it's like the same crappy article over and over and over again. it's amazing people get paid for this.

First of all: just because someone has a different opinion than mine does not mean I'm going to complain to an editor!

Second: I guess I understand why people compare Morrissey and the Smiths (I mean, Morrissey WAS in the Smiths afterall) but it's not like Morrissey has said "I am trying to be the new Smiths!"... No one does the same thing to Marr... so I don't really get it? I think both Morrissey's solo stuff and the Smiths have some fantastic songs... I don't know that you can really compare them. I mean, songs like Will Never Marry and Seasick Yet Still Docked seem to be about as good as songs like That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore and Well I Wonder (in my opinion, anyway).

I just don't see why Morrissey has to be punished for having been in such a great band previously!

He doesn't give any reasons why, he just gives spineless statements and expects them to materialise into the truth.

Sloppy journalism and definitely a dwarf in Morrissey's shadow if they were ever to meet!

But this journalist is deaf if he can't see that the solo career is scattered with gems.

Yes, it's not Marr, but by anyone else's standards 'Jack The Ripper', 'Speedway', 'More Yig', 'Seasick', 'Find Out' etc are stratospherically good. This guy should accord Morrissey the respect that making two acknowledged solo classics (YA and VaI) entitles him to.

Surely to God it would be a better idea to completely ignore this unimportant and ignorant article rather than to give it loads of attention on here and then ask people to complain about it?

didn't someone once say "the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about"?

I was beginning to wonder if he was still registering a pulse with anybody since he's currently on tour and about the scope of his current news coverage entails the odd Smiths references in articles about other bands or people.

His article should be titled "My trouble with Morrissey, and my ridiculous fixation with The Smiths"
The only part I agree is that The Queen is Dead is a jewel, yes The Smiths were great..
But I disagree with the whole rest of the article, for example: "The brilliance of those four lads.." poor man.. there were only two brilliant lads (Morrissey and Marr, of course)..
He doesn't know a shit about the art of Morrissey. He seems to be attached to the past in a ridiculous way, and honestly, I think that nobody cares about his teenage days..
The only parody is he, the parody of the eternal journalist venom against Morrissey.. what a waste of time to read his crap.. thanks for put his mail on, but I will not waste more time..

"If we can destroy them, you bet your life we will destroy them.."

A junky newspaper around here, The Boston Phoenix, made a similar commentary about Morrissey, in March or April. I found it didn't even deserve to be mentioned on Morrissey-solo, so I didn't bother transcribing it back then. Why do journalists bother trashing Morrissey? They make money with it, or even keep their pitiful job with it. I read somewhere (Morrissey, Scandal and Passion), last year, that a journalist was in one of Morrissey's shows, and after the show, he was at a bar trying to figure out something very negative to say about this show, because that's what he had been instructed to do. He admited the show was good. Not dragging an adored artist, an icon to the gutters may give him this eternal life and tradition the American (and mostly the British) media despises. These cultures live off "deconstruction" of myths and "exciting novelties", otherwise, they see themselves as static, moldy cultures. I was watching a program called "Project Runaway", very known here in Boston, a competition of fashion designers, and if a designer designs something even vaguely resembling what people wore back in the 80s, they get immediately eliminated from the competition. The American MTV loves to humiliate singers and groups that were cool in the 80's and 90's, so they can achieve the instant gratification of eluding themselves that pop music is so much cooler these days. I secretly thank them for not even remembering the Smiths or Bauhaus or Tears For Fears to ridicule. Anyone above the age of 30 is, as the only possible thing to conclude from these interesting observations, a demented old fart to them that should get thrown into the wasteland of those "silly days". Madonna is very lucky for being the only 40 something artist they seldomly show there, but she gets degraded in articles all the time, specially for her appearance hanging in a cross. I'll bet there is some nasty news article about Moz dressed as a priest too. It is because of their age, and their unoportune long kingdom in a world where everything should be transitory. But, in return, they have matured and they don't care.

Isn't it weird how those who used to be fans then went off of him are the ones that are most obsessed? You see it every day on these forums. People coming on here to say how they haven't liked anything since Vauxhall, or even in some cases since Strangeways.

And they don't seem to realise how sad it is they are bothering to type this stuff. No self awareness. Morrissey has moved on but they are still stuck in the past.

Christian Dior is unexpected, epic, mordant and controversial. It would stand out if it had been one of Quarry's b-sides - and that's saying something! It's about the enigma of Dior, but also of Moz, and maybe everyone.

Meyler says: "What we are left with now is the Morrissey enigma and an image that fails to live to the hype. The Smiths helped mould a whole generation. Morrissey is now just a side show to bands he once would have eclipsed in his sleep."

I gather that when the Smiths were extant, they engendered as much bile as they did amore. It is the same with Morrissey now. To say that he is a side-show, when he is the showman par excellence, and particularly after all the attention that's been paid to his influence on music in recent years from the most unlikely quarters, is simply ignorant, and as one poster suggested, more a reflection of the journo's own regrets and arrested development!! Hrrmph!

What exactly does this mean? It seems to be lazily repeated by journalists with no thought to what they are trying to say. How do you stop yourself becoming a "parody" of yourself? Suddenly change your politics and mode of dress every five years? I must be a parody of myself seeing as I'm much the same as I was ten years ago.

cmon people you know its true

i LIKE morrisseys solo stuff

but it aint no smiths

A few people have thrown the 'parody' accusation at Morrissey. I've never understood that. Is continuing to do what you do best a parody? If you want progression then don't listen to Moz, it's not about that.

Also, why do those who critcise Moz's post Smiths output as 'missing Marr' never attack Marr with the same scorn - as if his post Smiths career has been one big upward consistant touch of class.

To say that Morrissey has missed Marr is fair enough. I don't agree with it. But no matter how much Morrissey misses or does not miss Marr, it's nothing compared to how much Marr actually misses Morrissey! Yet we never hear that.

Vauxhall is as good as any Smiths album.

YOU HEARD

is that the drink the kool-aid Morrissey fans respond in the same jilted, teenage manner when someone criticizes Morrisssey.

Some of you take this shit way too personally.

Also, the way in which someone becomes a pardoy of themselves, is when they begin doing things that seem like they're being done out of expectation. In Morrissey's case, this has been pretty obvious. From much of his recent, lyrical content that has him singing lines that are completely without subtlety; to his blatant hispanic pandering, which is fairly offensive; to his generally formulaic songwriting patterns. So, yes, Morrissey has displayed elements of parody.

Otheriwse, we'll just have to assume that a 47 year old man still feels the same way about, well, just about everything as he did in his early twenties. It doesn't work that way children. Either Morrissey has experienced no signifcant personal growth, or he's simply trying to give us what he thinks we expect from him.

Either way, he clearly isn't doing a great job.

(Awaits barrage of replies telling me that I'm a stupid head that needs to go away.)

You might have a point there, but nobody has the right to call Thingy "the poor thing". That is my privilege, or, to use a word Britney doesn't understand, my prerogative. I'll let you know when I'm tired of it and you can have it then, if you're still around.Ok?

He really doesn't explain his opinions. Why does he think the Smiths wrote better songs than Morrissey with other musicians? He quoted some lyrix, but didn't say why the older songs are better.

Why compare when you can't compare an extension of the same thing. . . ?
Bye-the way. . .has this guy ever heard "Lost"
As with "Pigsty" --"Lost" is a cousin in The Smiths family.
As for me I consider "Lost"
the deepest exspression of the human condition
to emerge in our time. And possibly one of the best songs in rock history.
And yes "don't make fun of me later".
MSB
NYC

It's poorly written, but not rubbish.

He does have a valid point. Morrissey is lost without Marr. I know you kiddies try so hard to convince yourselves otherwise, but it's true. Morrissey solo never has and never will capture the magic that was The Smiths.

Maybe Morrissey should join Modest Mouse too!

the break up always left an eternal scar..and that scar built Morrissey and The Smiths from just a cult ordinary band into a new fragment, 'a legendary band'. i believe that us, a faithful fans of them, shares opinion and reflection with passion. so let the negativity and positivity in this forum blooming like a beautiful flower behind our pocket jeans.

its so 'off topic' am i?

This just isn't a very democratic website, is it? Everytime someone says or writes something negative about Moz, be it a journalist or some visitor of this site, al you people can do is start hacking away on your (no doubt Windows) keyboard, telling him/her to fuck off and listen to other music or even die.
You're sick. Different people have different opinions. Opinions you have, can change. Sometimes I think that it's best if Morrissey get's killed by his own M. D. Chapman. Then he would be a fucking hero for the whole damn world!

Heaven forbid, off course. But you get the point.

and believe me, it's is a wholly unrewarding and depresssig vocation. I feel bad for this Piers fella, poor guy. He's obviously totally miserable.

the aging Morrissey is a problematic person. Has nothing to say anymore.

What do you really expect?

This is a website for people who appreciate the music of Morrissey although I have to admit sometimes you wouldn't think so.

If a so called music journalist comes along and slags him of without giving any identifiable reasons except that he stopped liking Morrissey when The Smiths ended, no musical indepth analysis, just a personal dislike, then surely people here have every right to criticise him.

If it was your average non-professional muso person on the street or in the pub then fine, yes they are entitled to have an unexplained, personal, non analytical opinion, but for someone who is supposed to be writing intelligent analytical music journalism then surely the reading public have a right to hear something a little bit more intelligent and an analysis of Morrissey's solo material to back his opinion rather than his personal unexplained dislike.

Surely his job is to give unbiased explained criticism and if he had done that then I for one may still have disagreed with it but would have given him some credibility for an intelligent opinion. He didn't do that and hence people's criticism of him and that indeed is the beauty of democracy.

As for your suggestion of assasination well that does not deserve any further comment except to plagiarize your own words and say that you are indeed sick.

Mike
Written on a Mac keyboard if that makes a difference.

What's funny is this embarassing person who feels he must mobilize Morrissey troops for an email harassment campaign because someone has a different opinion. What's that about? Afraid the article has some ring of truth and don't want anyone pointing out the emperor has no clothes?

I say that even though I don't entirely agree with the guy. To me, the solo years took fire in the early '90s and burned strong for a few years, until sputtering out when the single "Dangenham Dave" smelled up the record stores. And he ably managed without musicians as capable as Marr and Rourke for a surprisingly long time once he regrouped from the "Kill Uncle" debacle.

And even in the mid-to-late '90s he was still intriguing as an artist even though he'd lost his ability to make a great album. But then I have an interest in general in music by those still carrying on after most eyes have turned elsewhere. That's when you get strange outputs like "The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils." :)

It's the comeback in the new century where Morrissey is becoming mostly hype. It took me awhile to face this because I, too, didn't want it to be true, I wanted his comeback to be glorious, and the Sanctuary hype machine pulled out all the stops.

He's still talented enough to pull off the occasional fine song, such as "I Have Forgiven Jesus," "First of the Gang to Die," and "To Me You Are A Work of Art," but "Ringleader of the Tormenters" in particular marks where he's jumped the shark.

What was his plan to mask the lower quality of the songwriting? Assemble ever-larger number of mediocre session players, stick names on the sleeve like Tony Visconti and Ennio Morricone for trainspotters who care more about reputations than what comes out of the speakers, make moronic statements in the media out of desperation for people to look at him, and latch on to a new muse to obsess on in interviews (this time Rome, as opposed to, say, Boxing)?

None of this can cover that he can't do a song as good as "This Charming Man" anymore, whereas he used to spit them out almost at will. But he knows his core audience will keep showing up to say thanks for the past.

He's not entirely lost it. He's too unique and oddball for there to not be small pleasures. But it's been many weeks since I played that album, and when I got the latest batch of b-sides I just laughed, wondering who he thinks he's fooling, and I wonder if it's all not just moneymaking now, viewing the loyal fanbase as something to exploit with 5 versions of every album and 10 versions of every single.

How can anyone get excited by "If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look At Me", except those who are so star-struck they actually don't care if the songs are rubbish? Such people will travel the world, gig to gig, to yawn at the same dreadfully lame setlist night after night, because it's a cult of celebrity worshippers who just want their King to touch their hands. It cannot be about the music.

Some people have grown up, tall and strong, they now can stand firmly on their own two feet. They haven't got problems anymore and they forget who made them go on in their former miserable life, for Morrissey did just that for years for countless lost souls. And in my time of problems, then and now, I still find Morrissey a great help in my life, such a consolation. His music still talks to me and I am thankful for his lasting talent and personality, a man who is not afraid to talk on behalf of animals. He is a modern Saint. This Piers man should listen again to Rubber Ring, it might speak to him.
Long live Morrissey.

his narrative moments he cannot forget his persona, which seems to be the only relation to the human race he has. he IS the human race for him and all the militant fans he has.

in his smith days he could speak to me, because i shared a lot of feelings. i am not gay and knew that he was, but i didnt care. i even thought it was a cool thing to differ from the boring rest.

but now i cannot relate to this arrogant millionaire anymore. i just cannot see something really interesting in this animal loving gucci celebrity he is now.

and yes: he still has some (few) interesting songs. but thats not enough.

i am not a fan anymore and that is so for years BUT i am alright with that. rubber ring? yes i think of him kindly. but he does not exist anymore.

I love Moz, I don't care if he hires a bunch of trained seals to play kazoos while he croons. Moz can do no wrong. We're about the same age, been listening since 84 and his lyrics still speak to me.

So bring on the burmese neck ring
and YES Moz is a COMEDIAN. He still cracks my ass up. He's got timing.

BY the way, I a curious to see how Marr makes out with Modest Mouse, could be a very very lucrative venture, might eclipse Moz in one fell swoop? Wouldn't that be funny. Oh. I know my post is horrible U don't have to tell me

Yes, Morrissey is not the same with Johnny Marr. We must admit that THE QUEEN IS DEAD was naturally something out of this blopdy world. But... what about "Your Arsenal" (my personal favourite from Moz's collection), "Vauxhall and I" (terribly wonderful) and his new ultra-super-masterpice "Ringleader..."??? Yes, The Smiths were something awsome!! but... Morrissey was the head in the lyrics that saved the lives of many, he was the creator of those marvellous words and he stills.. "ill"!! Yes, he has that tremendous sickness with the music, something in which I'm terribly thankful. The Smiths are to remember, but let's enjoy this genious of music, this master of words and new king of Rome.

What difference does it make now? jajaja, well lads, it makes non... I'm not feeling very sick and ill today... but still fond of all. Oh-ho-ho

It's most fortunate The UK home office as well as the American CIA and FBI are much more efficient than yourself. They do know who you are.
check mate paul
Thank you to special agent David Park in this matter.