If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried...

Belligerent Ghoul

Hall of Famer
http://www.morrissey-solo.com/threads/132220-George-Michael-lets-us-in-on-a-secret

http://www.morrissey-solo.com/threads/132238-Article-Harvest-ends-contract-with-Morrissey-TTY

Since the announcement, that Moz is without a record deal, being open to a Smiths reunion has gone from laughable to plausible to welcoming. You only need read the comments in the linked threads above to see that.

If MORRISSEY & MARR were to work together again, what arrangement would best suit them? Simply put The Smiths back together, Joyce, warts, and all, start writing songs, hit the road, full-blown reformation? Why not even call up VH-1 - have a little documentary be done about it?

Call up Andy Rourke, get another drummer, and pick up where they left off, touring Strangeways, Here We Come? And keep the relationship limited to touring? Touring would not tarnish their legacy because other than age, at least, Morrissey & Marr can still perform, and there could be no accusations of "they were good in their time, but the new songs suck" because there would be no new songs.

One-off Cash Cow tour of Planet Earth? Just enough for another major label to sign Moz solo...or for him to retire on a high note. Then call it quits.

Wembley Stadium? Capacity 90,000. One show and it's over.

Some other kind or working relationship? Marr does his thing. Moz does his thing. But the relationship is just a side project to Marr's making music and Morrissey writing a novel...since Moz has no label and will not sign with an Indie label?

Some other arrangement?
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

I don't think they would get back together unless new material was involved.

Marr especially I don't think is interested in living in the past.

And it would never involve Joyce. I reckon Marr would insist Rourke was at least invited to take part, and I don't think Morrissey would have a problem with that particularly.

But Morrissey seems to genuinely detest Joyce, and there is no possibility he would ever be involved.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

What's the point in inviting Rourke if Joyce isn't involved, though?
It seems to me there's only two options, either reform The Smiths (which is all four) or just go out as "Morrissey and Marr"... or maybe a third option, Morrissey, Marr and new drummer/bass player with a new band name (like Bernard Butler and that other dude from Suede a few years back - Tears).
The last two options aren't The Smiths so they wouldn't be looking at huge payouts, and that's the only real reason to do it at all, so they only really have the option of a reformation of The Smiths, but Morrissey will never work with Joyce, so it's either a "3/4s of The Smiths" tour, which is not The Smiths and will be so pathetic, or nothing at all.
I vote for nothing at all.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

I don't think they would get back together unless new material was involved.

Marr especially I don't think is interested in living in the past.

And it would never involve Joyce. I reckon Marr would insist Rourke was at least invited to take part, and I don't think Morrissey would have a problem with that particularly.

But Morrissey seems to genuinely detest Joyce, and there is no possibility he would ever be involved.

Didn't the drummer poison Morrissey's cat back when the lawsuit was going on? I would detest him forever too.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

What about a supergroup - Marr on guitar, Chrissie Hynde on vocals, Morrissey on spoons and Adolf Hitler on vibes?
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

No offence to Joyce - he's a good drummer - but The Smiths without Joyce would still be The Smiths. His membership of the band was not integral to its existence.

When Rourke was temporarily fired from the band, there was no question of The Smiths splitting up.

One might say they were as readily replaceable as the parts of a lawnmower...
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

There's no chance of it happening but...

1) I watched the documentary about the Pixies reforming a few days ago (Loudquietloud - a good watch if you're a fan BTW, and it's available free on Roku if you have one). I don't believe rock bands ever reform for artistic reasons. It's about the money. So, a Smiths or Morrissey/Marr reunion would consist of various dates in enormous money-hoovering venues in the cities where they are most popular. A bit more enormous if is was the Smiths rather than M&M.

2) I **think** it is a consequence of the court case that Mike Joyce would be able to veto a reunion using the name "Smiths" were he not invited to take part.

3) I don't believe M&M are on anything even close to speaking terms at the present time.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

No offence to Joyce - he's a good drummer - but The Smiths without Joyce would still be The Smiths. His membership of the band was not integral to its existence.

When Rourke was temporarily fired from the band, there was no question of The Smiths splitting up.

One might say they were as readily replaceable as the parts of a lawnmower...

It's all very well to say that in hindsight but The Smiths records sound the way they do because of Morrissey voice, Marr's lead guitar, Rourke's bass and Joyce's guitars.
You could have replaced either Joyce and Rourke, but those records WOULD HAVE sounded differently. Those gigs WOULD HAVE sounded differently.
It's such a shame that some fans feel the need to follow Morrissey's example and trash the contribution to those records of the other band members.
You could easily get a bass player and a drummer now to IMITATE what Rourke and Joyce did on those records, but it isn't The Smiths without them imo.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

The closest we would get to The Smiths would be Marr and Morrissey. Possibly Rourke, but I never understood why people think Mike Joyce would EVER be in the equation. Baffles me.

Just the thought of Marr with Morrissey again is awesome, but highly unlikely.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

I think Moz and Marr is possible - eventually. But it's not going to happen soon. Maybe in 5 years time, when Morrissey still can't get a record contract, his hair is totally white and he realises his time is running out. People say a lot of shit about each other, but when realisations of mortality kick in, it's suprising how often people realising how pointless and petty all their little spats really were.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

No part of me believes on any level that this is even slightly likely to happen. I have no desire to see it happen, either—Morrissey has accomplished so much on his own. It's done, it's over.

If I do a little projecting, I would love to see him reconnect in a friendly way with Marr. Just to bury the bad feelings. But that's more about me and my own past friendships, not any insight I have into either of their wishes.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

The only thing I would want to see is Morrissey and Marr doing something similar to 'Songs for Drella'.



But Morrissey isn't a musician is he, so I don't think it would be as equal a meeting as Cale/Reed.
 
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Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

Actually, watching that video above again, what strikes me most about that collaboration was the tension between them. You can see the mutual hatred but also admiration and something truly brilliant comes out of it.
I think a Smiths reunion where they go through the old hits and just do a quick arena tour money grab would be such a sad spectacle, but if Morrissey and Marr did come together to write new music and actually used the tension between them and their past they could come up with something astonishing.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

The only thing I would want to see is Morrissey and Marr doing something similar to 'Songs for Drella'.

But Morrissey isn't a musician is he, so I don't think it would be as equal a meeting as Cale/Reed.

This is maybe an exception that proves the "never for artistic reasons" rule. But, yeah, I can't see Morrissey and Marr collaborating in the same way, and "Songs for Mr Shankly" doesn't have quite the same ring.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

If Boz hadn't hung on this long with M, I'd think it more likely to happen. But for anything involving Marr to happen (even if in some weird universe where Boz is included), I still think M would consider it a slap in the face to Boz's loyalty for all these years. I know I would.

Like, 'yeah, we had a good run, but I can't get a record label with you, so off to the guitarist who made me most historically successful.'
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

Morrissey is too much of a hapless schlub to reform The Smiths now, maybe a decade ago.
Marr is far to cool as well.

Either way it'd be shit them reforming.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

On another thread you said you were OK with a side project. Were you sleepwalking when you wrote that? :+)

No part of me believes on any level that this is even slightly likely to happen. I have no desire to see it happen, either—Morrissey has accomplished so much on his own. It's done, it's over.

If I do a little projecting, I would love to see him reconnect in a friendly way with Marr. Just to bury the bad feelings. But that's more about me and my own past friendships, not any insight I have into either of their wishes.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

Moz has been loyal to his band to a fault. Having said that, he tossed Alain. Moz is also cutthroat and always watches out for #1 - himself.

If Boz hadn't hung on this long with M, I'd think it more likely to happen. But for anything involving Marr to happen (even if in some weird universe where Boz is included), I still think M would consider it a slap in the face to Boz's loyalty for all these years. I know I would.

Like, 'yeah, we had a good run, but I can't get a record label with you, so off to the guitarist who made me most historically successful.'
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

Moz has been loyal to his band to a fault. Having said that, he tossed Alain. Moz is also cutthroat and always watches out for #1 - himself.

I don't know what it is, though. Maybe it's the bias of Autobiography coloring my opinion, but it always seemed like Moz was closer with Boz than he ever was with Alain. It's even just the little things — like when Moz was doing "Interlude" with Siouxsie, Boz did the arrangement, Alain wasn't involved at all as far as I'm aware. For the duration of "th' Lads" era, it feels now like Alain was just there because he was a good foil to Boz, the best possible option for a lead guitarist who brought melodic songs to the table. As far as friendship is concerned, it would appear that the bond between Boz and Morrissey is much deeper. Maybe it's just me.
 
Re: If The Smiths reformed... Sat. G.M suggests & you laughed. Sun. no Moz record deal & you cried.

Alain is also - by far - the sexiest musician Moz has ever worked with.
That's important.
If they do reform, and it's without Rourke and Joyce, Moz needs to get some hunky dolly birds in tight jeans in as replacements.
 
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