Damon Albarn on Morrissey's politics - NME

Damon Albarn on Morrissey’s support of For Britain: “If you don’t live in the country, then you shouldn’t be dabbling in its politics” - NME

Excerpt:

Now, Blur frontman Damon Albarn has had his say on the matter, speaking to Jordan Bassett during an NME interview with The Good, The Bad And The Queen.

“Steven is a complicated soul,” started Albarn, before bandmate and former Clash bassist Paul Simonon asked, “But does he live in England?”

“No, he lives in California,” replied Albarn. “He doesn’t care. He’s just doing it to wind people up.”

Simonon then argued that Morrissey’s time living abroad gave him a warped perception of how life really is in the UK.

“Sometimes if you are away and you don’t live in the country, then you’ve got a misconception of what the reality is from the ground up,” he said. “It’s the same as John Lydon – he’s sort of got to a certain level and he’s [entitled] to his views, but if you don’t live here, your vision of it is in a bubble.”

Albarn then added: “Yeah, I totally agree. You shouldn’t even have an opinion. If you don’t live in the country, then you shouldn’t be dabbling in its politics because to have the sensitivity to understand, you have to live amongst the emotional world of the people as well, not just the idea of something. That’s a long way from reality.

“So I think if you wanna be miserable and English, you’ve gotta be miserable and English. You know – really be it.”



Damon Albarn has a short memory:

Damon Albarn: new Gorillaz album inspired by Trump's election
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...laz-new-album-humanz-response-trumps-election
 
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Yes, "misrepresenting the Nazi salute." You said that he "used to give the Nazi salute." This implies it is something that happened more than once, and is an established fact. You have misrepresented it.
In fact, there is a photo where it is claimed that he is making this gesture. It happened once. He said that the photo catches him waving at the crowds and that he was not actually "making a Nazi salute."
Maybe he did.
NME.jpeg


or maybe he was waving at the crowds.
bowie-victoria.jpg

Did he do it all the time so that we can be sure?
616zcPw%2BLhL.jpg

Not sure.
He did say some things about Adolf Hitler that might lead one to believe he did this on purpose. He talked about it quite a bit so you can decide for yourself. I could make a case either way.

Now, what was the point?



:rolleyes:


o so now stuff doesnt exist unless it got photographed?:lbf:
that sort of nixes all your trump/epstein posts. or the kissinger stuff
since there are no photographs of Kissinger making policies to de stablize
Syria, probably because when the coup in Syria took place Kissinger probably
in Harvard or some other left wing loon cult:crazy:.
 
So we shouldn't have an opinion on Syrian atrocities and genocide and famine in some countries just because we do not live there?

:thumb:^


Yeah, hope the news media doesn’t get wind of Albarns comments, it would put them out of business if they had to stop showing what’s going on in the rest of the world. I mean, according to Albarn and Simonon we’re all living in bubbles and have no right in caring what goes on in other parts of the world.

Idiots both of them.
 
Albarn is the archetype of the privileged white male who desperately wishes he was working class. Like Joe Strummer before him, you get the feeling he would literally die to have been born working class - a true working class Londoner who somehow threw off the saddlebags he was born to carry for life to walk his own road and achieve free creative living. Which is highly admirable.

But when you've been to a good school and grew up in a nice village, that missing essential element of an edgy earthy beginning can leave you feeling like a fraud. Joe Strummer hid his true feelings well, but with Albarn this hole, this vast sense of lack, seems etched onto his features like a long-term sorrow. He admitted that the Parklife album should be resigned to the "comedy section in a record shop". That's an admirable statement considering it's the vehicle that thrust his band into the mainstream and earned him his millions. But you get the sense he carries his perceived lack of authenticity like a burden. I can imagine him waking up in his Notting Hill mansion and looking in the mirror to say: You f***ing phony. Then perhaps laughing it off because dwelling on it might spoil his morning. Especially as he's flying off to Mali to do some studio work with an African group later.

The fact that as a virtue-signaller he hasn't followed so many others to slag off Morrissey outright shows a lot of decency. But it begs a few questions also. Perhaps deep down he knows Morrissey is right. After all, Moz is what Albarn has always longed to be: a member of the urban working class. Rootsy. Earthy. Given no childhood privileges. And working class people know. You can't pull the wool over them. They know bullshit when they hear or see it. The Clash, for example, might have great energy, great songs and rousing politics, but they're a bullshit band. The Jam on the other hand are real. It makes a difference. And what niggles at Albarn is that no matter what he does or where he goes in his life, he knows he's a bullshitter. Being an actor. Playing a role. He must have nightmares of barrow boys and knees up mother brown... why oh why did I go there? But I think it reveals a very human character.

So to join the baying crowd to slag off somebody like Morrissey for anything at all would somehow be a moral crime that wouldn't sit well with him.
 
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Albarn is the archetype of the privileged white male who desperately wishes he was working class.
That might have been valid speculation circa Park life, but Albarn is someone who writes operas, scores string quartets for immersive theatre, does 'World Music' projects and collects celebrity collaborators like they're all about to die. Which, tbf, some of them have done.

I've nothing against him. I think he's done some really good stuff. But he's not making any pretence to be anything than intensely middle class.
 
image.jpg
Yes, "misrepresenting the Nazi salute." You said that he "used to give the Nazi salute." This implies it is something that happened more than once, and is an established fact. You have misrepresented it.
In fact, there is a photo where it is claimed that he is making this gesture. It happened once. He said that the photo catches him waving at the crowds and that he was not actually "making a Nazi salute."
Maybe he did.
NME.jpeg


or maybe he was waving at the crowds.
bowie-victoria.jpg

Did he do it all the time so that we can be sure?
616zcPw%2BLhL.jpg

Not sure.
He did say some things about Adolf Hitler that might lead one to believe he did this on purpose. He talked about it quite a bit so you can decide for yourself. I could make a case either way.

Now, what was the point?

Wayne Hennessy springs to mind. He was cleared as he had no idea what a Nazi salute was. Admittedly he is from Anglesey. Also the photographer was a German teammate. So was in no way #bantz
 
Albarn is the archetype of the privileged white male who desperately wishes he was working class. Like Joe Strummer before him, you get the feeling he would literally die to have been born working class - a true working class Londoner who somehow threw off the saddlebags he was born to carry for life to walk his own road and achieve free creative living. Which is highly admirable.

But when you've been to a good school and grew up in a nice village, that missing essential element of an edgy earthy beginning can leave you feeling like a fraud. Joe Strummer hid his true feelings well, but with Albarn this hole, this vast sense of lack, seems etched onto his features like a long-term sorrow. He admitted that the Parklife album should be resigned to the "comedy section in a record shop". That's an admirable statement considering it's the vehicle that thrust his band into the mainstream and earned him his millions. But you get the sense he carries his perceived lack of authenticity like a burden. I can imagine him waking up in his Notting Hill mansion and looking in the mirror to say: You f***ing phony. Then perhaps laughing it off because dwelling on it might spoil his morning. Especially as he's flying off to Mali to do some studio work with an African group later.

The fact that as a virtue-signaller he hasn't followed so many others to slag off Morrissey outright shows a lot of decency. But it begs a few questions also. Perhaps deep down he knows Morrissey is right. After all, Moz is what Albarn has always longed to be: a member of the urban working class. Rootsy. Earthy. Given no childhood privileges. And working class people know. You can't pull the wool over them. They know bullshit when they hear or see it. The Clash, for example, might have great energy, great songs and rousing politics, but they're a bullshit band. The Jam on the other hand are real. It makes a difference. And what niggles at Albarn is that no matter what he does or where he goes in his life, he knows he's a bullshitter. Being an actor. Playing a role. He must have nightmares of barrow boys and knees up mother brown... why oh why did I go there? But I think it reveals a very human character.

So to join the baying crowd to slag off somebody like Morrissey for anything at all would somehow be a moral crime that wouldn't sit well with him.

Blah, blah, blah .... no knowledge of either The Clash or The Jam .... blah, blah, blah. Morrissey really embraced his 'working class' roots didn't he? So much so that he revelled in a middle / upper middle class affectation of stating "one" i.e.: 'one' would wish to presume rather than 'I' wouldn't wish to presume. Uh huh, that's how all of the working class kids in Manchester spoke back then. Maybe you remember it? Morrissey never wanted to be working class and did all he could to distance himself from the working classes - something he continues to do to this day. He was ashamed of it. Still is. He uses his working class roots as a klaxon call when needed (an attempt to legitamise himself) but he is as far removed from the working classes today as he was back in the early 80s. Morrissey? Working class? Do not make me laugh. Morrissey is the definition of a class traitor.
 
Blah, blah, blah .... no knowledge of either The Clash or The Jam .... blah, blah, blah. Morrissey really embraced his 'working class' roots didn't he? So much so that he revelled in a middle / upper middle class affectation of stating "one" i.e.: 'one' would wish to presume rather than 'I' wouldn't wish to presume. Uh huh, that's how all of the working class kids in Manchester spoke back then. Maybe you remember it? Morrissey never wanted to be working class and did all he could to distance himself from the working classes - something he continues to do to this day. He was ashamed of it. Still is. He uses his working class roots as a klaxon call when needed (an attempt to legitamise himself) but he is as far removed from the working classes today as he was back in the early 80s. Morrissey? Working class? Do not make me laugh. Morrissey is the definition of a class traitor.

Class traitor? He prefers to speak more eloquently because he's well read and not a low IQ retard, doesn't mean he dismisses or has no care or respect for working class
 
Class traitor? He prefers to speak more eloquently because he's well read and not a low IQ retard, doesn't mean he dismisses or has no care or respect for working class

Er, are you suggesting that speaking in your native, localised dialect makes you a low IQ retard? It seems you are? In doing so you've made my point for me. Morrissey embraced the affectation to distance himself from his so-called working class roots by changing how he spoke. Many people are well-read they don't adopt an accent or affectation based on the books they've read. Morrissey was and is ashamed of the working class association - except when it suits him.
 
Er, are you suggesting that speaking in your native, localised dialect makes you a low IQ retard? It seems you are? In doing so you've made my point for me. Morrissey embraced the affectation to distance himself from his so-called working class roots by changing how he spoke. Many people are well-read they don't adopt an accent or affectation based on the books they've read. Morrissey was and is ashamed of the working class association - except when it suits him.
If Moz was ashamed of his working class roots why did he love the writings of Shelagh Delaney, Alan Sillitoe etc? Just because he wasn't dressing as a local casual or wearing a football scarf doesn't mean he wasn't proud in his own way. Look at the way he romanticizes local Manchester areas in his Smiths lyrics. People who are working class but are true individuals (like me) understand Moz full well in this regard. Some people are simply not pack animals, if you know what I mean.
 
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That might have been valid speculation circa Park life, but Albarn is someone who writes operas, scores string quartets for immersive theatre, does 'World Music' projects and collects celebrity collaborators like they're all about to die. Which, tbf, some of them have done.

I've nothing against him. I think he's done some really good stuff. But he's not making any pretence to be anything than intensely middle class.
I'm dwelling on what is beneath the surface. Whenever I see this man I notice something beneath. A sorrow. An intense wish that his bohemian middle class parents had stayed in that terraced house in humble Leytonstone so at least he could have passed himself off as working class (because Parklife is not going to be forgotten - and for him it's there archived forever like a public sin).

This is a serious issue that literally haunted Joe Strummer who of course attended an English Public School (meaning private in the UK). The need to believe you are coming from an authentic place and the urge to rid yourself of this almost demonic sense of doubt. The knowledge that deep down you're somehow a fraud and everything was presented too easily for you on a plate. Joe Strummer liked to think of himself as a rock'n'roll soldier, a conquering urban hero. Albarn clearly buys into this legend (it's obvious in much of his output), and even today with Paul Simenon in his band he hopes some of its magic will rub off on him. The legend of London and the Westway and all those tower blocks overhead. That magic sense of place in his every stride.

Albarn knows that to some extent he has always been playing a role (at least artistically - but when you're an artist this makes no difference). He went to acting school after all. And he literally wears this sorrow (this burden, this class tension) in his gold tooth. In his still slightly cockney accent. In the way that as a virtue signaller he won't allow himself to follow on logically to berate Morrissey like all the other hypocritical middle-classers of his ilk.

Perhaps a part of him knows Morrissey is right. Perhaps he understands that neoliberalism and globalism (and their symptoms) aren't necessarily things to be celebrating - unfashionable as it is among the middle and media class to admit it.
 
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If Moz was ashamed of his working class roots why did he love the writings of Shelagh Delaney, Alan Sillitoe etc? Just because he wasn't dressing as a local casual or wearing a football scarf doesn't mean he wasn't proud in his own way. look at the way he romanticizes local Manchester areas in his Smiths lyrics. People who are working class but are true individuals (like me) understand Moz full well in this regard. Some people are simply not pack animals, if you know what I mean.

Right. I believe Johnny Marr said Morrissey was a pretty scrappy athlete when he was younger and Moz also was big into boxing for awhile. Moz has been famous for over 30 years so what do people want from him? Was John Lennon ever giving shit for not living up to his Liverpool roots?
 
Imagine being too afraid to lift your arm upright, your own limb which belongs to you. That you could lose your career or have the police at your door for being caught with your arm upright :crazy:

Similar to how some kooks over in the USA were freaking out recently about the 'OK' sign, claiming that it was a secret symbol for 'white power'. Even if it was what they claimed it to be, it's someone else's hand and they can make a circle with their thumb and forefinger if they choose. Imagine thinking you have some control over what other people do with their arms and fingers :handok::crazy:

And imagine policing yourself and being self-conscious about what height you lift your arm to, just in case someone sees you and thinks you're saluting Hitler :man:

But only if you're white, that is. It's preferable to have you like a prisoner in your own body where even your body language and movement of your arms and fingers is constantly monitored :rolleyes:
21st century society is 24/7 White Man Bootcamp. Atten hut! :policeofficer::ha-no:

Stasi officer @Uncleskinny, Ironsides @The Truth, and Barnaby @evennow would gladly drag you off for a spell in pokey for being caught with your arm outstretched, for not keeping them stiffly by your sides at all times like an army cadet or Queen's beefeater.
When all you were really doing was reaching out for a bottle of water to keep yourself hydrated in this stifling heat :sweatdrops:

What will they think of next ?
Force you to wear burqas so they can't see your white flesh nor what your arms and fingers are doing under there :turban:? Out of sight out of mind :eyes:? The only way to overcome their paranoid obsession ?
 
Albarn is the archetype of the privileged white male who desperately wishes he was working class. Like Joe Strummer before him, you get the feeling he would literally die to have been born working class - a true working class Londoner who somehow threw off the saddlebags he was born to carry for life to walk his own road and achieve free creative living. Which is highly admirable.

But when you've been to a good school and grew up in a nice village, that missing essential element of an edgy earthy beginning can leave you feeling like a fraud. Joe Strummer hid his true feelings well, but with Albarn this hole, this vast sense of lack, seems etched onto his features like a long-term sorrow. He admitted that the Parklife album should be resigned to the "comedy section in a record shop". That's an admirable statement considering it's the vehicle that thrust his band into the mainstream and earned him his millions. But you get the sense he carries his perceived lack of authenticity like a burden. I can imagine him waking up in his Notting Hill mansion and looking in the mirror to say: You f***ing phony. Then perhaps laughing it off because dwelling on it might spoil his morning. Especially as he's flying off to Mali to do some studio work with an African group later.

The fact that as a virtue-signaller he hasn't followed so many others to slag off Morrissey outright shows a lot of decency. But it begs a few questions also. Perhaps deep down he knows Morrissey is right. After all, Moz is what Albarn has always longed to be: a member of the urban working class. Rootsy. Earthy. Given no childhood privileges. And working class people know. You can't pull the wool over them. They know bullshit when they hear or see it. The Clash, for example, might have great energy, great songs and rousing politics, but they're a bullshit band. The Jam on the other hand are real. It makes a difference. And what niggles at Albarn is that no matter what he does or where he goes in his life, he knows he's a bullshitter. Being an actor. Playing a role. He must have nightmares of barrow boys and knees up mother brown... why oh why did I go there? But I think it reveals a very human character.

So to join the baying crowd to slag off somebody like Morrissey for anything at all would somehow be a moral crime that wouldn't sit well with him.
What a great post. 100% right. I remember Brett Anderson complaining years ago in the 90's about how Damon was singing about 'my father the bin man' when he was upper class/ twatted with money. I take your point about The Jam too. Proper working class heroes. Same for Joy Division (although I think Stephen Morris was from a middle class background). Real bands that meant something and whose music will endure because its not fake.
 
What a great post. 100% right. I remember Brett Anderson complaining years ago in the 90's about how Damon was singing about 'my father the bin man' when he was upper class/ twatted with money. I take your point about The Jam too. Proper working class heroes. Same for Joy Division (although I think Stephen Morris was from a middle class background). Real bands that meant something and whose music will endure because its not fake.

Brett Anderson was a gentleman talking about Morrissey during an interview. Maybe he doesn't agree with Morrissey, but he didn't insult him in public when he was almost entrapped to do so, and he didn't deny Morrissey's freedom of speech. Rich dads don't necessarily make gentelmen.
 
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Blah, blah, blah .... no knowledge of either The Clash or The Jam .... blah, blah, blah. Morrissey really embraced his 'working class' roots didn't he? So much so that he revelled in a middle / upper middle class affectation of stating "one" i.e.: 'one' would wish to presume rather than 'I' wouldn't wish to presume. Uh huh, that's how all of the working class kids in Manchester spoke back then.

OK, so because Morrissey chooses not to be a walking stereotype, he's a traitor to his class. This is really dumb.

Would you call a black person an Uncle Tom for not speaking in ghetto slang?

What about all the British musicians who sing in American accents? Are they traitors to their country?
 
OK, so because Morrissey chooses not to be a walking stereotype, he's a traitor to his class. This is really dumb.
Morrissey is a class traitor because he is a tax exile and because he supports a political party whose policies are all about attacking the working class for the benefit of the wealthy.
 
Imagine being too afraid to lift your arm upright, your own limb which belongs to you. That you could lose your career or have the police at your door for being caught with your arm upright :crazy:

Similar to how some kooks over in the USA were freaking out recently about the 'OK' sign, claiming that it was a secret symbol for 'white power'. Even if it was what they claimed it to be, it's someone else's hand and they can make a circle with their thumb and forefinger if they choose. Imagine thinking you have some control over what other people do with their arms and fingers

And imagine policing yourself and being self-conscious about what height you lift your arm to, just in case someone sees you and thinks you're saluting Hitler :man:

But only if you're white, that is. It's preferable to have you like a prisoner in your own body where even your body language and movement of your arms and fingers is constantly monitored :rolleyes:
21st century society is 24/7 White Man Bootcamp. Atten hut! :policeofficer::ha-no:

Stasi officer @Uncleskinny, Ironsides @The Truth, and Barnaby @evennow would gladly drag you off for a spell in pokey for being caught with your arm outstretched, for not keeping them stiffly by your sides at all times like an army cadet or Queen's beefeater.
When all you were really doing was reaching out for a bottle of water to keep yourself hydrated in this stifling heat

What will they think of next ?
Force you to wear burqas so they can't see your white flesh nor what your arms and fingers are doing under there :turban:? Out of sight out of mind :eyes:? The only way to overcome their paranoid obsession ?
Turbanus.cro!!!! Lol!!!! Hearteyes! :lbf:

Mah babycakes, MAH BOO!! :love:
 

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