"Morrissey Mania" - press review from The Guardian
posted by davidt on Tuesday May 18 2004, @09:00AM

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Morrissey Mania (link)

Jenny Kleeman
Tuesday May 18, 2004
The Guardian

You've been waiting seven years for Morrissey's comeback. And heaven knows you're miserable now. You failed to bag a ticket to this Saturday's Manchester gig because it sold out in less than half an hour. And when you rushed out yesterday to buy his new album, You are the Quarry, they didn't have it on the shelves.

 
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    "Morrissey Mania" - press review from The Guardian | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 84 comments | Search Discussion
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    I feel lucky (Score:1)
    I've got the album and Manchester here I come! See you on the stage Moz!
    English Martyr -- Tuesday May 18 2004, @10:13AM (#103536)
    (User #655 Info | http://website.lineone.net/~smilingontim/timstwin.htm )
    I am the Quarry and I have'nt forgiven Steven! (Score:1)
    I posted this elsewhere on the site:

    Been listening to 'YATQ' for the best part of this day and I have to say I wish I didn't bother - either purchasing or listening to it that is.

    Is the whining and whinging going to continue for the rest of his career? Or has he worked out that unless he's complaining about something or someone he really doesn't have that much to say!

    With the exception of some very good songs like 'I'm Not Sorry', 'The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores', 'First Of The Gang To Die' and 'I Like You' and notwithstanding the sheer bravery and brazen-ness of 'America Is Not The World', the rest of this album is a crock of maudlin, self-pitying shit - yes shit a word I thought I'd never hear or see in a Morrissey canon.

    How can a 45 year old man keep: moaning, groaning, bewailing, deploring, grieving, lamenting, mourning, sighing, wailing,
    and exclaim that nobody loves Him, that no one ever takes Him home, that no one ever takes Him in their arms to love him? There is no dignity in self-pity. Ever! And moreover there is not a grain of truth in any of these lyrics.

    Nobody in the world is loved more than Morrissey but the love of many fans who warmly embrace him on stage after each concert is not good enough for him. Nor is the adoration of all the nice people who camp outside his house. Nor indeed is all the love he receives from all his friends, family and lovers.

    He really is an arrogant bigot.

    What the hell does this whinging fuckwit want in life? From my perspective he's only happy when he's complaining about something or someone.

    Do you know what? Morrissey really wouldn't recognise loneliness, sadness, melancholy, heartache, and general human misery if they came up behind him and bit him right on the arse, that's how far removed he is from everyday reality; his fans and the rest of the hoi polloi.

    No one knows more about human misery than the GOOD people like myself who come into this site every day. Personally I have had many difficulties in my life, more difficulties than he'll ever encounter. I was raised to keep schtum and not complain about things. It's my lot and I must get on with it. I have not an ounce of self pity in me and that is the truth.

    Quite frankly there is something rather unbecoming and undignified about a very successful world famous man whinging on about his apparent loneliness (I don't believe him for one moment) and that the world has an apparent vendetta against him. That is bad enough but to record all this maudlin self pity for posterity on CD - it truely is unspeakable! Vendetta! In your mind mate. In your mind.

    For a famous bigshot like Morrissey lounging by the fucking swimming pool in sunny L.A every day with Nancy Sinatra sipping Pina Coladas whilst whinging on about: the fact that no one loves HIM; the 'evil legal eagles'; the 'rampant accountants'; the 'damagers managers' as mentioned on Xfm; taxmen; uniformed whores; Magistrates; the parking attendants; the rain in Britain; 'the squalor of the mind'; the greasy tea that looks like the Thames; the smelly uniforms; the loquacious taxi men. A lot of poor people like me never get taxis or parking tickets, and a lot of people in here don't have managers, lawyers or accountants either!

    Does he really know how much he is out of touch with his fanbase?

    This list above says more about the affluent 'poor' like Morrissey and Bill Gates and NOT about you and me! If HE's that miserable he can have my life anytime.

    Want to swap mate?

    I don't think so.

    Yet he sings a song called 'I Have Forgiven Jesus' stating that he can't find someone to love and that Jesus put him in a body of 'self-deprecating bones and skin'. What a load of self-pitying nonsense. I wasn't born yesterday Mozza! He may fool others but he's not fooling me for one moment. This is the worse song on the album for me.

    And look at me! He's turning me into a ranting and raving Noel Gall

    Read the rest of this comment...

    Lazy Sunbather -- Tuesday May 18 2004, @02:06PM (#103609)
    (User #843 Info)
    "Pourquoi ne veux tu pas de moi."
    My review of Lazy Sunbather's review (Score:0)
    "has he worked out that unless he's complaining about something or someone he really doesn't have that much to say!" (sic)

    The romanticism of "First of the Gang to Die," the splendid hope and voyeuristic longing of "All the Lazy Dykes" and the "you and me against the world" lovesong "I Like You" must have passed you by. Either that or you simply find it easier to lapse into sloppy cliches and hackneyed old journalistic truisms, recycled, given the gloss of a few strategically placed exclamation marks, and presented as your own thoughts.

    "notwithstanding the sheer bravery and brazen-ness of 'America Is Not The World', the rest of this album is a crock of maudlin, self-pitying shit"

    The sheer "brazen-ness" eh? Perhaps you don't understand some of the songs. What I find amusing is that this individual lists Maladjusted as his favourite album "for the sheer introspection." Let's face it Lazy, this is just histrionic rubbish. Stream-of-unconsciousness drivel that you wrote after a few beers and an extra large Dona Kebab last night.

    "There is no dignity in self-pity. Ever! And moreover there is not a grain of truth in any of these lyrics."

    How amusing that you claim to love "maladjusted" for the "sheer introspection" (sorry but that really does reek of student journalism) but you find this, one of his more outward-looking albums, "self-pitying" or "self-obsessed." He covers themes such as American politics, British politics, loneliness, anger, lesbianism, crashing bore-ism and the romance of crime. The album is much more outward-looking than Vauxhall. Oh but I forgot you love "maladjusted" with its lines, " stoned to death, but still living" "You lied
    And you were believed By a J.P. senile and vile You pleaded and squealed And you think you've won But Sorrow will come To you in the end And as sure as my words are pure I praise the day that brings you pain" "Trouble loves me, trouble needs me" "Satan rejected my soul, as low as he goes he doesn't quite go this low"

    Ah, I'd almost forgotten, there is no consistency is there? You just move your fingers and out come the words. Histrionic, inconsistent and plainly silly. "Maladjusted" has its beautiful moments, and the self-pity is always touched by irony and a sparkle in the eye, just as is the case on "Quarry" but suddenly you've decided you dislike that. Or perhaps you're just trying to draw attention to youself. Who knows?

    "not a grain of truth in any of these lyrics."

    How the Hell would you know?

    "Do you know what? Morrissey really wouldn't recognise loneliness, sadness, melancholy, heartache, and general human misery if they came up behind him and bit him right on the arse"

    I think his back catalogue proves otherwise.

    " that's how far removed he is from everyday reality; his fans and the rest of the hoi polloi."

    He's always been "far removed" from the rest of the world, whether in a Davyhulme two-up two-down, or an LA mansion. That's the whole point. He's an artist who documents life in all its occasionally beautiful, usually pathetic, absurdity.

    "No one knows more about human misery than the GOOD people like myself who come into this site every day."

    You're a good person are ya? Thanks for sharing.

    "I have had many difficulties in my life, more difficulties than he'll ever encounter."

    Morrissey writes a song about being detained by the police; You're terribly upset your mum sent you to your bedroom for the evening and you're here on Morrissey-solo typing up an apparently never-ending rant about Morrissey. Where's the difference?

    "It's my lot and I must get on with it. I have not an ounce of self pity in me and that is the truth."

    Yawn, yawn.

    "He really is an arrogant bigot."

    Arrogant? Possibly. Elitist? Probably. A bigot? I don't think so.

    Lazy Sunbather you are the weakest link, goodbye.

    Broken
    Anonymous -- Wednesday May 19 2004, @03:18AM (#103818)


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