NME: "Watch Blossoms and Rick Astley team up to cover The Smiths" (September 14, 2021)

As first spotted by @BookishBoy in the Strange... thread (who supplies the Twitter link), NME take up the footage:

BLOSSOMS_ASTLEY_NME_2000-1392x884.jpg


Watch Blossoms and Rick Astley team up to cover The Smiths

“Since it’s London, we thought why not do something special?,” said frontman Tom Ogden. “So we’re going to do some songs by one of our favourite bands with a friend of ours from the North West. Welcome our friend Rick Astley.

“Do you want to tell them what band it is, Richard?” asked Ogden, adding, “It’s The Smiths everybody,” before tearing into ‘Panic’ and ‘This Charming Man’.







Regards,
FWD.


Related item:
 
I was only going by Twitter - where some prats have decided they want Rick to record all of the Smiths songs so they can be pure in thought & deed.

Some god awful hack even claimed he knew Morrissey hated it.
How? Why? He didn't say.
Perhaps they are twice shy, after promoting the Simpsons show, but the deafening silence by the curator(s) of Central might suggest Morrissey is less than enamoured.
 
Okay, so I finally got around to listening to the snippets posted above. Rick did some fantastic, commercial pop music in the late 80's, he still has a great voice and is terribly handsome and seems like a great, sweet guy. I'm not surprised he knows his way around Smiths songs. And the Blossoms played This Charming Man way better than Jesse & co did back in 2009. I look forward to seeing the clips from the October gigs.
 
Time certainly does change things.
"Dick Spastley" the tea boy (courtesy of Smash Hits) certainly wasn't on many Smiths fan's turntables or cassettes in the late 80's.
Stock, Aitken & Waterman were exactly what Panic's Lyrics encapsulated and railed against.
The Smiths were my antidote to all of that "Kevin & Sharon" nonsense.
I think Rick's meme resurrection has helped.
The fact he's being respectful does too.
My 80's self isn't happy that I even watched the footage though :)
Other views are available.
FWD.
 
And Johnny? do you think he knows?
Andy and Johnny remain close. Andy and Mike are still in communication. There is then, at some level, communication between the three.

The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Sex Pistols all continued (with varying degrees of success, I accept) after replacing singers formerly perceived as irreplaceable.

Never say never.
 
Andy and Johnny remain close. Andy and Mike are still in communication. There is then, at some level, communication between the three.

The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Sex Pistols all continued (with varying degrees of success, I accept) after replacing singers formerly perceived as irreplaceable.

Never say never.

Added to that, Johnny and Mike live fairly close to each other and will no doubt see each other from time to time, whether they choose to converse or not is another thing.
 
Perhaps they are twice shy, after promoting the Simpsons show, but the deafening silence by the curator(s) of Central might suggest Morrissey is less than enamoured.

The reaction was negative so quickly I don't think Sam would have time to post it. And it's a bit demoralising to be enthusiastic about it now, so I wouldn't expect it.
 
Andy and Johnny remain close. Andy and Mike are still in communication. There is then, at some level, communication between the three.

The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Sex Pistols all continued (with varying degrees of success, I accept) after replacing singers formerly perceived as irreplaceable.

Never say never.
Is it April 1st round your way Hovis 🤣
 
Or clearly conscious that (as Nerak has noted) some promoter somewhere will already be crunching the numbers and looking at the contracts.

yeah, they’ve been working on it since the split. Lol.
 
Like it or loathe it, there remains a big demand for The Smiths and a dwindling market for Morrissey. Capitalism will do the rest.

I don’t care about sales.

Morrissey IS The Smiths.

Do you think The Smiths can be toured and sold to the public as instrumental only?

An instrumental Smiths without Morrissey and without his melody lines being mimicked by an instrument? How long would that novelty last ?


And even if M was erased somehow, those words, vocal melodies and that voice is forever burned in the memories of those who have loved The Smiths for so long.
 
I don’t care about sales.

Morrissey IS The Smiths.

Do you think The Smiths can be toured and sold to the public as instrumental only?

An instrumental Smiths without Morrissey and without his melody lines being mimicked by an instrument? How long would that novelty last ?


And even if M was erased somehow, those words, vocal melodies and that voice is forever burned in the memories of those who have loved The Smiths for so long.

What on earth are you on about, it's highly unlikely but if the rest of the Smiths reformed without Morrissey, they would simply recruit another singer. Tomorrow will show that there's a massive demand to hear The Smiths music without any of The Smiths involved.
 
:lbf:

with :handpointright::guardsman::handpointleft: they would need to hire a local troll holding a sign id'ing the song being caterwauled:hammer:
 
I don’t care about sales.

Morrissey IS The Smiths.

Do you think The Smiths can be toured and sold to the public as instrumental only?

An instrumental Smiths without Morrissey and without his melody lines being mimicked by an instrument? How long would that novelty last ?


And even if M was erased somehow, those words, vocal melodies and that voice is forever burned in the memories of those who have loved The Smiths for so long.
There is entertainment, money, showbiz and somewhere way down the list an altruistic idea of art. Morrissey’s magic trick, if you like, was to make the former apparently disappear. But he would now sell you the very instructions to the trick, for the right price.

None of which is unusual, but unfortunately for Morrissey unusualness was the very thing he traded on for the first 20 years of his career.

There has been a steady chip away at his own legend. Each act of self-harm considered independently might be perceived as amusing, admirable, or even an important philosophical statement of sorts—particularly as his ‘statements’ curiously erode the most enduring and seductive of Romantic/Rock Star myths.

But the cumulative effect is… well … precisely where we f***ing are. And if you think it’s something to celebrate then you’re as bonkers as he is self-defeating.

My son has (unprompted) asked to see Rick Astley (no more of his generation than Morrissey) doing The Smiths show in Manchester. I hope to oblige, and I expect to have a much more enjoyable time than I did at the Morrissey Wembley 2020 concert. No similar request has come in from my kids to see Morrissey himself. They don’t particularly dislike him, but they know they’re going to a limited number of concerts, and they are choosing wisely.

Moreover, and this is perhaps more significant for me, if I was to be given the choice on October 8th, between a Morrissey concert and The Blossoms gig, I would still choose the latter; in a flash.

I’m no Rick Astley fan, but I appreciate a good voice, a tight band and (more importantly) a palpable love of the live occasion which, in truth, I’ve not seen at Morrissey gig for fifteen years.

I only hope I can get tickets, as I suspect marketed right this Blossoms event could easily sell-out an arena sized venue.
 
What on earth are you on about,

Its obvious a Smiths reunion is not really possible without what Morrissey brought to The Smiths.

And if people actually believe that
Morrissey made no contribution to The Smiths and that The Smiths music would be enjoyed much more without his contributions to The Smiths, then let’s have Rick and other Smiths tribute bands perform The Smiths music without Morrissey’s words or vocal melodies. And then we’ll see how well that goes. Even as instrumental only, it would mostly work as a novelty, and not for very long.

Anyway, how can people erase the memory of Morrissey’s contribution
when listening to an instrumental? Not possible. They would be singing along to the instrumentals!

Morrissey IS The Smiths.


it's highly unlikely
Yes I agree.
but if the rest of the Smiths reformed without Morrissey, they would simply recruit another singer.

Of course they would, but if people believe that Morrissey made no contribution to those songs, (as tweets suggest) then they should prove it by demanding that The Smiths songs from now on
only be performed as instrumentals and without an instrument mimicking his vocal lines.

Tomorrow will show that there's a massive demand to hear The Smiths music without any of The Smiths involved.

???
I assume you mean after they’re all dead ?
 
There is entertainment, money, showbiz and somewhere way down the list an altruistic idea of art. Morrissey’s magic trick, if you like, was to make the former apparently disappear. But he would now sell you the very instructions to the trick, for the right price.

None of which is unusual, but unfortunately for Morrissey unusualness was the very thing he traded on for the first 20 years of his career.

There has been a steady chip away at his own legend. Each act of self-harm considered independently might be perceived as amusing, admirable, or even an important philosophical statement of sorts—particularly as his ‘statements’ curiously erode the most enduring and seductive of Romantic/Rock Star myths.

But the cumulative effect is… well … precisely where we f***ing are. And if you think it’s something to celebrate then you’re as bonkers as he is self-defeating.

My son has (unprompted) asked to see Rick Astley (no more of his generation than Morrissey) doing The Smiths show in Manchester. I hope to oblige, and I expect to have a much more enjoyable time than I did at the Morrissey Wembley 2020 concert. No similar request has come in from my kids to see Morrissey himself. They don’t particularly dislike him, but they know they’re going to a limited number of concerts, and they are choosing wisely.

Moreover, and this is perhaps more significant for me, if I was to be given the choice on October 8th, between a Morrissey concert and The Blossoms gig, I would still choose the latter; in a flash.

I’m no Rick Astley fan, but I appreciate a good voice, a tight band and (more importantly) a palpable love of the live occasion which, in truth, I’ve not seen at Morrissey gig for fifteen years.

I only hope I can get tickets, as I suspect marketed right this Blossoms event could easily sell-out an arena sized venue.

That’s all fine and dandy. Lol! Again, I’m not against anyone enjoying the music they enjoy.


The point is that you said they (Marr?) would reform The Smiths without Morrissey because there is a demand for this supposedly.

And if those that demand this, they are saying that Morrissey has not made a contribution to that band and that he’s no longer needed for those songs to be enjoyed.


So I’m saying great! Let The Smiths reform, let the ‘demanding masses’
enjoy The Smiths as instrumental, since they seem to believe that he
plays no role in why they fell in love with those songs in the first place.
 
Its obvious a Smiths reunion is not really possible without what Morrissey brought to The Smiths.

And if people actually believe that
Morrissey made no contribution to The Smiths and that The Smiths music would be enjoyed much more without his contributions to The Smiths, then let’s have Rick and other Smiths tribute bands perform The Smiths music without Morrissey’s words or vocal melodies. And then we’ll see how well that goes. Even as instrumental only, it would mostly work as a novelty, and not for very long.

Anyway, how can people erase the memory of Morrissey’s contribution
when listening to an instrumental? Not possible. They would be singing along to the instrumentals!

Morrissey IS The Smiths.



Yes I agree.


Of course they would, but if people believe that Morrissey made no contribution to those songs, (as tweets suggest) then they should prove it by demanding that The Smiths songs from now on
only be performed as instrumentals and without an instrument mimicking his vocal lines.



???
I assume you mean after they’re all dead ?

No, not when they are dead. I mean tomorrow, 2 shows where a band and a singer are playing songs by the Smiths without any of the original Smiths involved. Not sure why you keep harping on about people believing Morrissey made no contribution to The Smiths as everyone knows he did.
 

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