Mike Joyce pays tribute to Andy Rourke on BBC Breakfast (May 20, 2023)

Mike on BBC breakfast yesterday



Description - Richill / YouTube:

BBC Breakfast and Mike Joyce pay tribute to the late and great Andy Rourke. Johnny Marr confirmed "with deep sadness" that Rourke died after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer. In a statement posted on Twitter, Marr said: "Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him, and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans". Morrissey said, “Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments… as if their death is there to be used. I’m not prepared to do this with Andy. “I just hope … wherever Andy has gone … that he’s OK. He will never die as long as his music is heard. He didn’t ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done.” Morrissey added: “He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity – never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that.”

---

Related item:

• Morrissey-solo: RIP Andy Rourke (May 19, 2023)

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

Mike on BBC breakfast yesterday



Description - Richill / YouTube:

BBC Breakfast and Mike Joyce pay tribute to the late and great Andy Rourke. Johnny Marr confirmed "with deep sadness" that Rourke died after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer. In a statement posted on Twitter, Marr said: "Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him, and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans". Morrissey said, “Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments… as if their death is there to be used. I’m not prepared to do this with Andy. “I just hope … wherever Andy has gone … that he’s OK. He will never die as long as his music is heard. He didn’t ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done.” Morrissey added: “He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity – never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that.”

---

Related item:

• Morrissey-solo: RIP Andy Rourke (May 19, 2023)

Andy was a such a lovely man chatty and warm .
Must be a crazy feeling for M, Apart from the loss of someone else in his life
It's also a loss of power He used to be the one with the power to reform the Smiths but that's been taken away they can now never be truellly reformed
Although he could do a M and Marr LP .

Poor Andy .

 

[marred]

A touching tribute from someone who knew him very well. In fact, all responses from the band members so far have said so much, really.

If you didn't know before, you're seeing it all now - the quality fabric that The Smiths were made of.

Andy and Mike were probably the level headed glue that kept them from falling apart even as short as their Smiths life was. To be able to produce content of that quality and intensity in such a short time is astounding. A little glue goes a long way, even the less glamorous kind

 

[Ryan]

Nice words from Mike. If his earlobes sag any lower he'll start treading on them.

 

[IKMH@7372]

Mike on BBC breakfast yesterday



Description - Richill / YouTube:

BBC Breakfast and Mike Joyce pay tribute to the late and great Andy Rourke. Johnny Marr confirmed "with deep sadness" that Rourke died after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer. In a statement posted on Twitter, Marr said: "Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him, and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans". Morrissey said, “Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments… as if their death is there to be used. I’m not prepared to do this with Andy. “I just hope … wherever Andy has gone … that he’s OK. He will never die as long as his music is heard. He didn’t ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done.” Morrissey added: “He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity – never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that.”

---

Related item:

• Morrissey-solo: RIP Andy Rourke (May 19, 2023)

It's been a while since I have commented on this site but Andy's early exit from life's departure lounge has got me thinking about those integral bass lines to that glorious Smiths sound. I am not a musicologist by any means but I think that Andy's utterly distinctive contribution to those melodically magnificent songs will be long studied for many generations to come.