Article: "The Severed Alliance" by Johnny Rogan - 20th Anniversary Edition out now

[Anonymous]

This is the biggest waste of money EVER. Nothing new of any value. Will sell back my copy straight away. Rogan is so self-obsessed it's incredible - all he seems to have done in the last 20 years is brood about the time Morrissey (effectively) told him to fuck off. What a sad twat.

[Anonymous]

Folks, is there anywhere I can download this, or part of this book, free of charge? Links? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting this. Much as you did, I liked this book when it first appeared. There really was fuck-all in the way of Moz-information back then. I think I first began to recoil from Rogan when it finally dawned on me that so many of the unattributed (in the main text) Moz quotes were simply ancient postcard/letter/etc. remarks. To not give proper dates or details or general context to these struck me as quite sly and disingenuous.


Oh well, it now looks certain I won't be thumbing through updated material on that schoolmate-of-Morrisseys-shitting-in-schooldesk episode or about the night the teenaged Moz went (gasp!) sleepwalking into the next room ...


I shouldn't really take that tone - it isn't as though the 1st ed. was mean-spirited or ugly or anything that terrible...

Every quote in the book is fully credited and dated in the new edition.

[miss anna]

50 pages of "Endnotes"! ~ footnotes in anyone elses language. 11 page 20th Anniversary Preface ~ in which we finally get the full, unexpurgated TRUTH behind Morrissey's M3 pile-up quote (it involves Fred Dellar, NME and a fax machine - I could say more were it not for the fact that I've forgotten the rest as it's so hellishly uninteresting), a few extra pages on the court case, the promise of additional material throughout the book (I'll take Johnny's word for it) and nowt beyond 1996/High Court.

I remember liking it 20 years back, cos I knew sod all back then, but honestly the guy writes like an OCD case. The new preface was enough to send me back to Gavin Hopps for a little light relief. No pics now neither.

I love the OCD reference. Hilarious, Joe! True too. But I think you slightly misrepresent the contents. You don't mention that there is new material in every single chapter. Approx 170 pages extra. Quotes from the court case are scattered through the text, not just 'a few extra pages' as you imply. The Preface IS 'light relief' and even slightly wry, I thought. "No pics now neither" you say. Well there's 60 photos in my edition, spread over 24 pages. Maybe someone tore them out of the copy you saw or you just didn't notice.

[goinghome]

...The new preface was enough to send me back to Gavin Hopps for a little light relief...

Where would we be without a bit of OCD to impose order?! In any case, Mr Hopps

[123xyz]

Hmmm, what to do, what to do .... ?

[Anonymous]

50 pages of "Endnotes"! ~ footnotes in anyone elses language. 11 page 20th Anniversary Preface ~ in which we finally get the full, unexpurgated TRUTH behind Morrissey's M3 pile-up quote (it involves Fred Dellar, NME and a fax machine - I could say more were it not for the fact that I've forgotten the rest as it's so hellishly uninteresting), a few extra pages on the court case, the promise of additional material throughout the book (I'll take Johnny's word for it) and nowt beyond 1996/High Court.

I remember liking it 20 years back, cos I knew sod all back then, but honestly the guy writes like an OCD case. The new preface was enough to send me back to Gavin Hopps for a little light relief. No pics now neither.

LOL. I always thought Rogan was a pub bore but OCD nails it.

[Iona Mink]

I love the OCD reference. Hilarious, Joe! True too. But I think you slightly misrepresent the contents. You don't mention that there is new material in every single chapter. Approx 170 pages extra. Quotes from the court case are scattered through the text, not just 'a few extra pages' as you imply. The Preface IS 'light relief' and even slightly wry, I thought. "No pics now neither" you say. Well there's 60 photos in my edition, spread over 24 pages. Maybe someone tore them out of the copy you saw or you just didn't notice.

*pondering* Would Johnny Rogan join a forum and call himself "miss"..... nah...can't be....

[Anonymous]

Where would we be without a bit of OCD to impose order?! In any case, Mr Hopps

He goes a bit reptile at one point due to the pixels, but seems like a nice bloke. Do you have any more, Going Home? - it seems to be snippets

[Anonymous]

I love the OCD reference. Hilarious, Joe! True too. But I think you slightly misrepresent the contents. You don't mention that there is new material in every single chapter. Approx 170 pages extra. Quotes from the court case are scattered through the text, not just 'a few extra pages' as you imply. The Preface IS 'light relief' and even slightly wry, I thought. "No pics now neither" you say. Well there's 60 photos in my edition, spread over 24 pages. Maybe someone tore them out of the copy you saw or you just didn't notice.

The preface is light relief if you enjoy seeing someone make a tit of themselves. Read it today in a bookshop but didn't buy it. Even though Morrissey said my book was shit, he did actually mean that it was really really good and great and brilliant and cool.

[Thesmithsmorrissey]

This is the biggest waste of money EVER. Nothing new of any value. Will sell back my copy straight away. [Moz] is so self-obsessed it's incredible - all he seems to have done in the last 20 years is brood about the time [Joyce] (effectively) [took him for millions]. What a sad twat.

see how easily you can (and people have, believe me) attribute this to Morrissey, if you so wanted to?

To each his own. I couldn't give a fuck less about Rogan as a person; it's a Smiths/Morrissey biopic and an interesting (if one-sided) read

No more, no less. I promise I won't take it as gospel

[silentandgrey]

So, does this new edition cover more of Morrissey's solo career (since the old one only covered up to 1991) or does the added info only pertain to The Smiths?

[Anonymous]

see how easily you can (and people have, believe me) attribute this to Morrissey, if you so wanted to?

To each his own. I couldn't give a fuck less about Rogan as a person; it's a Smiths/Morrissey biopic and an interesting (if one-sided) read

No more, no less. I promise I won't take it as gospel

It's so much less. The Preface is like Alan Partridge of Radio Norwich telling the story of The Smiths!!!

[yearsofrefusal]

Just ordered a copy so will see if it is a good read or not

[Anonymous]

It's so much less. The Preface is like Alan Partridge of Radio Norwich telling the story of The Smiths!!!

Hilarious!! The piss-take "I'm really thoughtful" pose on the cover of "I, Partridge" is like the pic of Rogan in "Morrissey The Albums"!

The only difference is that Partridge pretends to be a petty self-aggrandizing narcissistic twat.

[Thesmithsmorrissey]

Is anyone reading this yet? Good stuff; ol' Johnny Ro is at the top of his OCD game with this updated edition

[Anonymous]

Is anyone reading this yet? Good stuff; ol' Johnny Ro is at the top of his OCD game with this updated edition

Looked at it in a bookstore - load of sh*t. The guy just talks about himself.

[Anonymous]

Looked at it in a bookstore - load of sh*t. The guy just talks about himself.

Untrue. You've just browsed the preface. He doesn't mention himself in ANY of the 29 chapters in the book as far as I can see....

[GregCannon]

Waiting for mine to turn up in the post. Looking forward to reading it. Read the original years ago (borrowed copy, so haven't re-read since) and enjoyed it.

[WhalleyRange]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01kwkfm


1 hour 36 minutes in, Rogan talking to Stuart Maconie on BBC 6 Music