Morrissey, entrevistado por Infobae: “David Bowie abandonó el talento y la vocación en 1980” - Infobae (Argentina)
Morrissey, interviewed by Infobae: "David Bowie abandoned talent and vocation in 1980"
Before the start of his tour of the region, the charismatic and talented English musician spoke with Infobae Cultura about his way of composing, his upcoming tour, his rejection of the post-80 Bowie and announced that he will release a new album composed entirely of covers
By Nicolás Pichersky
August 4, 2018
Morrissey, interviewed by Infobae: "David Bowie abandoned talent and vocation in 1980"
Before the start of his tour of the region, the charismatic and talented English musician spoke with Infobae Cultura about his way of composing, his upcoming tour, his rejection of the post-80 Bowie and announced that he will release a new album composed entirely of covers
By Nicolás Pichersky
August 4, 2018
Infobae Cultura interviewed this great artist via email. A Morrissey, as always, to dry. Morrissey, like Wilde, Sinatra, Brando: one of the most evocative pop artists of the last four decades.
- You usually write along with other musicians (as in The Smiths did with Johnny Marr) Could you tell us about your creative process?
- There is no such thing as a process in itself. The songs are based on my experience and in general conform to some musical structure. I have a strong sense of melody and usually this is the root and center of each of my songs.
- In the maturity and peak of his career, unlike other artists (like Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney), you have never used the classic songbooks for your records.
- Well, just yesterday I started recording what will be my new album: it will be entirely covers and with 12 songs. So you see: I'm already doing what many say I would never do!
- In his autobiography he tells how David Bowie insistently looked for him for a joint project. Now that Bowie is gone: what is the strangest thing about him?
- I will never forget the respect I had for him when I was very, very young because England was still going through a violent and skinhead era and he emerged with his great melodies and a confrontational image together with a feminine appearance. And with all that he had to fight against those who criticized him: and it was a miracle because he triumphed. The press in general called it "a national disgrace." Now they love him, of course ... But his talent and vocation left him in 1980: his music became a professional career and, since that time, singing or composing did not bring him new challenges and pleasures. And in this sense, the effort he had to make with thereafter is obvious.
The tug-of-war that Moz maintains with the press (not of his country, but of the whole world) is known. And the almost infantile hatred of Morrissey towards the media is transparent, something that he initiates in his autobiography, dedicating to him the subject numerous pages and placing himself in a place of victim and of J'accuse ...! of pop music. Of course, your opinions do not help much.
Morrissey seems to be a contradictory man: the newspapers have accused him of xenophobic or intolerant attitudes (with certain objectivity: just read his statements) or close to the extreme right. But at the same time, he maintains a critical attitude toward the English empire or the era of Margaret Thatcher. Just read the Jacobin subtitle of his latest album: on the cover, a boy holds a banner that says, without subtleties, "Guillotine to the monarchy."
- Does Morrissey feel comfortable with some traditional political stance?
- In the United Kingdom a couple of "hate" diaries have led a disparaging campaign against me: everything I say or think is constructed and treated as "diabolical". This is because they are extreme left, which is why my criticisms of the ritual slaughter of animals, clitoris ablation or immigration without control, do not fit in with their philosophy. And unfortunately the left extremists control the most important media in England, so there is no possible multicultural debate: if you mess with those issues, your opinions are repressed by this fragile left that does not even submit them to consideration. My band, which has been with me for years, is multi-ethnic, my most recent album has a dedication to Dick Gregory, one of the most important American civil rights activists there was. And my lyrics try to observe the diversity of what happens in Turkey, Israel, Ukraine, Egypt, France, Italy, Spain or Barein. And, all in all, these two "hate" newspapers label me as racist. I never met any racist person and I think the idea of xenophobia is absurd. But the English media are in the "Age of idiocy" and accuse anyone who asks for an open discussion as a racist.Help!
Morrissey, 'the big mouth' as he has so often sung, 'attacks back'. He seems to see red flags as if he were in the middle of the Cold War (and as if he had been born in Kansas, more than in Manchester). Will he believe in his perception of the ideological shift to the left of the media that a reactionary and popular tabloid like The Sun is now progressive?
On the end, and despite discarding the post-80 Bowie (love, modern and danceable: from Modern love to New killer star ), a joke or an ironic praise is left to him in his last response.
- Could you tell us something about your show in Buenos Aires?
- Yes: I will be on stage with a giant glass chandelier. That would be a good idea, right? ( N of R: The Glass Spider Tour was a famous world tour of David Bowie during the 80s ).
* Morrissey will visit this part of the world from November 22nd and 23rd, in Mexico; Peru (27/11); Brazil (30/11 and 2/12), Argentina (7/12) and will close in Chile (14 and 15/12)
- You usually write along with other musicians (as in The Smiths did with Johnny Marr) Could you tell us about your creative process?
- There is no such thing as a process in itself. The songs are based on my experience and in general conform to some musical structure. I have a strong sense of melody and usually this is the root and center of each of my songs.
- In the maturity and peak of his career, unlike other artists (like Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney), you have never used the classic songbooks for your records.
- Well, just yesterday I started recording what will be my new album: it will be entirely covers and with 12 songs. So you see: I'm already doing what many say I would never do!
- In his autobiography he tells how David Bowie insistently looked for him for a joint project. Now that Bowie is gone: what is the strangest thing about him?
- I will never forget the respect I had for him when I was very, very young because England was still going through a violent and skinhead era and he emerged with his great melodies and a confrontational image together with a feminine appearance. And with all that he had to fight against those who criticized him: and it was a miracle because he triumphed. The press in general called it "a national disgrace." Now they love him, of course ... But his talent and vocation left him in 1980: his music became a professional career and, since that time, singing or composing did not bring him new challenges and pleasures. And in this sense, the effort he had to make with thereafter is obvious.
The tug-of-war that Moz maintains with the press (not of his country, but of the whole world) is known. And the almost infantile hatred of Morrissey towards the media is transparent, something that he initiates in his autobiography, dedicating to him the subject numerous pages and placing himself in a place of victim and of J'accuse ...! of pop music. Of course, your opinions do not help much.
Morrissey seems to be a contradictory man: the newspapers have accused him of xenophobic or intolerant attitudes (with certain objectivity: just read his statements) or close to the extreme right. But at the same time, he maintains a critical attitude toward the English empire or the era of Margaret Thatcher. Just read the Jacobin subtitle of his latest album: on the cover, a boy holds a banner that says, without subtleties, "Guillotine to the monarchy."
- Does Morrissey feel comfortable with some traditional political stance?
- In the United Kingdom a couple of "hate" diaries have led a disparaging campaign against me: everything I say or think is constructed and treated as "diabolical". This is because they are extreme left, which is why my criticisms of the ritual slaughter of animals, clitoris ablation or immigration without control, do not fit in with their philosophy. And unfortunately the left extremists control the most important media in England, so there is no possible multicultural debate: if you mess with those issues, your opinions are repressed by this fragile left that does not even submit them to consideration. My band, which has been with me for years, is multi-ethnic, my most recent album has a dedication to Dick Gregory, one of the most important American civil rights activists there was. And my lyrics try to observe the diversity of what happens in Turkey, Israel, Ukraine, Egypt, France, Italy, Spain or Barein. And, all in all, these two "hate" newspapers label me as racist. I never met any racist person and I think the idea of xenophobia is absurd. But the English media are in the "Age of idiocy" and accuse anyone who asks for an open discussion as a racist.Help!
Morrissey, 'the big mouth' as he has so often sung, 'attacks back'. He seems to see red flags as if he were in the middle of the Cold War (and as if he had been born in Kansas, more than in Manchester). Will he believe in his perception of the ideological shift to the left of the media that a reactionary and popular tabloid like The Sun is now progressive?
On the end, and despite discarding the post-80 Bowie (love, modern and danceable: from Modern love to New killer star ), a joke or an ironic praise is left to him in his last response.
- Could you tell us something about your show in Buenos Aires?
- Yes: I will be on stage with a giant glass chandelier. That would be a good idea, right? ( N of R: The Glass Spider Tour was a famous world tour of David Bowie during the 80s ).
* Morrissey will visit this part of the world from November 22nd and 23rd, in Mexico; Peru (27/11); Brazil (30/11 and 2/12), Argentina (7/12) and will close in Chile (14 and 15/12)
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