Morrissey and Britpop

[Bigmouth]

hi, I just thought Since I'm in a "new" kind of "britpop-era" I would like to know what Morrissey thinks/did think about the britpop bands during the 90's, this is especially interesting because The Smiths where/is the main influence of the britpop bands.
you guys have probably had about 5000 similar threads about this subject - but please do tell me.

Suede, Oasis, Blur, Gene, All of these bands where influenced - how is it with Pulp, Stone Roses and Primal Scream?
And most interesting - which of these guys was "blessed" by Mr. Morrissey?
Of What I've heard Moz likes Noel Gallagher, but not Brett Anderson... could someone informed explain the situation with Morrissey and Britpop?

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Re: morrissey and britpop.

I said babayyyyyyyyyyy
You're going to be the one that saves mayyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

[Kewpie]

Britpop

FYI, you might find some interesting comments from Morrissey on Oasis

Also in this thread you find some good discussions regarding Morrissey's position in 90s.

 

[Johan de Witt]

hi, I just thought Since I'm in a "new" kind of "britpop-era" I would like to know what Morrissey thinks/did think about the britpop bands during the 90's, this is especially interesting because The Smiths where/is the main influence of the britpop bands.
you guys have probably had about 5000 similar threads about this subject - but please do tell me.

Suede, Oasis, Blur, Gene, All of these bands where influenced - how is it with Pulp, Stone Roses and Primal Scream?
And most interesting - which of these guys was "blessed" by Mr. Morrissey?
Of What I've heard Moz likes Noel Gallagher, but not Brett Anderson... could someone informed explain the situation with Morrissey and Britpop?

Of the ones you mention Moz has given the seal of approval to (early) Suede, Oasis and Gene, but not the other four. Other Britpop-bands he liked were Echobelly and Marion.

As for the 'Britpop-era' in general, he wasn't too keen on it, mostly, I presume, because he got a lot of bad press himself during that period, and here come all these bands, obviously hugely indebted to him, having much bigger hits and selling much more records than The Smiths or Moz-solo ever did.

 

[Bigmouth]

th_anks

 

[Bigmouth]

I really can't understand why [if] he was this jealous... these people where such huge admires of the Smiths.
Certainly Morrisseys fault there

 

[Kewpie]

Morrissey wasn't jealous, but upsetted about some journalists who started wrongly accusing him of being a racist, his work was no longer good enough etc.


Certainly Morrissey's fault?

Do you think having a unique style and talent is Morrissey's fault, not his asset?

I'm following Morrissey since 1984, some journalists are obsessed with slagging off whoever they don't like, Morrissey is one of their easy targets.

edit
Morrissey and Brett Anderson

 

[Maurice E]

Moz was not a big fan of Britpop and vice versa. He admitted to liking a few songs of that time e.g. Charmless Man by Blur and (I think) ‘Round Our Way’ by Oasis. The Britpop bands’ endorsal of Moz was relatively modest with the main exception of Gene and Suede although Bret Anderson was pretty critical of solo Moz (which is ironic when you consider how dire his own solo output has been). Bernard Butler also expressed his disdain at Alain/Boz’s guitar work on the Moz cover version of My Insatiable One.
Damon Albarn was a huge Smiths fan but didn’t really have good things to say about solo Moz either. In fact, Morrissey’s 1987 Southbank Show claim about the imminent death of pop music was Damon’s main motivation to make music; he wanted to prove him wrong! Moz arguably benefited from Britpop in that Radio One would play his records. Unbelievably, they even A-listed his two worst singles (Dagenham Dave and Roy’s Keen).
The late 80's/early 90's bands like Primal Scream/Stone Roses were never big Smiths/Moz fans. They were a bit too old to have been exposed to the music in their formative years as a lot of them were teenagers in the 70's listening to ‘punk’. It wasn't really until the early 2000's that bands started to come through who had idolised solo Morrissey when they were growing up. Bands like the Killers, Kaiser Chief, Keane etc were all big solo Moz fans even singling out the likes of Southpaw Grammar as inspiration…

 

[vivabob]

wasnt maladjusted britpop???

 

[Sharron Needles]

Where was the story about Morrissey running into Jarvis Cocker at Dublin airport several years back?

 

[Lonsdale71]

wasnt maladjusted britpop???

Nooo! Although it came out in the latter years of Britpop (1997) by which time the "movement" was more or less over.

To be honest, Morrissey was pretty much ignored by the whole Britpop thing which now seems a bit weird. Many people were angered when he took the Union Jack to the stage at Madstock in 1992.....and then 2 years later Union Jacks were everywhere as a part "Cool Britannia" trend. There were images of Liam Gallagher & Patsy Kensit in bed with Union Jack duvet covers, The Spice Girls, Suede, etc.

And now there's talk about a "Britpop revival"....already?

 

[Kewpie]

Where was the story about Morrissey running into Jarvis Cocker at Dublin airport several years back?

cossy posted in here

 

[Maurice E]

Nooo! Although it came out in the latter years of Britpop (1997) by which time the "movement" was more or less over.

To be honest, Morrissey was pretty much ignored by the whole Britpop thing which now seems a bit weird. Many people were angered when he took the Union Jack to the stage at Madstock in 1992.....and then 2 years later Union Jacks were everywhere as a part "Cool Britannia" trend. There were images of Liam Gallagher & Patsy Kensit in bed with Union Jack duvet covers, The Spice Girls, Suede, etc.

And now there's talk about a "Britpop revival"....already?

Yes, others were indeed using Union Flag imagery, but they weren't also singing 'England for the English', and hadn't in the past implied that Bengali's didn't belong in Britain, and stated that 'all reggae is vile'.
Remember, it wasn't just the fact that Moz waved the flag that got him into trouble, although it was the catalyst for the NME racism controversy (whoops, make that the first NME racism controversy!).
Anyway, that's discussion for another thread!

 

[Lonsdale71]

Yes, others were indeed using Union Flag imagery, but they weren't also singing 'England for the English', and hadn't in the past implied that Bengali's didn't belong in Britain, and stated that 'all reggae is vile'.
Remember, it wasn't just the fact that Moz waved the flag that got him into trouble, although it was the catalyst for the NME racism controversy (whoops, make that the first NME racism controversy!).
Anyway, that's discussion for another thread!

I know I know (sigh). But didn't Morrissey say reggae is "wild"?

 

[Worm]

Nooo! Although it came out in the latter years of Britpop (1997) by which time the "movement" was more or less over.

To be honest, Morrissey was pretty much ignored by the whole Britpop thing which now seems a bit weird. Many people were angered when he took the Union Jack to the stage at Madstock in 1992.....and then 2 years later Union Jacks were everywhere as a part "Cool Britannia" trend. There were images of Liam Gallagher & Patsy Kensit in bed with Union Jack duvet covers, The Spice Girls, Suede, etc.

And now there's talk about a "Britpop revival"....already?

The double standard with the Union Jack is easily explained. Britpop was a superficial nostalgic trip. Morrissey's love of England was genuine and deep, however fraught with problems it was. The message was simple. "Wave a flag, but whatever you do, don't mean it!" Britpop wasn't about England. Britpop was a shopping model testing the U.K.'s marketability as an iconic global fashion brand.

Not only does this explain why Morrissey was criticized while the others weren't, it also neatly encapsulates the difference in artistic integrity between Morrissey and the Britpoppers. Britpop seemed about as "English" as Terminal 2 at Heathrow.

 

[lainey]

The double standard with the Union Jack is easily explained. Britpop was a superficial nostalgic trip. Morrissey's love of England was genuine and deep, however fraught with problems it was. The message was simple. "Wave a flag, but whatever you do, don't mean it!" Britpop wasn't about England. Britpop was a shopping model testing the U.K.'s marketability as an iconic global fashion brand.

Not only does this explain why Morrissey was criticized while the others weren't, it also neatly encapsulates the difference in artistic integrity between Morrissey and the Britpoppers. Britpop seemed about as "English" as Terminal 2 at Heathrow.

well said.
Morrissey write's about numberous subjects, they are not all from his point of view.....why can't some people understand this.

 

[Lonsdale71]

The double standard with the Union Jack is easily explained. Britpop was a superficial nostalgic trip. Morrissey's love of England was genuine and deep, however fraught with problems it was. The message was simple. "Wave a flag, but whatever you do, don't mean it!" Britpop wasn't about England. Britpop was a shopping model testing the U.K.'s marketability as an iconic global fashion brand.

Not only does this explain why Morrissey was criticized while the others weren't, it also neatly encapsulates the difference in artistic integrity between Morrissey and the Britpoppers. Britpop seemed about as "English" as Terminal 2 at Heathrow.

Wow! Absolutely well said. Britpop was a superficial nostalgic trip. Dozens of mediocre bands tried riding the Britpop wave, some of them were awful. Having said that, some really lovely stuff came out as well, my favourites being everything by Elastica and Foxbase Alpha by Saint Etienne. I love the mad mix of house music (Balearic?) and 60's soundtracks of Foxbase Alpha.

 

[Lonsdale71]

...sorry I meant every release by Elastica

 

[Emotional Guide Dog]

One of the things that no-one ever seems to mention is that Blur got caught up in all the 1992 Union Jack bollocks too. They got no end of grief for a photo entitled 'British Image Number One' (maybe someone could post it for me) & yet more still when their 1993 single For Tomorrow had spitfires on the cover. Of course, when Cobain died, the NME suddenly decided the Union Jack was alright & Britpop was born!

 

[Worm]

Wow! Absolutely well said. Britpop was a superficial nostalgic trip. Dozens of mediocre bands tried riding the Britpop wave, some of them were awful. Having said that, some really lovely stuff came out as well, my favourites being everything by Elastica and Foxbase Alpha by Saint Etienne. I love the mad mix of house music (Balearic?) and 60's soundtracks of Foxbase Alpha.

Thanks.

No, I agree, there was lots of good music. It was just unfortunately lumped into the Britpop category. For example, I liked Blur a lot but I thought the "rivalry" with Oasis as "quintessential new-generation British bands" was daft. Damon's lyrics were much more ambivalent about England and (I thought) rather pointedly placed the U.K. in the wider context of pan-European/global capitalism. The whole point was that England wasn't what it once was.

I also loved Saint Etienne. I don't know why they were even thought of as Britpop-- they weren't, really, as I recall-- when so much of the pop culture to which Stanley & Wiggs paid tribute wasn't English (starting with the band's name).

Again, just shows how artificial it all was.