morrissey and kate bush

[duchess_of_fork]

i can't believe i'm actually making this thread. i've been a kate bush fan for a while...in the closet of course. it's vay too embarrassing to admit i enjoy her stuff to some extent....and that i prance around my room lipsynching to 'wuthering heights'........anyhow! i read in those infamous morrissey letters to his scottish friend that he hates her. why do you think that is so?
i was thinking about it...maybe, since morrissey so desperately wanted to be famous and successful around that time, and he really wasn't going anywhere with his life, while Kate Bush had her first hit at 19...maybe it was a sort of...subconscious jealousy? because...i could see him enjoying her music/style/lyrics.

talk amongst yourselves

 

[nightandday]

i can't believe i'm actually making this thread. i've been a kate bush fan for a while...in the closet of course. it's vay too embarrassing to admit i enjoy her stuff to some extent....and that i prance around my room lipsynching to 'wuthering heights'........anyhow! i read in those infamous morrissey letters to his scottish friend that he hates her. why do you think that is so?
i was thinking about it...maybe, since morrissey so desperately wanted to be famous and successful around that time, and he really wasn't going anywhere with his life, while Kate Bush had her first hit at 19...maybe it was a sort of...subconscious jealousy? because...i could see him enjoying her music/style/lyrics.

talk amongst yourselves

He said exactly why:

"Do you really like Kate Bush? I'm not surprised. The nicest thing I could say about her is that she's unbearable. That voice! Such trash!"

I have to say I find her voice unbearable too. Sorry.

 

[lilikoi]

he's sooooo harsh on everyone - jeeeez - if I ever meet him I will never play him MY music or he will probably shoot me on the spot. but can his opinion really be taken THAT seriously? I don't know - the music he likes, so far, has left no impression on me at all. he hasn't turned me into a sandy shaw fan yet.....noooot sure I will every like 'puppet on a string' - or 'trash' by the new york dolls. criiiinging!
kate bush does have an interesting voice - love it or hate it - but it's original.

 

[Amy]

he's sooooo harsh on everyone - jeeeez - if I ever meet him I will never play him MY music or he will probably shoot me on the spot. but can his opinion really be taken THAT seriously? I don't know - the music he likes, so far, has left no impression on me at all. he hasn't turned me into a sandy shaw fan yet.....noooot sure I will every like 'puppet on a string' - or 'trash' by the new york dolls. criiiinging!
kate bush does have an interesting voice - love it or hate it - but it's original.

True.. and the same can be said of Morrissey himself . Yes, the Manc droning is not popular with everybody, but hell, who cares

 

[DeliciousDemon]

You shouldn't take it personally. He dislikes her but that doesn't mean you're wrong to like them both. Personally, I dislike most of the artists he praizes but that doesn't mean I'll stop liking him or that he should stop liking them. It's all a matter of taste and thankfully we all got our own to rely on.

 

[almareallymatters]

Interesting that Kirsteen Young has been compared to Kate Bush on many occasions recently...and Moz LOVES her!

 

[Kewpie]

Morrissey loves Bronte Sisters' work, but like some men who dislike high pitched soprano...if Kate Bush's voice was more alto or lower tone, suppose Dusty Springfield-ish, he might liked her.

I second duchess on this perhaps Morrissey was sort of envious as well.
We know Morrissey borrowed many things from literary sources.
He subconsciously got the idea from her?

 

[JeanReno]

I doubt Morrissey's sincerity there, he must at least respect her talent. And those letters were written yonks before "Hounds of Love" and her best stuff, weren't they?

I can't think that he wouldn't love something like "Suspended in Gaffa", it's right up his area:

I won't open boxes
That I am not told to
I'm not a Pandora
I'm much more like
That girl in the mirror
Between you and me
She doesn't stand a chance of getting anywhere... -- top form, Kate.

 

[nightandday]

Morrissey loves Bronte Sisters' work, but like some men who dislike high pitched soprano...if Kate Bush's voice was more alto or lower tone, suppose Dusty Springfield-ish, he might liked her.

I second duchess on this perhaps Morrissey was sort of envious as well.
We know Morrissey borrowed many things from literary sources.
He subconsciously got the idea from her?

Many people borrowed ideas from literary sources. Bowie did it with Orwell's "1984", Magazine did it with Dostoyevski, Joy Division did it with "The House Of Dolls" and Ballard' "Atrocity Exhibition", The Cure did it with Camus' "Stranger", etc. It's hardly something that Kate Bush invented.

I was never too impressed with Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights", and "Wuthering Heights" is probably my all-time favourite novel.

Why would there need to be a hidden, subconscious reason for his dislike? Maybe he simply dislikes her voice and that's it? It's a voice you either love or hate. I generally don't like extremely high-pitched childlike voices - although I can make exception for Alison Shaw from Cranes, it somehow works for me in combination with their music.

 

[nightandday]

I doubt Morrissey's sincerity there, he must at least respect her talent. And those letters were written yonks before "Hounds of Love" and her best stuff, weren't they?

Morrissey tends to be very harsh about music he dislikes, just as he is passionate about music he loves. He might actually have respect for some of those artists he has dissed. And anyway, these are just private letters of a 21/22 year old.

Do you know that interview a couple years ago when Morrissey told the interviewer not to include his put-downs of Radiohead and Coldplay: "These are actually good bands, even though I dislike them."
"You called them Oldplay and Radiodead!"
"Yes, but I don't always mean what I say."

 

[JeanReno]

Why would there need to be a hidden, subconscious reason for his dislike? Maybe he simply dislikes her voice and that's it?

Ay, but you wouldn't associate a minor annoyance (i.e. not liking the tone of her voice) with "trash", would you? That suggests he's either exaggerated for effect (probably yay) or he's inspired by hidden reason (probably nay) -- it's still worth considering, if you're willing to spend so much time musing Moz's every word. And why not?

 

[duchess_of_fork]

Interesting that Kirsteen Young has been compared to Kate Bush on many occasions recently...and Moz LOVES her!

i was just going to say that.
personally, i find kristeen young too "all over the place" with her voice..and you can't really tell what the heck she's singing (lyric wise)...i tried giving her a chance and after not being able to tell anything but "lifes not short its soooo long" from one of the songs, i gave up.

kate bush was like that in the beginning of her career... and I think people should give the re-recorded version of Wuthering Heights (the one on The Whole Story) a chance because she sings it lower. in my opinion it is better than the first release.

i can see that he actually felt threatened by her because, i mean, if someone my age is on a great career path in music or acting, i get really worried about my direction and subconciously start disliking them! or is it envy perhaps? i think so!

morrissey shouldn't diss people's singing voices. most people i've played his stuff to absolutely hate it because of his voice (for example, my mom said he sounds like a locked up cat during mating season...whatever that means) and I have to be honest, when i first started listening to the smiths i wasn't too impressed and it took me some time to get used to his style of singing (of course, I've been in LOVE with him forever and ever after getting used to it)...

...same with kate bush. i hated her stuff. and i hate admitting that i like her.

 

[nightandday]

Ay, but you wouldn't associate a minor annoyance (i.e. not liking the tone of her voice) with "trash", would you? That suggests he's either exaggerated for effect (probably yay) or he's inspired by hidden reason (probably nay) -- it's still worth considering, if you're willing to spend so much time musing Moz's every word. And why not?

I vote for explanation # 1.

My guess is that about 50-70% of everything Morrissey says is exaggerated for effect and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

 

[Sunbags]

my mom said he sounds like a locked up cat during mating season...whatever that means

Oh God, that's brilliant! I showed my Mam an interview of Morrissey (the V fest one) the other night and I asked her what she thought of him in general. "Ah sure, he'll do, I suppose" was her reply. She then told me off for listening to an "oul fella".

 

[duchess_of_fork]

Oh God, that's brilliant! I showed my Mam an interview of Morrissey (the V fest one) the other night and I asked her what she thought of him in general. "Ah sure, he'll do, I suppose" was her reply. She then told me off for listening to an "oul fella".

hahah an oul fella. thats funy! my dad asked me when i'm going to live in the present....and he was very happy when i told him that ROTT was recorded in the 2000s. It was possibly one of the first "recent" albums i've listened to...aside from quarry.
...but every time he gets enthusiastic, I get back into the....i don't know...ronettes...paris sisters...pasy cline...connie francis! and he loses all hope that i'll ever live in the now.

so i says, oul fellas are where it's at.

 

[Sunbags]

hahah an oul fella. thats funy! my dad asked me when i'm going to live in the present....and he was very happy when i told him that ROTT was recorded in the 2000s. It was possibly one of the first "recent" albums i've listened to...aside from quarry.
...but every time he gets enthusiastic, I get back into the....i don't know...ronettes...paris sisters...pasy cline...connie francis! and he loses all hope that i'll ever live in the now.

so i says, oul fellas are where it's at.

They are where it's at, especially Morrissey and Danny Baldwin off Coronation Street, who are hot Daddys. I keep telling my Mother this and she doesn't believe me. How can she deny it? She's married to one!

 

[JeanReno]

My guess is that about 50-70% of everything Morrissey says is exaggerated for effect and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

That's nothing, 100% of the things I say is exaggerated for effect.

(Sorry, that had to be said. Or everyone would have died.)

 

[sonof77]

The only music recommended to me by Morrissey I've loved was Damien Dempsey, I knew of he's other musical tastes from his youth but the admiration of Kristeen young I find bewildering especially with his kicking of Kate.

 

[Anais Pin]

Oh, I love her latest album, in fact thinking about it I have every album of hers! Shes just a bit embarrassing thats all... but then, sometimes everyone is and that includes Moz!

I suppose to some extent they are two sides of the same coin; both avoid the limelight (Bush more than Morrissey one could argue as she has only ever toured once back in the 70s) both write from the perspective of the outsider/introvert, both allude to various literary and cultural references, but only one of them wore leotards THANK GOD!!

 

[sonof77]

It is embarrassing, or rather they are.