Why Morrissey's videos are pretty poor ?

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Humdee,dumdee,homocide
Just wondered if it's intentional that the vast majority of Mozzer's promo videos have been pretty rubbish really with some exceptions especially the Jarman trilogy.

Could it be because Morrissey doesn't want the video to impinge too much over the music and lyrics...so one can paint our own pictures from the record alone ? Imagination is sometimes curtailed by videos getting stuck in the brain.

A really great video can detract from the record sometimes .Of course,there are exceptions:Johnny Cash's Hurt for example.

Any thoughts ?
 
I agree. His record company never appear to splash the cash when it comes to making videos. Dunno if this is his decision at the end of the day or the record companys but I'm not sure a more glossey video would help Morrissey chart better in this day and age to be honest. He will just never appeal to some people no matter how the marketing people try to package him or his music visually.​
 
I actually think it's a good thing that the videos aren't up to much.I prefer the records alone without images distracting me.
BUT...I'm sure a great video director could do something interesting like Derek Jarman did:those videos don't take away from the record,perhaps cos they're pretty abstract.
 
I like all the videos on Hulmerist.
Our Frank - Not so much
I like the SYL video.
I like the Pregnant for the Last Time video.

After that there really isn't much of interest although, Youngest video is kind of cool.

My Love Life is the most pointless of all his videos.

I actually don't like the Jarman video's. The make me have seizures.
 
I love the videos for November Spawned A Monster, The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get, Glamorous Glue and Pregnant For The Last Time but agree that on the whole they are pretty poor!
 
I think in the days of The Smiths he objected to music videos on the grounds that they were crass commercials and not a "primary" way to appreciate a song. Also there was a cynical, meretricious, and incredibly mindless marketplace for music videos which by association tainted even the good clips-- I mean MTV but some other video outlets, too. Tim Broad seemed to open up his mind to some possibilities for videos, but videos conceived of as tongue-in-cheek vignettes and not the more ambitious, "hip", deliberately cinematic affairs that almost never, ever stand the test of time.

To my eyes and ears, Morrissey has made a number of really wonderful videos if only because he has pointedly avoided the pitfalls of the medium by insisting on those funny little clips. I would rather see a low-budget, half-serious, unpretentious montage of simple scenes than the work of a 23-year old huckster fresh out of film school looking to make his name so he can go on to direct an F/X orgy for Jerry Bruckheimer. True, there have been some excellent videos made over the years by more "serious" directors (I love Anton Corbijn's stuff), but the percentage of success has been dismal.

Also, what is it that unavoidably marks all those Eighties bands as permanent fodder for novelty compilations? Their music videos. The striking visual images that made them cool in 1984 also forever entombed them in the pop culture junkheap. For example, I know many people like Duran Duran for their music-- I have friends with taste who like a few of their albums-- but for ninety-nine percent of the music-buying public Duran Duran will forever be associated with slow-motion B-movie bondage fantasies, Eurotrash models crawling on tropical beaches, and poncy douchebags lip-synching from rented yachts.

Ever watched an old VHS tape of a TV show from a few years ago? It's amazing because the commercials in between the show segments transport you right back to that time and place, but in a bad way: TV does not age well, to put it mildly. "Cutting edge" video techniques almost always look idiotic even a few years later. You can be sure that if Morrissey gave "proper" video-making a go his videos would suffer the same fate. One "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" calamity is worth a dozen of Sire's "How Soon Is Now?" misfires. Just how it is. When people rave about how wonderful certain commercials or TV shows are, their enthusiasm underscores another side of things-- namely the absolute stupidity of almost everything else on TV at the same time as that commercial or show. Pearls found in pig slop are all the more treasured.

Happily, a few artists were smart enough to avoid that trap (or were aided by a lack of funds from their indie record labels). New Order also skipped the video peril in the Eighties, either not making any or, when they did, making strange, inscrutable clips like "Round & Round" or practical jokes like "Touched By The Hand of God". Their one bona fide video hit, "True Faith", was silly and tongue in cheek. Morrissey was smart to do it the same way. I know there are at least a few eye-rolling moments in most of his videos, but think how much trauma he spared us!
 
Didn't he once say that he loathes making music videos because they're basically "people who can't act, pretending they can" and that it was embarrassing?
 
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Ever watched an old VHS tape of a TV show from a few years ago? It's amazing because the commercials in between the show segments transport you right back to that time and place, but in a bad way: TV does not age well, to put it mildly.

TOTALLY AGREE !!!

Happily, a few artists were smart enough to avoid that trap (or were aided by a lack of funds from their indie record labels). New Order also skipped the video peril in the Eighties, e![/QUOTE]

And again..well said.New Order allowed various film directors/artists to do their own thing with their music as a soundtrack
 
Uh... Moz is wrong. "Seasick Yet Still Docked" proves he can act... or he wasn't acting. Watch the tiny nuances around his eyes and mouth... breathtaking.
 
Because videos are pointlessly overrated and detract from the purpose of music..so often an overproduced video can catapult a completely meaningless song into the upper ceiling of the sales charts...

So, Morrissey righttful so doesn't care..and just does them to make the record company happy
 
If one wanted to see a video, these days, where would one go? Besides YouTube. It's not like there are any record stores to show them in house, and G-d knows MTV and VH1 don't actually exist anymore.
 
I was reading it and I thought it was good, then maybe cheesy about the greased hair but when I read the part about Moz putting the rose at the grave I got chills down my spine.
 
Uh... Moz is wrong. "Seasick Yet Still Docked" proves he can act... or he wasn't acting. Watch the tiny nuances around his eyes and mouth... breathtaking.

lol, have you seen the video for "Ouijja Board, Ouijja Board"? :p
 
I started liking him when I saw the video for I Have Forgiven Jesus and I was disappointed when I found out that he didn't dress like that all the time.
 
I started liking him when I saw the video for I Have Forgiven Jesus and I was disappointed when I found out that he didn't dress like that all the time.

We're all aware that Jesus Has forgiven Paris :p
 
I started liking him when I saw the video for I Have Forgiven Jesus and I was disappointed when I found out that he didn't dress like that all the time.

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