Spectator article by Brendan O'Neill: "Morrissey is the rock'n'roll rebel we need" (October 10, 2022)

A new article by Brendan O'Neill in The Spectator, off the back of last night's Palladium show.

Full text:

There was a truly electric moment at the Morrissey gig at the Palladium in London last night. Moz was introducing his new song, ‘Bonfire of the [sic] Teenagers’. It’s about the Manchester Arena bombing in which 22 people were killed. He looked out at the audience and asked us a question. How come you know the name Myra Hindley but many of you won’t know the name of the man who bombed the Manchester Arena? People looked stunned. I believe some looked a little ashamed. It is rare indeed for hush to fall at a Morrissey concert, but it did then.

It’s a question that demands an answer. Sounding a little emotional, Morrissey described the 2017 arena bombing as one of the worst things that has ever happened to Manchester, his hometown. It was an even more calamitous slaughter of Mancunian youths than that carried out by Hindley and Ian Brady. Those evil lovers murdered five. Salman Abedi – for that is his name, now strangely faded from many people’s minds – killed four times that number. The youngest was an eight-year-old girl, Saffie Roussos. Younger even than Hindley and Brady’s youngest victim, Lesley Ann Downey. Downey’s name is also better known than Roussos’s, of course.

Five years after the bombing, Morrissey is still furious about it. And about the culture of amnesia that surrounds it, to such an extent that the names of both the killer and his victims rarely trip off the tongue. The stark, disturbing title of his new song – ‘Bonfire of the [sic] Teenagers’ – means it is likely to induce much Moz-bashing in the tabloids and maybe even the Guardian if it is ever released as a single. But it’s an incredibly haunting and moving song. Morrissey sings about society’s weirdly passive response to the barbarism in the arena: ‘And the silly people sing: “Don’t Look Back in Anger” / And the morons swing and say: “Don’t Look Back in Anger” / I can assure you I will look back in anger ’till the day I die.’

The song ends with a line that is repeated over and over and which brilliantly captures the odd moral cowardice behind our reluctance to speak frankly and openly about Islamist terrorism: ‘Go easy on the killer…’

Watching two thousand people sway along to this line, and to Morrissey’s reprimand of modern Britain for failing to keep the arena atrocity in its collective conscious, was strange and unsettling, but uplifting too. Finally, tribute was being paid to the dead of Manchester. Finally, anger was being expressed on their behalf.

It struck me that ‘Bonfire of the [sic] Teenagers’ is a great protest song. It’s exactly the protest song we need right now. No doubt the fact that Moz has dared to sing about an act of Islamist-inspired mass murder will be held up by his haters as further proof that he’s now ‘hard right’. Apparently it’s right-wing, and possibly Islamophobic, to be concerned about radical Islam. Once, secularist leftists would have been at the forefront of condemning murderous acts of religious hysteria. Now, these same folk are more likely to tut-tut at those who talk too much about Islamic extremism. ‘Move on – don’t look back in anger.’ In putting his anger about the slaughter in the arena to music, Morrissey is not only standing up for the memory of that terrible day – he is also taking aim at the chilling, censorious climate that too often surrounds the issue of Islamist violence.

Don’t worry, though, if you have a ticket for any of the upcoming Morrissey shows. It’s a gig, not a lecture! It’s not all about Manchester Arena. Indeed, Morrissey has never sounded better. He played both Smiths and solo classics and the audience went wild. It feels as though the chattering classes’ bitter attempts to cancel Moz in recent years – for being pro-Brexit, for apparently being right-wing, for his comments about immigration – have given him a renewed sense of self-possession and vigour. Cancel culture has backfired in this case. It hasn’t tamed its target – it’s given him a shot of moral adrenaline, making him perform at his best since the days of The Smiths.

Morrissey is the rock’n’roll rebel we need today. Where too many pop and rock stars sing from the same, soul-zapping political script, Moz goes against the grain. He describes Brexit as ‘magnificent’, wears a vest that says ‘f*** the Guardian’, and loathes what is widely referred to as ‘wokeness’, especially for its intolerance of freedom of speech and alternative ways of thinking. ‘I’m a stern believer in free speech, but in my case I actually mean free speech for everyone, not just for those who agree with me’, Morrissey has said.

Good man. That’s the spirit of cultural liberty we need back in the world of pop. Glassy-eyed cancellers can hound Morrissey all they like but they won’t turn us against him. We know a national treasure when we see one.


Later shared by Morrissey Central:
 
True story: A week or so after the bombing I was woken up by the sound of screeching tyres and raised voices. I went outside for a cigarette and came face to face with an armed policeman. I definitely don't need Morrissey's lectures.
It's not a lecture. It's a song on his upcoming album.
 
And there we have it. An opportunity for some anti-semitism. Lower than a snakes belly and she’s criticising Morrissey on
Moral grounds. 🙄


Semite
/ˈsiːmʌɪt,ˈsɛmʌɪt/
Learn to pronounce

noun

  1. a member of any of the peoples who speak or spoke a Semitic language, including in particular the Jews and Arabs.
 
It is a problematic song, and in my humble opinion not one of Morrissey's best. The subject in question clearly affected him deeply - maybe because it took place in Manchester, maybe because it reminded him that he was going to concerts as a young teenager and his young life could have been extinguished in the same gruesome way. Whatever the reason, he wrote the song and felt it was important enough to give the proposed album the same title.
Why do I think it is so problematic? It is not so much because of what the song says. The message of the song is - we should all be bloody angry about what happened. And the context is that it is a subject we are not really supposed to talk about, i.e. Muslim immigration. Let's be honest, the only message allowed on that is - diversity is a strength. That is why no label is touching it with a barge pole. But I don't think that on its own explains why it is so problematic as a song. As others have pointed out - it is what the song does not say that is so problematic. We should all be bloody angry about what happened - and? What next? The song is a bit of a dog whistle. There is something unsatisfactory about the way it whips up emotion with some very powerful use of language - and then it ends with the refrain of 'Go easy on the killer'. The song feels half finished, with what is left unsaid hanging around its neck like a millstone. If the album with that title ever gets released, I will be surprised.
 
It is a problematic song, and in my humble opinion not one of Morrissey's best. The subject in question clearly affected him deeply - maybe because it took place in Manchester, maybe because it reminded him that he was going to concerts as a young teenager and his young life could have been extinguished in the same gruesome way. Whatever the reason, he wrote the song and felt it was important enough to give the proposed album the same title.
Why do I think it is so problematic? It is not so much because of what the song says. The message of the song is - we should all be bloody angry about what happened. And the context is that it is a subject we are not really supposed to talk about, i.e. Muslim immigration. Let's be honest, the only message allowed on that is - diversity is a strength. That is why no label is touching it with a barge pole. But I don't think that on its own explains why it is so problematic as a song. As others have pointed out - it is what the song does not say that is so problematic. We should all be bloody angry about what happened - and? What next? The song is a bit of a dog whistle. There is something unsatisfactory about the way it whips up emotion with some very powerful use of language - and then it ends with the refrain of 'Go easy on the killer'. The song feels half finished, with what is left unsaid hanging around its neck like a millstone. If the album with that title ever gets released, I will be surprised.
Yes, this is all correct, but Morrissey's entire career since the day after the arena bombing has consisted of dog whistles. If you go back and read his statement on TTY from 23 May, it's choc-full of dog whistles. Unlike some of the other detractors on this site, I don't believe that Morrissey is "racist" in the 'wholistic' sense of the word, but I unequivocally believe that he's Islamaphobic, and definitely doesn't like Asian people.
 
While I'd like to agree with Morrissey about people not remembering the bombers name. I think there are some practical reasons why we remember Myra Hindleys name and not the bombers. Basically, I find Asian names hard to renember. It took me a while to commit Osama bin ladens name to memory. Plus, I'm not very interested in Asian people anyway.
 
Yes, this is all correct, but Morrissey's entire career since the day after the arena bombing has consisted of dog whistles. If you go back and read his statement on TTY from 23 May, it's choc-full of dog whistles. Unlike some of the other detractors on this site, I don't believe that Morrissey is "racist" in the 'wholistic' sense of the word, but I unequivocally believe that he's Islamaphobic, and definitely doesn't like Asian people.
I think you are wrong on that. You can have respect for Islam and Muslims - but be skeptical of the benefits of mass immigration and cultural relativism. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.
 
It’s racist not to want radical Islamic terrorism on these shores. rACiST! !!!!!!!!!!!
 
While I'd like to agree with Morrissey about people not remembering the bombers name. I think there are some practical reasons why we remember Myra Hindleys name and not the bombers. Basically, I find Asian names hard to renember. It took me a while to commit Osama bin ladens name to memory. Plus, I'm not very interested in Asian people anyway.
RACIST!!!!!!!!!!!!🫡🫡🫡🫡🤑🤮🤧🤧🫠🫠🫠
 
While I'd like to agree with Morrissey about people not remembering the bombers name. I think there are some practical reasons why we remember Myra Hindleys name and not the bombers. Basically, I find Asian names hard to renember. It took me a while to commit Osama bin ladens name to memory. Plus, I'm not very interested in Asian people anyway.
RACIST🫡🫡🫡🫡🤑🤮🤧🤧🫠🫠🫠
 
What did Morrissey and O'Neill want Manchester to do? Run around with flaming pitchforks? Burn down a couple of mosques? Morrissey might remember people wanted to burn down the Irish Centre in 1996.
it must be, it’s obvious as snow. :rolleyes:
It's a nifty ditty from Morrissey and a typical article from the contrarian's contrarian, they're free to be as angry as pleases them, but I don't think anyone needs their lectures.

Some may. And well, one can only listen/read their so called ‘lectures’ if one choses to, no one is being forced.
 
it must be, it’s obvious as snow. :rolleyes:


Some may. And well, one can only listen/read their so called ‘lectures’ if one choses to, no one is being forced.

Funny thing with Brendan O'Neill articles: I generally only see them because someone is someone on Twitter is signposting their outrage.
 
From the Morrissey perspective: People who vote are "poor little fools." People who choose to process their grief to the Manchester bombing a certain way are "silly people" and "morons who sing and sway." What a sour old curmudgeon! This is what we call "Angrytainment" nowadays. It's a low- as-you-can-go tactic. This is plainly a desperate Kanye-like cry for attention. And people here are oh so happy that the song is being received so well. Wow!

Don't believe the true believers, they've got stardust in their eyes. (My lyric.)
 
From the Morrissey perspective: People who vote are "poor little fools." People who choose to process their grief to the Manchester bombing a certain way are "silly people" and "morons who sing and sway." What a sour old curmudgeon! This is what we call "Angrytainment" nowadays. It's a low- as-you-can-go tactic. This is plainly a desperate Kanye-like cry for attention. And people here are oh so happy that the song is being received so well. Wow!

Don't believe the true believers, they've got stardust in their eyes. (My lyric.)
"Processing their grief" is funny way to dress up what was actually happening.
 
Are any British record stores pulling their Kanye records? Just askin'...
 
Yes, this is all correct, but Morrissey's entire career since the day after the arena bombing has consisted of dog whistles. If you go back and read his statement on TTY from 23 May, it's choc-full of dog whistles. Unlike some of the other detractors on this site, I don't believe that Morrissey is "racist" in the 'wholistic' sense of the word, but I unequivocally believe that he's Islamaphobic, and definitely doesn't like Asian people.
Islamaphobia is a made up word used by people who are afraid to take a good look at Islam. You're all bad detectives ignoring the clues on purpose.
 

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