Morrissey and the hardcore/punk connection

[fredkocherpepsi]

I’m curious if anyone else on here got into Morrissey through the hc/punk scene. It seems to go hand in hand with HC and I started to really notice it in the 90’s and by the mid/late 90’s I dove into The Smiths/Moz and never looked back. Curious if anyone else got in this way...(sorry if this has already been discussed, feel free to move this post)

 

[bandrus1]

thats how I found the smiths yes

 

[Anonymous]

It makes sense since bands like The Smiths rose from the ashes of punk. That and Morrissey was a huge fanboy of punk bands.

 

[MozAngeles818]

I’m curious if anyone else on here got into Morrissey through the hc/punk scene. It seems to go hand in hand with HC and I started to really notice it in the 90’s and by the mid/late 90’s I dove into The Smiths/Moz and never looked back. Curious if anyone else got in this way...(sorry if this has already been discussed, feel free to move this post)

I agree with you, Hardcore and Moz do go together. There's a saying somewhere saying the two can relate because people tend to get into Morrissey after feeling lost or just a misfit to their surroundings. Not all people, but some. You can say the same thing with the Hardcore scene.
People want to listen to music, hang out with people who can relate to you and your likings.


Check out this video. I'm sure you'll enjoy what he says before he plays. Cut to 16:25

 

[fredkocherpepsi]

I agree with you, Hardcore and Moz do go together. There's a saying somewhere saying the two can relate because people tend to get into Morrissey after feeling lost or just a misfit to their surroundings. Not all people, but some. You can say the same thing with the Hardcore scene.
People want to listen to music, hang out with people who can relate to you and your likings.


Check out this video. I'm sure you'll enjoy what he says before he plays. Cut to 16:25

Thanks! Have always loved that Quicksand cover too.

 

[Uncleskinny]

One of my favourite cover versions...



P.

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

yes, back when I was a kid, there was a positive connection between being into the punk scene but still listening to music like The Smiths
this was mainly due to the, never to be under valued, position of punk girls who often would say things like:
"Oh you like the Smiths too" or something to that effect
however, I don't believe this tenuous link holds any longer
I have had more than one recent experience with young British blokes that grew up "punk" and either had either negative feeling towards Moz
or at best ambivalence towards The Smiths
I have done my best to educate them as best as I can, however, my other musical tastes probably only make them even more suspect

 

[fredkocherpepsi]

This thread inspired me to listen to "Slip" this morning.

 

[wastelandofyourhead]

I've definitely witnessed the connection in friends of mine that were devout HC fanboys that I introduced to Morrissey and they felt that connection. One of them is now all about him and the other one likes him now, and he doesn't listen to anything but HC.

It's an interesting dynamic, being that Morrissey is an over-the-hill crooner with oft-times adult-contemporary musical accompaniment. Just goes to show you the power his message can have over the newer gens of disaffected youth.

All punk rebellion aside, I think it serves a nice purpose in allowing people to expand their forte of music appreciation. God knows how bleak the commercial industry can make this prospect.

 

[Harsh Truth]

Morrissey definitely has appeal with a lot of people who identify with the punk rock scene, myself included, but there is probably a greater majority of punks who can't stand the guy.

It's all good. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Harsh Truth]

To follow-up on my comment above, in my experience the people who are typically most likely to dislike or make fun of Morrissey, or who have no understanding of why we (the devoted) hold him is such high regards are those who haven't heard a single song post-1991. They hold firm on one or more of these pre-conceived (and almost always wrong, or at least outdated) notions:

-he's celibate
-he's whiny
-he's a pussy
-his music is soft
-his music is depressing
-he prances around stage catching flowers
-the Smiths were pretty good but his solo stuff sucks
-he's just another outdated "80's music" guy
-etc......

The story is old, but it goes on.

 

[Anonymous]

I've always held the belief that The Smiths embodied some punk values, especially in an era that produced people liek Boy George- the tones down clothing, sound devoid of synthesizers, not singing about love, sex, and drugs, and the stage invasions. I see Moz having that in him today, as well.

 

[Anaesthesine]

I’m curious if anyone else on here got into Morrissey through the hc/punk scene. It seems to go hand in hand with HC and I started to really notice it in the 90’s and by the mid/late 90’s I dove into The Smiths/Moz and never looked back. Curious if anyone else got in this way...(sorry if this has already been discussed, feel free to move this post)

I come from the post-punk/HC/industrial scene: no music was too hard, fast, loud or violent for me.

I've mellowed a bit (as one does), but I still need the sense that something in the singer is about to break. At his best Morrissey can whisper what others have to scream - bless his menacing little ol' punk rock heart.

 

[Anonymous]

I come from the post-punk/HC/industrial scene: no music was too hard, fast, loud or violent for me.

I've mellowed a bit (as one does), but I still need the sense that something in the singer is about to break. At his best Morrissey can whisper what others have to scream - bless his menacing little ol' punk rock heart.

I've always found Miserable Lie to be a bit punk- especially when he did that falsetto live. Heaven.

 

[floss]

This thread inspired me to listen to "Slip" this morning.

Walter always covers how soon is now at his gigs..

I love the Quicksand version.

 

[Anonymous]

​

 

[fredkocherpepsi]

Walter always covers how soon is now at his gigs..

I love the Quicksand version.

I know he was doing it with Rival Schools as of a couple years ago, definitely. When I saw Quicksand last year they did it and it rocked so hard!

 

[the raytownian]

I listened to Punk, Hardcore and Grindcore long before I got into The Smiths and Morrissey, so to answer the question: Yes, my introduction to them grew out of being immersed in the punk/"core" scenes where they were frequently referenced (not always flatteringly), and through getting into music semi-related to them (namely goth/deathrock stuff, which developed my taste for "Post-Punk" in a much more broad and general sense, which in turned developed into a love of 80's/90's UK Indie/Twee, etc.).

I never would've thought as an 8th grader listening to the "Grindcrusher" compilation that I'd ever be into anything like Morrissey, though.
I was "aware" of them for a long time before I heard them. I had heard Anal c***'s cover of "YGNSOYS" years before I heard the original. Embarrassingly enough, though, the thing that finally got me to check out The Smiths was that dumb movie, The Doom Generation.

 

[fredkocherpepsi]

There were some really bad hc covers of the Smiths/Moz but I will say one of my favorites is Vision doing “Stop Me...” and I’m not even that big of a Vision fan.

 

[fredkocherpepsi]

Was thinking today about Unbroken and all the different nods to Smiths/Moz. That also played a huge part in me digging in.