Independent.ie: Lloyd Cole Interview - with Morrissey anecdotes (July 2, 2023)

Lloyd Cole interview Sunday Independent (Ireland) 2nd July - Morrissey references

Morrissey became a fan. He said Cole was the sort of person who gets "erotic about blotting paper". To which Cole replied: "I do. I am a real stationery fetishist."
When Lloyd Cole and the Commotions played their first gig in London at the Dominion Theatre, they came offstage and went to their dressing room to find Morrissey "drinking a cup of tea. We were friends for a few years." Does he despair for his old friend's right-wing politics now? "Oh, I couldn't possibly be friends with Morrissey now. But that's the lovely thing about art, those Smiths records and those Morrissey records are yours now. You can remove the author. In fact, the author is necessarily removed when the record is released."
In 1985, he and Morrissey met up a few times. "We had tea at Fortnum & Mason. That was his idea. We would play each other songs that we were working on. I got to hear 'Meat is Murder' before it came out."
Was that a bit like Alan Bennett and Dennis Potter having lunch together?"It absolutely wasn't," he says with a laugh, "because we were both still young and immature and still finding our way, in terms of finding our voices.
"I think Morrissey probably found his voice on The Queen is Dead and I found mine on my first solo record. I think I was trying to be less worthy from Rattlesnakes onwards. I love Rattlesnakes to death but it is hard for me to listen to the singing now. I don't en- joy the sound of my voice on that record. It's overly mannered.

https://archive.is/pVhnY

 

[Kennethwilliamsunderstudy]

I’ve never really given Cole the time to listen to. What would be an accessible album to start with?

rattlesnakes or mainstream for commotion and solo his debut , don't get weird ... and his recent album guesswork is superb if slightly more electronic . his newest "on pain" has left me cold so far
he had a band called the negatives that only did 1 album and that's pretty good too . he's quite chatty on twitter and is a bit of a dry wit on the quiet !

 

[DagenhamDan]

It may not be in exactly the same league(although maybe for some it is), but I remember Momus a.k.a Nick Currie speaking in Morrissey's defence in the mid-90s as the NME ramped up its 'This Alarming Man'/flag-waving-at-Madstock hate-schtick. I'm sure he even wrote to the NME who printed his missive in the Letters Page, complete with their usual snidey derogatory remarks.

I didnt know that, i think the difference with the 90s and now is it was mostly Steven Wells and other NME journalists who were driving the racism thing and it was largely ignored by most people as the NME trying to derail their once golden boy, but that was again largely forgotten when Vauxhall & I came out and all was forgiven, briefly.
Whereas now its almost universal, they are showing old bbc2 in concerts on tonight and i was thinking there is absolutely no way they would now show the Moz show from 2008 or indeed anything he has done, at all, on any channel now. Its so sad

 

[Mike Rourke]

Morrissey's crime appears to be that he thinks the UK should be able to control the amount of people it allows to settle there.

Sorry but this is rubbish - everyone accepts that there must be some limits to immigration. When has anyone said 'the problem with Morrissey is that he doesn't agree with uncontrolled immigration'? Never. The main problem is that he went out of his way to publicly endorse/support/defend/sympathise with a succession of right wing arseholes including Farage, Robinson, Anne Waters, For Britain, and Le Pen.
It's not illegal to have these views and it's not even particularly extreme. A few other pop stars have similar political sympathies. The problem for Morrissey is that he attracted a big fanbase partly by being completely opposed to these people's world views.
His hatred of right wing politics was frequently articulated, culminating in the song Margaret on the Guillotine. It was endorsing right-wing parties and politicians that resulted in thousands upon thousands of his fans, radio stations and record companies deserting him.
There is no problem at all with being opposed to uncontrolled immigration.

 

[From the left]

Morrissey the first for me
LLoyd Cole the second

 

[Gaylord Deepstar]

Either:

a) b'cos they don't actually have a 'view' of their own, or if they do,

b) they don't want to admit what that real, 'genuine' view might actually be in public.

The 'view' that they wish to promote, (via this type of interview, or whatever), is dictated by the MSM/Twitter/FB/Threads mob.

To go against any of that would c) risk smearing 'their lovely career(s)'.

All these who denounce Moz in this manner are completely disingenuous, simply looking out for themselves, & seeking to avoid being cancelled.

Shameful, gutless self-preservation, in short.

"I see the world, it makes me puke,"

Well done, you sound just as delusional as Morrissey!

 

[Mike Rourke]

I'm a bit of a fan of Lloyd Cole - still go to see him live and still buy his albums but he does get a ridiculously easy ride from reviewers. His last couple of albums have been so mediocre - just one or two (max) half decent songs on each yet the generous reviews come rolling in. Whereas Dog on a Chain had about 5 or 6 brilliant songs and picked up much worse reviews than Lloyd C ever gets.
I even bought his new one which came out a couple of weeks ago, but still plucking up the courage to listen to it!

 

[BrokenFrame]

Sorry but this is rubbish - everyone accepts that there must be some limits to immigration. When has anyone said 'the problem with Morrissey is that he doesn't agree with uncontrolled immigration'? Never. The main problem is that he went out of his way to publicly endorse/support/defend/sympathise with a succession of right wing arseholes including Farage, Robinson, Anne Waters, For Britain, and Le Pen.
It's not illegal to have these views and it's not even particularly extreme. A few other pop stars have similar political sympathies. The problem for Morrissey is that he attracted a big fanbase partly by being completely opposed to these people's world views.
His hatred of right wing politics was frequently articulated, culminating in the song Margaret on the Guillotine. It was endorsing right-wing parties and politicians that resulted in thousands upon thousands of his fans, radio stations and record companies deserting him.
There is no problem at all with being opposed to uncontrolled immigration.

Why is everyone surprised that Moz has some right wing views? Haven't they heard "Bengali in Platforms"?

 

[Deleted member 29227]

Why is everyone surprised that Moz has some right wing views? Haven't they heard "Bengali in Platforms"?

Why don't you explain to us all exactly why you think that song is "right wing"? Or are you just being provocative?

 

[Young And Alive]

Sorry but this is rubbish - everyone accepts that there must be some limits to immigration. When has anyone said 'the problem with Morrissey is that he doesn't agree with uncontrolled immigration'? Never. The main problem is that he went out of his way to publicly endorse/support/defend/sympathise with a succession of right wing arseholes including Farage, Robinson, Anne Waters, For Britain, and Le Pen.
It's not illegal to have these views and it's not even particularly extreme. A few other pop stars have similar political sympathies. The problem for Morrissey is that he attracted a big fanbase partly by being completely opposed to these people's world views.
His hatred of right wing politics was frequently articulated, culminating in the song Margaret on the Guillotine. It was endorsing right-wing parties and politicians that resulted in thousands upon thousands of his fans, radio stations and record companies deserting him.
There is no problem at all with being opposed to uncontrolled immigration.

Right, so let’s get this straight.

In the 80s, Morrissey can say things like “it’s a tragedy the IRA failed to kill Margaret Thatcher” and his (then) fans didn’t bat an eyelid, because Maggie bad, Tories bad yadda yadda.

But fast forward to the 2010s when Morrissey expresses support for Brexit (hardly a niche view to have, given more people voted Leave than Remain) and expressed some admiration for Nigel Farage, and these same fans lose their shit and disown him, simply because he has the audacity to have opinions they don’t share.

Bottom line is these former fans can dish it out but they can’t take it. Call for the death of a politician they hate and all’s well. Say that you quite like a politician they don’t and all hell breaks loose.

That says more about them, their hypocrisy and their perverse moral compass than it does about anything regarding Morrissey.

 

[No 27]

Right, so let’s get this straight.

In the 80s, Morrissey can say things like “it’s a tragedy the IRA failed to kill Margaret Thatcher” and his (then) fans didn’t bat an eyelid, because Maggie bad, Tories bad yadda yadda.

But fast forward to the 2010s when Morrissey expresses support for Brexit (hardly a niche view to have, given more people voted Leave than Remain) and expressed some admiration for Nigel Farage, and these same fans lose their shit and disown him, simply because he has the audacity to have opinions they don’t share.

Bottom line is these former fans can dish it out but they can’t take it. Call for the death of a politician they hate and all’s well. Say that you quite like a politician they don’t and all hell breaks loose.

That says more about them, their hypocrisy and their perverse moral compass than it does about anything regarding Morrissey.

Internet message boards didn't exist in 1984.

 

[BrokenFrame]

Why don't you explain to us all exactly why you think that song is "right wing"? Or are you just being provocative?

Telling immigrants they don't belong here and he always had the flag waving side to him. I don't think he's right wing, I think he's a mixture.

 

[Deleted member 29227]

Right, so let’s get this straight.

In the 80s, Morrissey can say things like “it’s a tragedy the IRA failed to kill Margaret Thatcher” and his (then) fans didn’t bat an eyelid, because Maggie bad, Tories bad yadda yadda.

But fast forward to the 2010s when Morrissey expresses support for Brexit (hardly a niche view to have, given more people voted Leave than Remain) and expressed some admiration for Nigel Farage, and these same fans lose their shit and disown him, simply because he has the audacity to have opinions they don’t share.

Bottom line is these former fans can dish it out but they can’t take it. Call for the death of a politician they hate and all’s well. Say that you quite like a politician they don’t and all hell breaks loose.

That says more about them, their hypocrisy and their perverse moral compass than it does about anything regarding Morrissey.

Many non-UK people on here, including @Mike Rourke, have a very poor understanding of what Brexit was actually about, & wrongly believe it is/was a racist-related decision, voted for by 52% of the UK voters, mind. Does that make the UK, in the eyes of such people, a majority racist nation?

 

[Deleted member 29227]

Telling immigrants they don't belong here and he always had the flag waving side to him. I don't think he's right wing, I think he's a mixture.

So you have no real answer. Fine.

 

[No 27]

Many non-UK people on here, including @Mike Rourke, have a very poor understanding of what Brexit was actually about, & wrongly believe it is/was a racist-related decision, voted for by 52% of the UK voters, mind. Does that make the UK, in the eyes of such people, a majority racist nation?

They weren't all racists. Some of them were c_nts.

 

[Crisstti]

Lloyd's debut solo album 'Lloyd Cole' is amazing, as is the orchestral first half of 'Don't Get Weird On Me Babe'. 'Love Story' is brilliant too.

Thanks for the recommendation

So, it is "Lloyd"? Cause Moz called him Floyd in that letter!

 

[BrokenFrame]

So you have no real answer. Fine.

People seem to think disliking thatcher made him left wing.

 

[Crisstti]

Also why is it that if someone has right wing views, this is taken to be inherently evil or objectively wrong, and that you simply have to disassociate yourself from this person if you wish to preserve your own career?

Whereas if someone has left wing views (e.g. Billy Bragg) then this is seen as being inherently good and objectively correct, and you aren’t allowed to criticise them?

Politics is about debate. Nobody should be shut down for their views, whether they’re right or left.

This witch-hunt against Morrissey over his (perceived) political beliefs is disturbing. It’s like McCarthyism in reverse.

Absolutely. It is disturbing, witch-hunt like, and should not be so in any kind of democratic society. Only one view accepted, no debate or argument even necessary. It's a dogma.

Not to mention, stuff like supporting Brexit or wanting immigration to be more controlled seem to be things supported by a large % of British population, mainly working class. The media and the music "world" would make you think these are some fringe extremist beliefs. The extremists are the ones who don't accept debate or a different point of view.

 

[Deleted member 29227]

People seem to think disliking thatcher made him left wing.

You're utterly clueless, aren't you?
Quit now.

 

[BrokenFrame]

You're utterly clueless, aren't you?
Quit now.

My point is that he's always been more complex than people thought.

 

[Mike Rourke]

Many non-UK people on here, including @Mike Rourke, have a very poor understanding of what Brexit was actually about, & wrongly believe it is/was a racist-related decision, voted for by 52% of the UK voters, mind. Does that make the UK, in the eyes of such people, a majority racist nation?

When have I ever even mentioned Brexit here? You're clearly confusing me with someone else.
Couldn't give a shit whether someone voted for Brexit or not. I was not fully in favour or against.
My main view was that most of us had no idea how it would pan out if we left, which turned out to be true.