The Guardian: "Michael Imperioli: ‘I still give Morrissey the benefit of the doubt’" (August 10, 2023)

1912.jpg


Michael Imperioli: ‘I still give Morrissey the benefit of the doubt’

Relevant parts:

"Loved your shows on NTS radio a few years ago. You played solo Morrissey tracks on each of them – what do you love about him, and his post-Smiths songwriting? And have your feelings towards him changed since he’s made some dubious comments in recent years? Pete Thorn

He’s uncompromising and very true to his art, to himself. As a lyricist, he’s on the level of Bob Dylan and Lou Reed to me: his intelligence, his wit and point of view. I think that’s why so many people connect to him, people who feel like outsiders. When they hear his lyrics and see him perform, they feel less alone in the world. I didn’t discover the Smiths until after I was finished with high school. I was very clueless musically. But when I was 17, I was in Manhattan and I had friends who quickly exposed me to the good stuff like the Smiths. I went from being in high school to going to acting classes with people in their 20s, 30s, 40s. In some ways I was happy to do that. But in other ways, I felt very much like a kid, straddling two worlds. I had moved in with my grandparents outside the city. I had a couple of friends and I enjoyed being in the city but I really didn’t feel like I belonged there. In many ways, I felt very alone. It’s a time of trying to figure out your identity. As a young person who wanted to be an artist, I felt I was looking for a certain freedom to express, and those other artists made me understand that that was possible.

I thought what he wrote about Sinéad O’Connor was spot on and brilliant – how easily she was abandoned by the music industry. He was as well. Bonfire of Teenagers was dropped by the label and still hasn’t come out. He’s on the edge of controversy a lot and they shy away from that. I’m not sure how racist the things he said were. To me they weren’t flagrantly racist. I’ve never met Morrissey but I do know a lot of people in the current band and people who have played with him in the past who are very smart, and the least racist people you could imagine. They adamantly express that racism is not a part of who he is, by any stretch of the imagination. I still give him the benefit of the doubt. I know a lot of people don’t, but somehow I still do. As an artist, considering what he’s done, he should always have the advantages of having a label promoting him. I think [his situation] is similar [to O’Connor’s] in a lot of ways."

&

"Top 5 albums of all-time? Screamadelica1

It’s so hard. The Wedding Present’s Seamonsters is tremendous. In Utero. There’s a two-disc Lou Reed live record, Take No Prisoners, from the Bottom Line [in New York, 1978] that is very revealing of who he was, especially at that point in time – he talks a lot through it. But also the performances are quite exceptional. Loveless is a towering giant of a record. I love Green Mind by Dinosaur Jr. The Smiths, all their albums. Vauxhall and I was my favourite of solo Morrissey. [Patti Smith’s] Horses is tremendous. The first Television album, Marquee Moon. The first New York Dolls album. So Alone by Johnny Thunders. I’m over the limit here but it’s too hard! [David Bowie’s] Hunky Dory really got me when I first heard that one, it was before I heard Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs – my other two favourites. I got to meet Bowie backstage during the Reality tour, which was pretty thrilling. He was wonderful – friendly, present and kind. It was brief, but for me it was extremely important and memorable."


Registration nag screen removed:

Regards,
FWD.
 
Since the tour manager has access to Morrissey's social media & most celebrities leave their websites to a paid professional maybe he could tell us who vets videos?
 
🙄

A video claiming to show "terrorists" on the roof of Notre Dame trended online when it happened.

It would only take someone he knew to say "there's this video..." for him to get mad about the press not reporting it.

🙄
 
🙄
🤮
💩💩💩💩
👎
🤫

Why do you persist in talking about Morrissey (a) as if you know him personally, and (b) as if he is some sort of f***ing idiot who can’t make up his own mind?

You’ve basically said that he is so naive and stupid that one only has to show him a video about something, then he’ll immediately believe it, and then write, record and perform a song about it.
Stop excusing everything he says/does. You, and others like you, enable his bullshittery far more than SER or The Tour Manager, by constantly turning a blind eye to all the stupid, stupid things he says.

“No, he didn’t mean that, he meant this…”
“He only supported these policies, he was unaware of those policies…”
“Someone tricked him into believing those things by showing him YouTube videos… bless him, he doesn’t know any better….”
“He doesn’t post the Messages from Morrissey, his evil nephew does (unless it’s a good one/one I agree with, in which case Morrissey did post it)”

Wake up, love. A singer you like (well, love to the point of obsession in your case) doesn’t have all the same opinions you do. Get over it.

IMG_9137.jpeg
 
Last edited:
hmmmm, yes.

I take most comments here as speculation, especially when it concerns what Morrissey’s probable motives could be.

I don’t really think positive or negative comments here are really going to change Morrissey.
Speculation is fine. It’s all we can do, and is part of healthy debate.
Constantly stating your opinions as fact when you have no more knowledge/insight than anyone else is just arrogant. How dare someone speak on behalf of someone else without their consent?
“He said this, but I know he meant to say x, y and.. sorry, &, z”
 
Speculation is fine. It’s all we can do, and is part of healthy debate.
Constantly stating your opinions as fact when you have no more knowledge/insight than anyone else is just arrogant. How dare someone speak on behalf of someone else without their consent?
“He said this, but I know he meant to say x, y and.. sorry, &, z”

A lot of people do that on here unfortunately.

But I try to remind myself that they are speculating, even if their comments don’t read that way.


Also, I wonder what kind of person Morrissey would be if the comments on solo actually shaped his behavior.
 
He never gets angry at the right-wingers.
He? Smiths_1985?
I'm going by the things Morrissey's actually said - about the Notre Dame fire, about the media, about his social media use & about the internet.
Yes, don’t most of us speculate on what he’s said and how that may have influenced his actions?
The internet has completely changed the moral climate of the entire world. Just imagine what world leaders got away with in pre-internet days! Just imagine what the police got away with before iPhones and You Tube exposures! Politicians are always the last to join evolving societies because they don’t ever want the systems to change. We can also now see how people who question everything are usually punished by the power elite. Certainly in the UK we live in times that moral philosophers could consider fascist. There is a conservative lockdown on any criticism of the Boil Family. I cannot use the world ‘royal’ because there is no such thing as a royal person. There is a natural understanding of law, but there is also state law, and the latter keeps the rich protected from the poor, and it has no other function. You can campaign peacefully in the UK, but only if whatever you shout is out of earshot of those to whom it is directed.

- Morrissey, Sussissimo, 23 September 2015
🙄

A video claiming to show "terrorists" on the roof of Notre Dame trended online when it happened.

It would only take someone he knew to say "there's this video..." for him to get mad about the press not reporting it.

🙄

I mean, this is speculation. You’re imagining a scenario where ‘someone he knew’ would point something out to him, and then with your acquired knowledge of how he feels about the press in general, you end up with your personal deduction.
 
He is a man of taste!

 
Nope, that's not it.

And that definitely isn't it.

It's because he penned these. Anyone who wrote anything akin to these, in spite of their personal shortcomings, deserves discussion.

Hey, wouldn't it be a good idea to play them live? Yeah, but no...




 
He? Smiths_1985?

Yes, don’t most of us speculate on what he’s said and how that may have influenced his actions?





I mean, this is speculation. You’re imagining a scenario where ‘someone he knew’ would point something out to him, and then with your acquired knowledge of how he feels about the press in general, you end up with your personal deduction.

He does talk about being shown things - & it's less of a leap than having a limp fake fight to connect him to someone he has never mentioned esp when he's gone into detail about the kind of broadcaster he likes:

Mavis Nicholson is, or was - or is still the best television interviewer from these isles. She broadcast the most compelling TV interviews with James Baldwin, Kenneth Williams, Bette Davis, Nina Simone, Germaine Greer, David Bowie … but somehow had only an afternoon transmission - never evening, unlike most of the traditionally sexist male interviewers... her very impressive interviews ought to be either re-shown or made available on DVD because they are absolutely a vital study of how to get the best out of the subject … no sex jokes, no fake and intrusive audience laughter, no loud or lavish sets … just a very classy connection requiring nothing but gentle charm and the power of words. - Morrissey, Central, December 2020.
 
@Aubrey McFate why the thumbs down? Odd.

Sorry about that. You know you're one of my favorite posters here, as is gashonthenail. But you both "liked" a post from the Guest who was only re-hashing the tired "does he have to vet everyone/agree with them on every issue" thing (of which, asked and f*cking answered already!). And since I couldn't "dislike" your "like," I looked for the closest thing to thumbs-down, which was your next post.
 
Wow! Just watched The White Lotus S2 recently (brilliant) and have been a longtime fan of Imperioli but had no idea he was such a Morrissey/Smiths fan (and he knows his stuff).
Some of Morrissey's comments over the years can be questioned and called out, but, you do you give him the benefit of the doubt? Yes, 1000 percent.
 
Wow! Just watched The White Lotus S2 recently (brilliant) and have been a longtime fan of Imperioli but had no idea he was such a Morrissey/Smiths fan (and he knows his stuff).
Some of Morrissey's comments over the years can be questioned and called out, but, you do you give him the benefit of the doubt? Yes, 1000 percent.

Yes, he's a great actor. When he plays a role in a show you can't ignore his acting. There' s something magnetic about him. Like Morrissey.
Maybe there's an invisible thread that connects some people around the world and they feel that connection when they see each other.
 

Trending Threads

Back
Top Bottom