"Rococo Wordsmith Hamish Hawk Gets His Claws Into Morrissey" - Mojo (January 2024 issue)

Another tedious 'I loved Morrissey but now he's a bad guy' article in this month's Mojo from Hamish Hawk.
'I got into The Smith's at the end of university' says Hawk.
I adore their music, the power of Morrissey's voice and the yearning guitar.
Morrissey' poetry changed my life and his solo work has done a lot for me.......(now the obligatory Moz bashing)
but I feel he speaks out on things that maybe he doesn't know that much about.
I don't identify with him socially, culturally or politically'

To be fair to HH I honestly don't think he would have had the article printed in Mojo without the disclaimer.

Edit:

Article to view here (scan posted by Famous when dead):

Post in thread 'Hamish Hawk article - Mojo January 2024 issue.' https://www.morrissey-solo.com/thre...ojo-january-2024-issue.151693/post-1987558644

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Related item:

• Hamish Hawk releases cover of "Please, Please, Please..." - May 24, 2022

 

[Tampa Moz Fan]

It's interesting that people feel the need to go out of their way to explain they like Morrissey the artist but not the person. I don't see the same thing for countless other musicians who have done much worse (John Lennon, Jimmy Paige, even Michael Jackson seems to get a pass these days). He's made a few controversial comments and wore a stupid badge once. It seems to have taken a life of its own. But he's pushed buttons his entire career. I can say I like Morrissey without equivocation.

 

[gashonthenail]

It's interesting that people feel the need to go out of their way to explain they like Morrissey the artist but not the person. I don't see the same thing for countless other musicians who have done much worse (John Lennon, Jimmy Paige, even Michael Jackson seems to get a pass these days). He's made a few controversial comments and wore a stupid badge once. It seems to have taken a life of its own. But he's pushed buttons his entire career. I can say I like Morrissey without equivocation.

It is indeed interesting that people feel obliged to caveat any public liking of Moz by saying - oh, but I don't have the same views and opinions as him.
And you are right that they don't seem to feel obliged to do that for others.
No one in 2023 says, I like WB Yeats, but I'm not a blue shirt; or I like Jean Paul Sartre, but I'm not a Stalinist.
Why do people feel obliged to caveat their liking for Morrissey in this way in 2023?
It's because Moz is currently cancelled. He can't get his music released. And old Hamish here doesn't want to suffer the same fate.

 

[Malarkey]

It is indeed interesting that people feel obliged to caveat any public liking of Moz by saying - oh, but I don't have the same views and opinions as him.
And you are right that they don't seem to feel obliged to do that for others.
No one in 2023 says, I like WB Yeats, but I'm not a blue shirt; or I like Jean Paul Sartre, but I'm not a Stalinist.
Why do people feel obliged to caveat their liking for Morrissey in this way in 2023?
It's because Moz is currently cancelled. He can't get his music released. And old Hamish here doesn't want to suffer the same fate.

No, it isn't.

It's because he's so reclusive that the myths about him have become extreme. It's because creeps like you lie about him. And because a couple of hacks hate him.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

It is indeed interesting that people feel obliged to caveat any public liking of Moz by saying - oh, but I don't have the same views and opinions as him.
And you are right that they don't seem to feel obliged to do that for others.
No one in 2023 says, I like WB Yeats, but I'm not a blue shirt; or I like Jean Paul Sartre, but I'm not a Stalinist.
Why do people feel obliged to caveat their liking for Morrissey in this way in 2023?

It's because Moz is currently cancelled. He can't get his music released. And old Hamish here doesn't want to suffer the same fate.

No, it isn't.

It's because he's so reclusive that the myths about him have become extreme. It's because creeps like you lie about him. And because a couple of hacks hate him.

Sadly, I think it’s a combination of both of your comments.

But also, Morrissey’s hands are not totally clean in this matter. I believe we can safely assume some of his troubles with record labels is with him being stubborn, thinking that a business will ever place the artist’s needs, and feelings over them simply being focused on making money, and of course him most likely making demands that can’t be settled on, in turn, contracts becoming another point of difficulty.
But also, his music and age, unfortunately probably figures into how a business, from their point of view, can benefit financially from signing him in the first place.

 

[karelMoz]

Oh no another woke "progressive" tw*t does not like Moz politics and agenda, boo hoo.

 

[Guesto]

How fascinating, his opinions are not identical to someone else's

Glad that's clarified