The Sunday Times: "Freaks Out!" by Luke Haines review by Will Hodgkinson - Morrissey mention (March 31, 2024)

Times-review on Luke Haines’ new book on music ‘freaks’: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...e?shareToken=e599acd9d2bc948f4150b58e6c43509b

Excerpt:
Lou Reed, Marc Bolan and sad old Morrissey feature in this hymn to the misfits of music

He also tackles a childhood love of Gary Glitter, “a kind of extreme stress test for the old ‘separating the art from the artist’ argument,” and holds up Morrissey, the former singer of the Smiths who now seems to be engaging in a permanent act of career sabotage, as “a proper un-grown-up Freak … He wants adulation and when he gets it he must reject it.” Being a freak is a complicated business.

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Related items:

• Indie rocker Luke Haines fondly recalls seeing The Smiths in concert - July 8, 2013
• "World Peace..." reviews (by Luke Haines - The Talkhouse, The Scotsman, Musik Express, GA-Bonn) - July 12, 2014

 

[BookishBoy]

Times-review on Luke Haines’ new book on music ‘freaks’: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...e?shareToken=e599acd9d2bc948f4150b58e6c43509b

Excerpt:

Lou Reed, Marc Bolan and sad old Morrissey feature in this hymn to the misfits of music​

He also tackles a childhood love of Gary Glitter, “a kind of extreme stress test for the old ‘separating the art from the artist’ argument,” and holds up Morrissey, the former singer of the Smiths who now seems to be engaging in a permanent act of career sabotage, as “a proper un-grown-up Freak … He wants adulation and when he gets it he must reject it.” Being a freak is a complicated business.

"a permanent act of career sabotage" is a pretty good way of putting it, sadly.

(The number of times when I think he's doing this deliberately, that deep down he wants to be a complete outsider...)

 

[Thewlis]

"a permanent act of career sabotage" is a pretty good way of putting it, sadly.

(The number of times when I think he's doing this deliberately, that deep down he wants to be a complete outsider...)

Yes, looking forward to reading the entire book.
There is much more about Moz in it.

 

[Les Tameside]

Musically, I only really loved After Murder Park. But as someone to read, or listen to, he’s always absolutely riveting. A minor hero of mine.

 

[A Man Escaped]

His book, Bad vibes, is hilarious.

 

[Famous when dead]

There's one Morrissey mention in "Bad Vibes - Britpop And My Part In Its Downfall:

"By 1987 large swathes of the British public are contravening the natural impulse to be alone and are engaging in something called the 'second summer of love'. Steve Albini's new group are called Rapeman. By the end of the year Morrissey and Marr will split up the Smiths over an argument about Cilla Black. The real pop charts will be dominated by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who between 1987 and 1990 have 12 number-one hit singles in the UK and have a penchant for likening themselves to Motown. August 1991 sees the first album release by Blur."

Nothing in the "Post Everything: Outsider Rock and Roll" book.
Regards,
FWD.

 

[Malarkey]

"a permanent act of career sabotage" is a pretty good way of putting it, sadly.

(The number of times when I think he's doing this deliberately, that deep down he wants to be a complete outsider...)

It's a terrible way of putting it - they can write honestly about someone with fame vertigo - without the inflammatory lies & distortions. And by paying attention to who exactly is contacting them.

 

[gordyboy9]

this guy should have looked up the meaning of the word freak.
1,a very unusual and unexpected event or situation.
2,a person,animal,or plant with an unusual physical abnormality.
3,a person who is obsessed with a particular activity or interest.
M is many things but dont know if he comes under any of the above categories.

 

[Les Tameside]

this guy should have looked up the meaning of the word freak.
1,a very unusual and unexpected event or situation.
2,a person,animal,or plant with an unusual physical abnormality.
3,a person who is obsessed with a particular activity or interest.
M is many things but dont know if he comes under any of the above categories.

“a person who is obsessed with a particular activity or interest.”

He definitely shares my interest in Morrissey. Which is great.

 

[gordyboy9]

britain has always had people who have ruined their own careers,who can forget oliver reed in his hellraising days,diana dors husband alan lake was another,charles hawtrey being another example.
in the states you had roseanne barr,michael richards of seinfield,armie hammer,faye dunaway and charlie sheen.there could be a list as long as your arm,fame changes people and a lot of times not for the better.

 

[Nikita]

New Wave is still in my top ten nineties album.

 

[The Alchemist]

fame changes people and a lot of times not for the better.

 

[goinghome]

britain has always had people who have ruined their own careers,who can forget oliver reed in his hellraising days,diana dors husband alan lake was another,charles hawtrey being another example.
in the states you had roseanne barr,michael richards of seinfield,armie hammer,faye dunaway and charlie sheen.there could be a list as long as your arm,fame changes people and a lot of times not for the better.

But career is never really the right word for Morrissey - and lucky him!

I was looking for a job...

The meaning of Morrissey is about tuning into the possibility of surviving without having to live up to other people's expectations, conventional or otherwise.
There speaks a true friend

 

[Malarkey]

this guy should have looked up the meaning of the word freak.
1,a very unusual and unexpected event or situation.
2,a person,animal,or plant with an unusual physical abnormality.
3,a person who is obsessed with a particular activity or interest.
M is many things but dont know if he comes under any of the above categories.

1 & 3 apply to him.

 

[Fact checker]

britain has always had people who have ruined their own careers,who can forget oliver reed in his hellraising days,diana dors husband alan lake was another,charles hawtrey being another example.
in the states you had roseanne barr,michael richards of seinfield,armie hammer,faye dunaway and charlie sheen.there could be a list as long as your arm,fame changes people and a lot of times not for the better.

What did Faye Dunaway ever do wrong?

 

[gashonthenail]

The good old Times newspaper, linking Morrissey with Gary Glitter. Is what Morrissey says so threatening to the status quo that the only option is to put him in the same 'pariah' pool as paedophilia? Makes you wonder if he is onto something with Notre Dame.

 

[Fact checker]

The good old Times newspaper, linking Morrissey with Gary Glitter. Is what Morrissey says so threatening to the status quo that the only option is to put him in the same 'pariah' pool as paedophilia? Makes you wonder if he is onto something with Notre Dame.

Actually the very earliest controversy The Smith's got into was The Sun raising an outcry over "Reel Around The Fountain". The hack who worked that story was called... Nick Ferrari.

 

[Malarkey]

Actually the very earliest controversy The Smith's got into was The Sun raising an outcry over "Reel Around The Fountain". The hack who worked that story was called... Nick Ferrari.

Ferrari got the story from Garry Bushell at Sounds.

So, yeah the paedophilia accusations started before the racism accusations.

 

[gordyboy9]

What did Faye Dunaway ever do wrong?

the way i read it she was terrible to work with and the legend that is katherine hepburn said the same and after that it seems her career nosedived.

 

[goinghome]

Ferrari got the story from Garry Bushell at Sounds.

That's it. Help the cause and keep repeating those accusations