My favourite album: Meat Is Murder by the Smiths

[Dave2006]

Katharine Viner, Deputy Editor of the Guardian writes about MiM being her favourite album http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/oct/14/meat-murder-smiths

In it she describes Linder Sterling as Morrissey's ex-girlfriend...

"chance meetings with Morrissey's ex-girlfriend (artist Linder Sterling, working in Deansgate Waterstone's), "​

She back tracks in the comments below though "strange but true! Well, they lived together anyway" - is this true, did Morrissey ever live with Linder?

Dave

 

[mcrickson]

I've heard it debated as to whether Morrissey actually lived with Linder for a time in Whalley Range. I sincerely doubt they ever dated, but stranger things have happened. Regardless, I believe it has at least been put down that her Whalley Range home was a frequent hangout for him. I'd imagine he stayed there for some period of time with her but that they were just friends.
Linder was really passed around in those days in that group of people. She dated Howard Devoto, and Pete Shelley wrote "What Do I Get" about her. She also dated Luca Prodan (frontman of Sumo), and almost moved with him to Argentina when he left Manchester to kick his heroin addiction.

 

[Alex_Smith]

I've heard it debated as to whether Morrissey actually lived with Linder for a time in Whalley Range. I sincerely doubt they ever dated, but stranger things have happened. Regardless, I believe it has at least been put down that her Whalley Range home was a frequent hangout for him. I'd imagine he stayed there for some period of time with her but that they were just friends.
Linder was really passed around in those days in that group of people. She dated Howard Devoto, and Pete Shelley wrote "What Do I Get" about her. She also dated Luca Prodan (frontman of Sumo), and almost moved with him to Argentina when he left Manchester to kick his heroin addiction.

What a fabulous band was Sumo. One of the best from Argentina. The name of their 2nd album was inspired by Joy Division.

And MEAT IS MURDER is my favourite Smiths album too.

 

[Amy]

A lot of people seem to think "Miserable Lie" was written about her due to the "what do we get for our trouble and pain? a rented room in Whalley Range" line, and I suppose that might hint that they had a relationship at some point, as does "Wonderful Woman". The bathtub photo in "Morrissey Shot" always makes me wonder if they were a couple at one point - assuming he's naked, it's not really a shot you'd let just anyone take.

 

[mcrickson]

A lot of people seem to think "Miserable Lie" was written about her due to the "what do we get for our trouble and pain? a rented room in Whalley Range" line, and I suppose that might hint that they had a relationship at some point, as does "Wonderful Woman". The bathtub photo in "Morrissey Shot" always makes me wonder if they were a couple at one point - assuming he's naked, it's not really a shot you'd let just anyone take.

I guess it's a possibility. I just feel that if they would have been a couple, it would have been in the late 70s (they met in '76), and that was a time where I get the feeling he was MOST introverted. Linder was one of his only friends at that time, and as Moz said in the 2004 Jonathan Ross interview, he just has a small set of friends who mean more to him over time. It seems to be all or nothing with Morrissey - if you're close with him, everything is clear, nothing is hidden, and you love him for that honesty. If you're like the rest of us, he's the enigma, and our curiosity draws us back to him.

 

[bhops]

By all accounts 'Wonderful Woman'was about Linder. I don't really think it is up for debate.

Let's actually reduce it to the bare basics. Did they shag? Yeah I'd say they gave it a go, haha.

In the bathtub shoot does anyone else notice the cherry slyly placed to Moz's left? Pretty good in-joke I'd say. I'm not one for elaborate Morrissey theories but I do believe that there is a lil something something to that Linder friendship, and why not, she is a striking woman (if not a little batty.)

 

[Amy]

By all accounts 'Wonderful Woman'was about Linder. I don't really think it is up for debate.

Let's actually reduce it to the bare basics. Did they shag? Yeah I'd say they gave it a go, haha.

In the bathtub shoot does anyone else notice the cherry slyly placed to Moz's left? Pretty good in-joke I'd say. I'm not one for elaborate Morrissey theories but I do believe that there is a lil something something to that Linder friendship, and why not, she is a striking woman (if not a little batty.)

In which case I think the early incarnation of it, "What Do You See In Him?", is very telling - "She's the lifeblood of me / As you walk hand-in-hand / And I try, and I try, and I try / But I will never understand/ What do you see in him?". I think Morrissey certainly wanted a relationship with Linder when he first met her, and perhaps all through that late 70s period when he was a teenager, but I'd be surprised if it ever went much further than a couple of one night stands. She had other lovers and when The Smiths came along it consumed Morrissey's life - I think Linder moved abroad in 1983, and they were still distant in 1987 (I remember an interview immediately after the band split, and some comment was made on how he and Linder "parted on good terms"), so they must have reconciled post-split.