to me as friends". Pretty spot-on description of Moz himself during that time) :D
I don't think he ever had spots... there are none on any of the available photos. :)


He regrets not sowing his seeds :p and didn't spend nights fumbling in haystacks. Great interview.
A bit of a paradox there?? He regrets he didn't sow wild oats more, and then he says the bad experiences he had had made him give up on sex/love? :confused:

[The Cat's Mother]

Well, here's the Youtube clip so people reading this thread can make of it what they will. On a lighter note, I've never seen anyone look quite so sinister while dangling a spray of chysthanths....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikwKaMlzoyI

[Amy]

Well, here's the Youtube clip so people reading this thread can make of it what they will. On a lighter note, I've never seen anyone look quite so sinister while dangling a spray of chysthanths....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikwKaMlzoyI



Ahh.. excellent clip Cat's Mother. I 'd seen it before, 'Charlie's Bus' or something, but it was slightly shorter and the "obstreporous bully" part had been edited out, it came back in at... "all present-day teachers...". :p Moz did look rather sinister waving the flowers... and I love how Johnny mirrored his body language on most parts :D

[The Cat's Mother]

Ahh.. excellent clip Cat's Mother. I 'd seen it before, 'Charlie's Bus' or something, but it was slightly shorter and the "obstreporous bully" part had been edited out, it came back in at... "all present-day teachers...". :p Moz did look rather sinister waving the flowers... and I love how Johnny mirrored his body language on most parts :D


Charlies Bus is a different clip altogether, but a thing of monstrous beauty all the same. The Smiths go to the park with a busload of kids, meet up with Sandie ("Luk, it's Sandeh Shawer!" enthuses a rather-more-heavily-accented-in-those-days Morrissey) and then they giggle before Sandie sings 'Jeane' while Johnny strums. Johnny (It's a very poor quality visual, but I think it's Johnny) wrestles a small boy as they walk along and looks to be having a great time. Joycie grins like a loon and Rourkie looks barely alive behind his shades. Morrissey's brief scripted exchange with the little girl on the bus is possibly even scarier than the chrysanth danging. I'm not surprised that teacher looks anxious in the shrubbery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IabGaiD1KrA

[Amy]

Charlies Bus is a different clip altogether, but a thing of monstrous beauty all the same. The Smiths go to the park with a busload of kids, meet up with Sandie ("Luk, it's Sandeh Shawer!" enthuses a rather-more-heavily-accented-in-those-days Morrissey) and then they giggle before Sandie sings 'Jeane' while Johnny strums. Johnny (It's a very poor quality visual, but I think it's Johnny) wrestles a small boy as they walk along and looks to be having a great time. Joycie grins like a loon and Rourkie looks barely alive behind his shades. Morrissey's brief scripted exchange with the little girl on the bus is possibly even scarier than the chrysanth danging. I'm not surprised that teacher looks anxious in the shrubbery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IabGaiD1KrA


lol aye aye, wrong clip, although I believed them to be from the same show. I had seen both clips, honest :D . I love the Charlie's Bus clip though... "Where are we going" "We're all going mad" :D . Just how awkward Morrissey was with kids made me cry laughing. Lucky buggers though..9 or 10 years old, on a bus with the SMITHS. Fantastic stuff.

[The Cat's Mother]

I know - there's Morrissey with a hand stiffly on the shoulder of a doleful-looking mite, while there are kids hanging off Johnny and riding Mike like a seaside donkey. :D

I'd love to think there are other such clips slumbering in someone's old Betamax tapes somewhere....

[Christine]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8PDHQgJ8oQM

There's the link for the Earsay interview... some classic quotes in there!! (God, I love him.... "The rather lanky, bespectacled, spotted..failures were attracted to me as friends". Pretty spot-on description of Moz himself during that time) :D

He regrets not sowing his seed :p and didn't spend nights fumbling in haystacks. Great interview.

I was just thinking about that interview :) . The interviewer though is very odd, "swinging flowers is a bit wet", except it's not, it's iconic and brilliant ;) Did he always have a lisp? Sometimes I think with Moz in the early days if journalists accused him of being something 'miserable','efemanint' etc, instead of just going the opposite like most people would and all 'im so happy and butch' he played up those qualities more to prove how proud he was of them.

[Suzanne]

Yes he did. He talks some crap sometimes doesn't he? :D

you don't think a guy who made his band wear kilts wasn't a bully at some point? :p