The Guardian: Stewart Lee's 'Honest Playlist' - 'can no longer listen to' Morrissey (September 5, 2022)

Like Reverend Richard Coles a few months ago, Stewart Lee has nominated Morrissey for the artist/song he can no longer listen to in a Guardian questionnaire, citing his 'drift to the far right'.
www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/05/stewart-lee-honest-playlist
It's a bit disappointing that someone as professionally obsessed with Morrissey as Lee was, doesn't mention Morrissey's clearly muddled/confused political outlook, and the (admittedly vague) support he's also given to non-right-wing figures in recent years. It's clearly the right-wing stuff that has stuck in people's minds.

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Excerpt:

The song I can no longer listen to
Sadly, Morrissey. Loads of artists end up doing terrible things, but the Smiths meant such a lot to my generation, to have him drift to the far right doesn’t sit. I remember hearing How Soon Is Now when I went to see the Smiths at Birmingham Hippodrome and dancing to it at a disco in Tucson, Arizona in 1995. It’s hard to let go of my childhood attachment to the Smiths, but I don’t know how to square Morrissey’s solo stuff with what he’s become.

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

a friend of mine, who lived in Brighton and tends to know this crap, pointed out Stewart Lee, that poet who interviewed M and the DJ who protested M. Were all HUGE M fans who copied the shit of him when it suited them
Now they all work for The G and throw him under the bus because it pays. f***wits

 

[NealCassidy]

Everyone still loving arcade fire and their paedo fan Bowie though

 

[Anonomous]

Who is Stewart Lee ? Not being British his name wasn’t familiar at all. So we looked him up to find he’s actually a comedian. O.K. So he’s already in the business of clowning around and making fun of life in general. So …loosen up there Stevie. So you don’t like MORRISSEY or his opinion ion s on certain stuff…so what ! Makes some jokes up about him. Like Stewie could be Homer Simpson and his boyfriend could be Marge Simpson. They could do an episode about say living next to a nuclear power plant or something and MORRISSEY for some reason convinces them to move and save the Nuke power plant workers from Stewie and his old lady/boyfriend.
Makes no sense ? Of course not, just like Stewie makes no sense. So MORRISSEY turns in to Eva Braun ? So what. As long as the old man can belt out the oldies that’s all that really matters. B>T>W> MOZ, that’s the only reason people still show up to hear you sing The Smiths and MORRISSEY oldies. No …not T.M.A.A.P. ……..good try though.

 

[Young And Alive]

Ground breaking stuff there from Stewart Lee.

Yawn.

 

[bhops]

Everything is the 'far-Right' to these lunatics.

 

[marred]

God people are so f***ing dramatic. I can no longer listen to one of the greatest guitarists ever, Bob Brozman, because he turned out to be a horrible pedophile. But Morrissey just has a few differing political opinions to me. He's not actually done anything that bad, but the way people carry on about "oh I just can't listen to him anymore" is melodramatic bullshit.

f***ing ignorant divas the lot of them and that includes the ones here constantly whining about Morrissey being so called far right.

 

[marred]

Meanwhile, middle-class Stuart will never mention the reasons why London has turned into a complete cesspool or the daily occurrences of knife crime, assaults, muggins etc by certain demographics.

Because ignorance is bliss. It's better to remain stupid and breathe in sync with the ill informed mob. You get less points in smugness if you actually stand up and speak out.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Like Reverend Richard Coles a few months ago, Stewart Lee has nominated Morrissey for the artist/song he can no longer listen to in a Guardian questionnaire, citing his 'drift to the far right'.
www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/05/stewart-lee-honest-playlist

It's a bit disappointing that someone as professionally obsessed with Morrissey as Lee was, doesn't mention Morrissey's clearly muddled/confused political outlook, and the (admittedly vague) support he's also given to non-right-wing figures in recent years. It's clearly the right-wing stuff that has stuck in people's minds.

Because it’s a reason to feel angry ( feel something?).

Humans love to hate someone or something, sadly.

 

[High Five]

How dramatic. Hitler was a wonderful artist and painter. He later strayed a bit to the right, but his artwork still hangs proudly on my wall. Just because Morrissey talks political nonsense and defends sex offenders doesn't make him a bad singer.

 

[Redacted]

Used to love Springsteen but his recent ticket prices make me despise his greed.

Yeah, it's pretty gross. His manager was asked about it and said Bruce is worth it. The artists can stop this dynamic ticket pricing, they are often the ones who request it, they set their own rates too. Crowded House made ticketmaster refund the difference between the face value and the actual ticket price charged a few years ago because they did not agree with this pricing. Springsteen can do the same, but he won't.

 

[Skylarker]

Everyone make mistakes. And Morrissey is one of them. Nobody is perfect. It can be quite empowering to apologise and own up to one's mistakes.

What "mistake" did Morrissey make? He showed support for a political party that stood for tighter immigration policies and more stringent vetting of would-be migrants.

He said that within the Hollywood system there is an unfathomable amount of hearsay, that there are two sides to every story, and that the starlet/mogul dynamic is so fraught with grey areas and mutually diverse potential motives that one should not just immediately rush to judgment in the light of an accusation.

Wow. So contentious. What a heretic.

 

[Pokey]

You've literally just contradicted yourself in the space of three sentences

No, I haven't. And you're a f***ing idiot. Apologise for your racist "oriental" comment.

Actually .. holy f***, are you actually suggesting that not listening to someone because they turned out to be a pedophile, but still listening to someone who have a few differing political opinions are on the same level? Is that what you think is a contradiction? Bob Brozman raped children. If you actually think that stopping listening to him because of that is dramatic then f***ing hell. And if you think Morrissey's flippant comments about stuff are as bad as that then you are absolutely f***ing insane. I mean, we knew that already by the fact you STILL hang around here absolutely OBSESSED with someone you can't stand. Move on with your life, you're very unwell.

 

[Seymour Glass]

So in order to enjoy a singer, band, TV show, movie etc.. you have to agree with everyone's political views? I'm American and have never heard of this twat. I do like Gervais, he's not a whiny snowflake.

 

[Hannah Alexander]

Yeah, it's pretty gross. His manager was asked about it and said Bruce is worth it. The artists can stop this dynamic ticket pricing, they are often the ones who request it, they set their own rates too. Crowded House made ticketmaster refund the difference between the face value and the actual ticket price charged a few years ago because they did not agree with this pricing. Springsteen can do the same, but he won't.

It doesn’t matter if the artist puts a stop to it or not. The exorbitant price gouging goes on regardless. In this case, the artist gets the money instead of some middle man. Which is fairer?

 

[Redacted]

I have no idea who this guy is, but I disagree with plenty of things Morrissey has said. I don't want to be his best friend, I just want to enjoy his music.

 

[Redacted]

It doesn’t matter if the artist puts a stop to it or not. The exorbitant price gouging goes on regardless. In this case, the artist gets the money instead of some middle man. Which is fairer?

I already said what I think about it

 

[AKA Foster88]

No, I haven't. And you're a f***ing idiot. Apologise for your racist "oriental" comment.

Actually .. holy f***, are you actually suggesting that not listening to someone because they turned out to be a pedophile, but still listening to someone who have a few differing political opinions are on the same level? Is that what you think is a contradiction? Bob Brozman raped children. If you actually think that stopping listening to him because of that is dramatic then f***ing hell. And if you think Morrissey's flippant comments about stuff are as bad as that then you are absolutely f***ing insane. I mean, we knew that already by the fact you STILL hang around here absolutely OBSESSED with someone you can't stand. Move on with your life, you're very unwell.

Skinny? He's desperately unwell. Borderline maniac. I wouldn't trust him. But that's just me.
I don't know where the comic genius conclusion comes from? If he's a genius what was Billy Connolly? I've never seen him say anything funny yet. But that's just me.

will the virtue signalling ever stop? I'm so delicate that I can't listen to someone I disagree with? Go listen to Billy Bragg then. Comedians used to have skin as thick as Rhinos, now they are all delicate flowers too. The only funny ones these days are Andrew Lawrence and Chubby Brown and the nutjobs want them silenced. Cancelled. Wiped out.

Moz is funnier than this guy. There's some irony there.

 

[Paul Andrews]

Pretty much every rock star of the 7o' was a groupie banging pederast. I'm still listening to The Stones, Bowie, Bolan, Elvis ... tell me I'm not right?

 

[ActualMorrisseyFan88]

You gotta love the tolerant left (obvious sarcasm). He doesn’t think like me, therefore I now can’t listen to his music anymore

I can disagree with Morrissey and or not share some of his beliefs, that doesn’t mean I try to demonize the guy or stop listening to his music.

Oh well

 

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile, middle-class Stuart will never mention the reasons why London has turned into a complete cesspool or the daily occurrences of knife crime, assaults, muggins etc by certain demographics.

I live in London and it is not a cesspool. Not sure where you live, you might have mentioned just outside London before, can't remember. But once again you have seized on the rhetoric (because it's what you already 'feel') without using your considerable intelligence to think it through and come to the obvious conclusion. So I'll do it for you...

Do you remember around the late 90s/early 2000s when there was an extraordinary amount of gang-related shootings in London? I do. The police even tried to set them aside from 'normal' crimes by dubbing them (with a total lack of sensitivity) "black-on-black crimes".

Now think how many shootings there are every year in London these days. Few, if any. It's obvious what's happened: the gang members have realised that killing someone with a knife is a lot easier, a lot less messy, a lot less expensive and troublesome, and there's a much smaller chance of getting caught (gunshot residue will sink you). In essence, stabbings have replaced shootings. There's not a significant rise in the crime itself, just as there not many more bank robberies now because it's done via computer shenanigans rather than armed stickups. Basically - same crimes going on, different methods.

Yes London has a lot of knife crime. But this is not, as you clumsily hint, because there are more black people/immigrants in the country. Its just gang members who swapped guns for knives.

You have a good brain Hofmann. Sadly, you are still not using it.