Does Morrissey drink alcohol?

[Danny]

I didn't even know Morrissey had a problem with George Michael.

I just picked him because he is in the news and seems horribly false to me. I saw him on television just before his gig getting caked in makeup and he has obviously had plastic surgery and botox.

I suppose his voice is OK if you like that false Americanised generic RnB sound that passes for soulful these days.

I could just as easily have used Madonna or Simon Le Bon, but I suppose there are loads of their fans lurking here as well.

 

[dazzak]

Over the years I've dropped a lot of my antipathy to pure pop records (i.e. not pop records as Morrissey would label them but disposable, sugared-up contemporary synthpop). The producers who put them together are often talented, and if you *cough* listen without prejudice some of it's pretty good.

For instance, after reading Simon Reynolds' superb book "Rip It Up And Start Again" I downloaded Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". Summer's druggy vocals are stretched out over an electronic tune made by the Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, a shimmery synth track that sounds way ahead of its time. Within 30 seconds I realized I was listening to the blueprint for several early New Order tracks including the immortal "Temptation".

When you try and listen for similar "hidden" influences on current recent tracks (Summer recorded in the Seventies), you can pick out the talents of these kinds of producers, even when the pretty boys singing the tune are forgettable. I'm told the new Justin Timberlake album is amazing, but I'd have to be drunk on three bottles of cheap rotgut wine to buy that one.

I tend to have an extremely open view of pop records. For instance, I have as much of an aversion to Justin Timberlake as you seem to, but I'll gladly listen to "SexyBack" over and over because it's simply a brilliant single (the new one's rubbish, though). You're absolutely correct about the producer being the consequential component, too. Without Timbaland et al, Timberlake would just be another voice, but because his songs are at least 75% production, he's a cut above the rest. Excellence by proxy.

And "I Feel Love" is definitely one of the most innovative singles in pop history - again, down to the genius that is Moroder. There was just nothing like it at the time, except for maybe some Italian disco but that was largely Moroder-led and exclusively popular in Europe. That one single is basically the mother of all electro-pop, evident from the Pet Shop Boys all the way down to the more popular modern stuff like Infernal (my #1 guilty pleasure).

Speaking of PSB, the producer of possibly their best album - Behaviour - was Summer/Moroder cohort Harold Faltermayer and they actually lost out on their only musical Grammy nomination ever for best dance single for "To Step Aside" to one of the last Summer/Moroder collaborations "Carry On" in 1997. It's a small world, eh?

 

[Chartres]

I tend to have an extremely open view of pop records. For instance, I have as much of an aversion to Justin Timberlake as you seem to, but I'll gladly listen to "SexyBack" over and over because it's simply a brilliant single (the new one's rubbish, though). You're absolutely correct about the producer being the consequential component, too. Without Timbaland et al, Timberlake would just be another voice, but because his songs are at least 75% production, he's a cut above the rest. Excellence by proxy.

And "I Feel Love" is definitely one of the most innovative singles in pop history - again, down to the genius that is Moroder. There was just nothing like it at the time, except for maybe some Italian disco but that was largely Moroder-led and exclusively popular in Europe. That one single is basically the mother of all electro-pop, evident from the Pet Shop Boys all the way down to the more popular modern stuff like Infernal (my #1 guilty pleasure).

Speaking of PSB, the producer of possibly their best album - Behaviour - was Summer/Moroder cohort Harold Faltermayer and they actually lost out on their only musical Grammy nomination ever for best dance single for "To Step Aside" to one of the last Summer/Moroder collaborations "Carry On" in 1997. It's a small world, eh?

Those producers are god damn skilled, like those people who are just sitting and listening to how music is produced. That's always something.

 

[moz'art girl]

I don't think alcohol makes his belly larger.
Some vegetarians tend to eat carbohydrates too much.
Morrissey should eat less pasta and bread.

I think that beer has that effect, yes.

 

[moz'art girl]

He likes cakes. That's his downfall.

How I understand him! Chocolate cakes....Mmmmm

 

[nightandday]

I didn't even know Morrissey had a problem with George Michael.

Well, The Smiths hated Wham, so much that Johnny Marr claimed they wrote "Panic" as a response to a DJ playing a Wham's song. So I would think that Morrissey is not mad about G.M.

 

[nightandday]

Fame, fame, fatal fame. See Wham! The guy was a victim from the word go-go. I generally try and avoid the triteness of using one Morrissey lyric in my posts, let alone two, but, y'know...alma matters: I think bands and artists who struggle to be heard usually last longer and have more to say than people who have the world on a plate by the age of 21 or whatever. Once Michael had fame in his veins (among other substances, I'm guessing) it was all over.

Still, as dazzak said, he's got a great voice. Smooth and soulful. I see him as a victim of his own early success more than anything else. I've always speculated he really likes Morrissey, probably thinks of him as a kindred spirit. And I think he'd trade his career for Morrissey's even if Morrissey would die before trading his for Michael's. I can't back that up with a solitary shred of evidence, it's just a feeling I have.

Hmm, well, I probably don't know enough about George Michael to know why you think so, they don't strike me as being even the least bit similar. Then again, people like Robbie Williams, Boy George and others who are not similar to Morrissey at all either, imagine that they are and see him as idol and kindred spirit... Lots and lots of different people see Morrissey as their kindred spirit - but Morrissey often does not feel the same about them.

 

[Danny]

Well, The Smiths hated Wham, so much that Johnny Marr claimed they wrote "Panic" as a response to a DJ playing a Wham's song. So I would think that Morrissey is not mad about G.M.

That was more to do with the DJ picking an upbeat fluffy song after a serious news report about a major disaster than any particular hatred of Wham.

 

[nightandday]

That was more to do with the DJ picking an upbeat fluffy song after a serious news report about a major disaster than any particular hatred of Wham.

I wouldn't be so sure, Johnny Marr later admitted it might not have exactly happened that way, and that might he have embellished the story a little. He did remember that they hated radio DJs who played bands like Wham instead of The Smiths.

 

[mozmic_dancer]

I venture to guess that Morrissey's resentment of George Michael may stem from the fact that both Michael and Prince who both received lucrative contracts from their record companies in the late 80s and both failed to produce what was expected of them. Morrissey would have killed for a deal like those two got. Both these artists took their record company to court and both lost big time. Today, record companies won't even give advances anymore to their contracted artists because of fear of expectations not being met.

I'm drinking a vodka martini as I write this so I argue that my meager contribution to the discussion is still on topic.

 

[Danny]

I venture to guess that Morrissey's resentment of George Michael may stem from the fact that both Michael and Prince who both received lucrative contracts from their record companies in the late 80s and both failed to produce what was expected of them. Morrissey would have killed for a deal like those two got. Both these artists took their record company to court and both lost big time. Today, record companies won't even give advances anymore to their contracted artists because of fear of expectations not being met.

I'm drinking a vodka martini as I write this so I argue that my meager contribution to the discussion is still on topic.

What resentment of George Michael? Are we still talking about a couple of comments in the eighties?

 

[mozmic_dancer]

What resentment of George Michael? Are we still talking about a couple of comments in the eighties?

Oh, there is some resentment there, baby! Morrissey resents George big time!

Seriously, I'm sure alot of artists would have liked a major record deal like Michaels, who only then turned around and refuse to promote his work by not appearing in music videos. I'm sure there was more serious instances of breach but that is just one example.

My point is that it is because of these court cases like Michaels and Prince, record companies don't make these kinds of contracts with artists and there lies the source of Morrissey's resentment. He and others have the talent and the creativity, but don't get the offers.