This article is hardly lovely! While it is somewhat "positive" in tone, at least in so far as articles in the press about Morrissey go, it still recycles the arcane old wardrobe of silly and often vulgar clichés about Morrissey.

I've seen Morrissey sing many times, and I've yet to hear him "bawl," or "howl." Also, even though the journalist does somewhat defend Morrissey against the NME's slander, he only does so by making the larger statement that artists ought not be expected to both make great art and hold political positions that please their fans. In other words the writer basically accepts the NME's over-simplified, purposefully inflammatory, and downright silly interpretation of Morrissey's words.

He concludes by saying that perhaps we ought to thank the NME for giving Morrissey a new battle wound to brandish as, "Morrissey lives off frustration, gloom, anger and paranoia," and not off of "chart-topping albums, peer acclaim and sold-out live residencies."

I find it troubing indeed that even when writers attempt to represent Morrissey positively, their words and ideas mostly remain stuck in the mire of the Morrissey miserabilism myth.

It's really laughable...ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha––
(Actually it's enough to make a grown man cry...)

... and I'll stop reading altogether as a protest. Surely they can't think they are the first one with that delicious piece of headlining, so completely aware of the artist's back catalogue, yet not too smart. I wish somebody compiled a list of all the previous uses of ”Heaven knows...”, made a fine non-leather binding out of it, and sent the finished book to each and every known publication in the world.

The Moz = Miserable lines are lamentably lazy, of course. But besides that, it strikes me more and more that Moz is totally critic/journalist-proof. He has intelligently and eloquently refused to play the game, he has wilfully pursued his own agenda with complete confidence and security in his ability and purpose; his artistic legacy is absolutely unassailable, and his audience is as obsessively devoted as it's possible to be. What downmarket music mag or broadsheet journalist could subtract – or indeed ADD – anything at all?

nice peice this, well done, by the way you lot on mozz solo spend too much of your time sat in yer bedroom on your pc!

I don't have to agree with, nor adopt for my own, the opinions of the artists whose music I enjoy. Am I supposed to be a vegetarian because I have always listened to The Smith's and Morrissey? I tried that back in my younger days when I was an emotional sap, I gained 20 pounds, was hungry all the time, and became anemic. Just didn't work out for me. If falling into a state of ill health would save the animals of the planet, I might have carried it further, but it won't. So, I'm a heathen, I have a bit of chicken or fish from time to time. It's not like I live off the earnings of a slaughter house and find myself drawn to the sausage factory once a week! I think it's disgusting and vile, but so is going potty, but I can't do anything about that either. Some realities are just the negative nastiness of being "human animals". Which we are, we're just a little higher up the food chain. I don't like that a bit, and strive to raise the bar, but I also try to choose my battles wisely. I would wager Moz's comments were, as he said, snipped and restructured into something he did not say. He hasn't always been particularly fond of England and it's assorted figureheads, I doubt seriously he gives a rat's ass about the integrity of fellow Britons' national identities! This is our International God, guys, would he really be spouting remarks like that? I don't believe it. But, just for good measure, so we understand each other, IF he did, I'm not burning my Morrissey collection and renouncing my idol. I'm not on the bandwagon with a few of his extreme stances on things, in the sense that I don't take on the causes myself. I barely have time to listen to music, I can't be an activist too. I think the opines of artists are given to their passions, as they should be, and I love him for it. Whether he thrives on gloom and paranoia, misery, or whatever, give him some more, then!! I love what he does, I always have and always will. See my post in re: to re:"Morrissey does not spell misery", titled, "But it does spell mystery". I'm not joining a political movement here, I'm listening to music. Morrissey, you do what you want, love, just sing us a song when you're done!