he should keep his shirt on.

Enough with the excess flab already!

At the age of 48 I think that Morrissey has the body of a 30 year old, actually, some 30 year olds have disgusting bodies! So Morrissey should feel proud of his wonderful physic. He does the shirt throwing to please his audience, not to get off on it.
Carry on Morrissey, I love your body!

Not like his voice is shot or anything yet isn't it? The voice declines with age for most people and, if anything, Moz just keeps improving as a singer, particularly live. Compare him now to that Live In Dallas DVD where he was all out of breath and resorted to grumps and yelps. So why the hell not, especially with the current US setlist - wish we bloody got "The Queen Is Dead" on his last stint in the UK! I wanted to hear "Boy With The Thorn" more than any other Smiths song live. :(

Well, it has become a bit predictable with him throwing the shirts but I am sure he does it for the fans. And it's always amusing to see the fight when the shirt lands onto the audience! I've seen some PROPER punching & kicking going on when people fight for it. It's like hyenas around some new-found food! Some people really go for it.

All his shirts are Prada or Gucci and they are about Ģ199 a pop. So next time try and get the whole shirt!

I've got to admit I've got a piece of his shirt which I use as a bookmark.

Should he only take off his shirt if he looks like a bodybuilder? I mean, he's a 48 year old man in great shape - what's he got to hide? why are people talking about a tiny bit of pudge? it's not like he's got rolls or a big pot-belly..... no one has a "perfect" body without photoshop having a hand in it.....

I hope the shirts continue to come off....

on a side note, I wonder what his legs look like..... I'm a sucker for guy's legs.....
I've only seen a few glimpses over the years (moz*in*bathtub shot - where they looked great and moz*in*robe*by*pool shot)..... are they skinny? muscular? crooked? inquiring minds want to know.....

Morrissey might be 48 (Who cares) but his voice is better than ever! I can't get my head around the fact that this man tours like crazy - yet he still delivers every night and gives his absolute most-est every night.

He is a TRUE LEGEND.

Fleeting as the moments are when he whips off his shirt -admit it, it’s always a highlight.

Flaunt it if you got it, foxy Moz - u r guaranteed a frenzy. I think it shows just the right amount of macho and modesty.

And you’ll always be fully dressed if there’s a smile on your face!

"You without clothes, well I could not keep a straight face" (cuz it would be a huge grin :o)

if you haven't noticed, the guy sweats -- and he sweats alot, often from the first song or two, he'll start to develop that giant sweat stain on his back, so i think taking off his shirt onstage is as much a matter of just changing into something that's not icky wet with sweat as it is a matter of titillation for the audience.

Even if it is for pratical reasons, I think ripping the shirt off is part of the fascination that Morrissey exerts on us. While it is ordinary for men under 30 to exhibit muscular torsos - I love it when they pass by, on those bikes! - it is unusual for 48 year-old men to do that. In doing that, Morrissey forces to look at sexuality in a different way - even if not all of us. The visual message he is giving is that we should enjoy our bodies at no matter what age, that you shouldn't have to feel like you should burry your body in shame and in old clothes and crawl under your older skin just because youth-driven society tells you to, with those messages on commercial TV. His partial nudity is a form of telling that sensuality and eroticism are mainly a state of mind. Nakedness coming from him is an expression of passion, not just an exhibition of a 48 year-old body. All we need to do is go to youtube.com and watch one of those "Let Me Kiss You" clips to witness that. The image of a naked man, whether sung or displayed, is a constant one with Morrissey: he is surely being brash and outrageous about something...freedom, perhaps?

Itīs great that Morrissey takes off his shirt on stage, even though heīs 48 & his body isnīt perfect? NO!

BECAUSE his body isnīt perfect, BECAUSE he is not one of those 25 year old fotomodels, itīs so special that he does it.

I am touched & impressed by it.
Itīs like his lyrics: he shows himself in his vulnerability, with his imperfections & that is what makes him so loveable & admirable.
& so very special.

If I want to see perfectly shaped muscular male bodies, I can rent a video of the "Chippendales". I can have a couple of enjoyable hours with it, a good laugh & a bit of a party (if I watch it with friends) & the next day itīs forgotten.

Morrissey taking off his shirt on stage is an image that stays with me. It will always remind me that beauty is a lot less about perfection than it is about authenticity.

I think it is a profound, gracious statement. He is in good shape, and it is not offensive at all. He should do as he pleases!

On a separate note, a very awful fan almost killed me at the House of Blues during YATQ (in Chicago).

I was *not* reaching for the shirt at all, but this sickening, rude, and awful fan got the shirt, and elbowed me twice really hard. He had a Morrissey tattoo, and he was simply psychotic, rude, obnoxious, and hateful. If he is reading this post, I wish that he would apologise.

When he caught the shirt, he began screaming at the top of his lungs- "Back off! Back off!"-

His behaviour was unexcusable. And I had two bruises to show for his selfishness. I am happy he caught the shirt. Many other people tried- I was not one of them. I should not have been hit.

Ken

Take it off! haha

Mozzer!!

stupid poll question

Gosh, Mrs. Woolf and Cashews really hit the nail on the head. I too see it as a wonderfully defiant act.

At a recent lecture I heard Werner Herzog repeat his dictum "an artist should never look away." I think Morrissey, and by extention his audience, is the living embodiment of that idea, on a very personal level. He has spent a lifetime urging us to witness things most folks would rather not reveal, much less set to music and broadcast to the world. He is rather ruthless in this way, and compellingly intimate.

Maybe the shirt toss is just a simple change from wet to dry, though. Maybe many of us are projecting a bit too much. Maybe that's what that little smirk is all about.

That's the genius of it - it doesn't really matter.

   

Moz looks and sounds great. If he tossed his pants I'd freaken love it! He keeps teasing us by wearing those low rise slacks.

He's not going to change , he's been doing that for years.

I dont like the bow tie look though,to sophisticated for an Indie god.

Long live the Moz

www.simplysmiths.ecrater.com
Live CD's , DVD , Clothing ,CD Single's.
Paypal , Cheque , Postal Order , Cash accepted.

...a work of art" Dunno why he even bothers putting a shirt on in the first place...its always a great moment when he rips them from his sweating frame..he'll know when the time is right to stop all that..

The fact that so many of these comments are to the effect of "it's a passionate, defiant gesture that only becomes more meaning-filled as time goes by! Of course he shouldn't stop, it's not about abs!" is faith-in-humanity restoring. Thank you all for making my day.

I wasn't aware dignity was something you could go out and get? If you can get it, does anyone know where, as I lost mine years ago in a field in Essex (shameful, I know).

Despite my answer to the poll I don't actually want him to remove everything... that would rather spoil the dream. As all good entertainers know, teasing is an art form. In reality, seeing him is good enough, but if you've got it, why the hell not flaunt it? Yes, he does need to change shirts because of the heat, but he doesn't have to do it on stage. He knows we love it, and he knows he can still get away with it. If he doesn't stop when the time is right, we can let him know by throwing the shirt back at him (as if that would ever happen)!

Still, does make me laugh rather when I think of how a younger Morrissey once slated people like The Rolling Stones for carrying on when they were "past it", and now he has realised you're never past it if you still have life in you and a passion for doing what you do (and people still have a passion for you). Oh, the folly of youth!

Q: When you rush the stage, would you rather hug a fully clothed Moz or a sweaty, shirtless Moz?

1. Fully clothed, please!
2. The shirt gets in the way of my fun.
3. No shirt because this is the closest I've ever been to a naked man in my entire life.
4. A fully clothed moz because its fun to try and rip the clothes off yourself.

Moz could make a bundle selling his giz
He wouldn't even have to leave home

South Side Locos
LBZ

Pelon

i do not like this question
its 'ant-moz' i think

No, he should not take the pants off. It's not a porn show.
And yes, the shirt can go anytime he needs to get a new one. He is a sweaty guy, after all :)
And the answer "who cares?" is not entirely good either: we DO like to see him taking the shirt off. [eh, at least I did]
Go, Moz!

When I got around to making prints, I for some reason enlarged two or the photo's and in of them he is shirtless. I love his voice, his wit, charm, his message (that I see)(of looking below the surface to a feeling level),, I also love his on stage antics that are usually tied into the song. I was never into the, look how sexy I am, shirt open for half the show stuff of his younger years. I believe the music gets "pushed aside". I (and lots of others) have a hard time taking seriously any musician who feels the need to show and shake their body (shikira, madonna). I voted in the 3rd category, just happy 2007 can include me seeing my favorite many times over. He can do what he wants, sorta glad it (bare chest) is as limited as it is. It is though, part of what makes him, him. What other Male artist, does this?

iggy pop, nuff said really. lets all bask in that non self destructed beautiful body. if that voice can carry him to his grave he can do whatever he wants live.

We all have our party piece that we do when we`re drunk. Mine happens to be a not very good attempt at the splits. No matter how many times i tell myself I won`t do it again, well, the inevitable happens. When Morrissey is drunk on the euphoria of his performing, he can`t help doing his party piece. It`s our party pieces that define us whether we like it or not. Yamaha

The young & extremely slim Morrissey circa Vauxhall will never come back. We all are getting older.
Morrissey is such an unique, professional, special & entertaining artist so Lets just be grateful we still have him?
Morrissey looks VERY healthy, natural and fit at his age - and let's face it: someone like Iggy Pop just looks Ridiculous. He is overly toned & muscled and looks like a dried prune. This would not be Morrissey's style at all.

Oh Pur-lease! The "shirts off" is a part of Morrissey experience and it is always a fantastic moment when the shirt lands in the audience!
Who gives a fuck if The Man doesnt have a body of an 18 years old?!
It's a part of Morrissey fan obsession as we know it and LONG MAY HE REIGN!

By the way I've got one his blue Gucci ties....

Fruit & Nuts: Morrissey fans!

Okay Moz, you look good for 48... but bad for a human being!

The fact that well over fifty per cent of people say "who cares" reconfirms my faith in humanity.

Take it off - leave it on - he should carry on doing exactly what he wants to do.

and he's Morrissey
he has indestructible dignity, and his courage to remove his shirt is something anyone with any heart can admire... and drives fans crazy, as is continually obvious.

I think the outcome of this poll is equally obvious.

We love you Morrissey... but you know that, don't you? :)

hey, its hot up there....and if he wants to take off his shirt, more power to him. besides, he looks a tasty treat without it.

amy b

give you the shirt off his back

Morrissey, you are *NOT* Fat. =]
you are more adorable now than you were when you were stick-rod thin.. :)
keep rippin''em off for as long as you please...
But Please, no more Barbara Bush jokes. =D
please?

What sort of food does he have in his diet that allows him to stay so full figured?
During the concert I keep having flashbacks of the see-through black shirt of "One November Spawned A Monster" and keep wondering what's gotten him so thick over the years?

Julia, if you had any actual content on your site, some people might go there on occasion. "Excuse for a website?" Can you say, "excuse for an obsession?" It's mighty pathetic to watch you get into that rental car after the show each night. You frighten me.

Where do you suggest we go? Where else is there? Julia/True To You -no offense, god love ya- basically copies what gets posted here...she doesnt have time to keep it updated with following Moz around anyway. I think this site has everything you need to know -covers the gamut. But thats just my opinion.

What dont you like about it? What does Morrissey hate about it? Perhaps whoever suggested this poll actually suggested the poll answers verbatim? Well, it seems to be a good community of people who respect him and eachother's opinions (even if they are 'against' the Man himself) We are all here for a common purpose.

And David, do you ever 'defend' yourself on here? On a side note, how many hits does your site get a day? I know I check in constantly.

Just to let the person who started this thread know that Morrissey appreciates what you have written. Thank you.