Are you more of a Morrissey or a Smiths fan ?
- Thread starter lucky lisp
- Start date
Danielledelu
girl least likely to
I think he might have.. because I've read in interveiws that he say's he's always known he had a good singing voice and knew that's what he wanted to use.. and also he was with that band before the Smiths ..what? the nose bleeds or something.. so he might have stemmed from that.
nightandday
New Member
Morrissey says he wanted to be a pop star since he was 6 years old. He tried to achieve this as a singer with a couple of punk bands in the late 1970s (Nosebleeds, Slaughter & The Dogs). People remember demos he used to send them. Tony Wilson remembers Morrissey telling him he was going to be a pop star, which Wilson thought hilarious back then because he thought "Steven" was the last person who could possibly be a pop star.
I think that answers your question.
nightandday
New Member
Worm, I agree with most of your points on this thread, but I'm sure Morrissey's bands wouldn't have sounded like synth-pop, because he hated that genre. I am sure that Morrissey has a lot of influence over his music - not just because vocal melody is a big part of the song (did you see the 'Jewel in the Crown' DVD, BTW?). As Danny said, Marr is quite a musical chameleon, Morrissey seemed far less flexible. He and Morrissey shared a lot of their taste in music (as well as in films), but there were some things where they did not see eye to eye (Marr's love of funk music, for instance). When they first met, Marr seems to have emphasized those aspects of his music taste that were similar to Morrissey's. And after all, if Morrissey didn't like a tune, it would have only ended up as instrumental (and they couldn't produce too many of these, could they).
As for their influences, M & M shared a love for Tamla Motown soul and girl groups of the 60s as well as 60s pop singers like Sandie Shaw, but they were both also big fans of New York Dolls and Patti Smith. Morrissey was a fan of punk rock and glam rock as much as of 60s pop. (I'm not sure if Marr was ever into Buzzcocks, but Morrissey used to like them a lot in the beginning, and they are also Mike Joyce's favourite band.)
DeliciousDemon
Ghost of the troubled Joe
Being a non-native speaker I think I expressed myself the wrong way - I knew that he considered a career in singing, I just thought that it was Marr and his music who gave him the push in the right direction (to actually act on it).
I think I also knew he was in bands before, just didn't take that too seriously ... I thought "Even I was in a band when I was in high school but was it in any way relevant? Nooooooo"
In any case, thanks for info. As for the thread itself, I am a Smiths fan mostly because of Morrissey and a Morrissey fan mostly because of The Smiths. In other words, I doubt that I'd like the Smiths as much as I did without his lyrics, singing and personnality and I also doubt I'd heard of him if he went solo from the beginning.
nightandday
New Member
I'm glad somebody speaks sense! I don't mean that Morrissey was The Smiths - Marr's melodies made a big difference, and certainly all the members made an important contribution; and Morrissey and Marr together made one of the greatest songwriting teams ever. But I still have to say that it was Morrissey - his voice, his lyrics, his views, and his persona - that made The Smiths special. I would never be that interested in them if it was just for the nice tunes and sound. Besides, Morrissey's solo work is so often underrated. Yes, not all of his solo albums are great, but the same can be said of so many other artists. The Smiths are one of the very few bands that I can say I like almost everything by. But I think that a big part of Morrissey's work has been on the same level. And the music, for the most part, is not as average as people make it out to be - some of it is, but there are so many really excellent tunes by Stephen Street, Clive Langer, Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer (I think Alain in particular is a very good and underrated composer).
But I'm just annoyed at people who want to diss Morrissey by saying that his solo work is worthless or "he would be nothing without Johnny Marr"... I don't think it's true, and besides, why doesn't anyone ask "Where would Marr be without Morrissey" or, for that matter, "Where is he without Morrissey?" People only say that kind of thing because 1) Morrissey is the one who is successful, and 2) Morrissey is controversial, a love-or-hate kind of person, while Johnny is the kind of person and the kind of musician who is 'safe' to like. So when I hear someone say they like The Smiths because of Marr but they dislike Morrissey, I know that they are not really Smiths fans in the first place.
God, stop being so elitist. As if you get to delegate who is a true Smiths fan and who isn't. If anyone likes The Smiths for any reason, they are a fan. Some people like Morrissey more, some Marr. Some, like me, think The Smiths would not have been as good as they were without either.
The only two members of The Smiths that didn't really matter were Rourke and Joyce. Yes, their contributions are often amazing, but drummers and bassists are ultimately interchangeable.
nightandday
New Member
oh, please. Are you just trying to have an argument or what? I never said that you can't like The Smiths because of Marr more than because of Morrissey. I said that it's impossible to like The Smiths and hate Morrissey (and by that I don't mean - to think that he's a bad person privately, but to hate him in general). Are you trying to tell me it is possible?! No actual Smiths fan will say that, but there are quite a few non-fans who will say 'oh, The Smiths, they were good, I liked Marr's guitar, but I can't stand Morrissey!"
lilybett
Pheobe W Caulfield
I'm more Smiths
But I think this has something to do with the fact that I was born in 1985, so there's no way I could have known who they were at the time, so The Smiths, to me, are something inaccessable and romantic and erm. Dead.
It is also because the music Johnny Marr put to Morrissey's lyrics was always perfect. And while Morrissey's lyrics continue to be works of poetic genius, I think the music they're set to is sometimes a bit hit-and-miss.
But I think this has something to do with the fact that I was born in 1985, so there's no way I could have known who they were at the time, so The Smiths, to me, are something inaccessable and romantic and erm. Dead.
It is also because the music Johnny Marr put to Morrissey's lyrics was always perfect. And while Morrissey's lyrics continue to be works of poetic genius, I think the music they're set to is sometimes a bit hit-and-miss.
Still Tired
as it were...
I’m definitely more of a Morrissey fan, although there is the romanticism of the Smiths and all they seemed to stand for, I just feel there is more depth and variety to Morrissey’s solo work. I think musically and as the man he’s grown into, his recent history interests me a lot more. I love reading all about the Smiths and finding that history out, and of course the music is incredibly intimate and powerful, but I tend to switch those CD’s more frequently. I also think Moz’s voice had grown so much since the group split, I was listening to songs randomly the other day and a Moz song next to an old Smiths song was almost unrecognisable as being the same singer! I like finding out what kind of a person he seems to have grown into too, how he was in the Smiths I can identify with on a personal level but that can make me kinda depressed, I like to look at him now instead and think, well if he’s made it out ok, there’s hope yet!
ThisCharmingMan
Junior Member
For me its got to be The Smiths because it was The Smiths that got me into Morrissey. Also there are certain Morrissey songs that I dislike a bit whereas I love all the Smiths songs. Morrissey, I believe, can never be as good on his own as he was with Marr,it was the best musical writing partnership ever (much better than Lennon and Mcartney).
Midnight
A Hostage To Kindness
I love and adore Morrissey like all of us, bought all his records and most of his singles etc. etc. etc., but the Smiths are the band who have defined my life. Morrissey forms a very large part of that, but it was the music the band made together that I appreciate the very most. Being in my early twenties means I identify with what Moz wrote about during the Smiths moreso than later I've always thought.
Last edited:
Similar threads
- Poll
- Poll
