What if Morrissey met Jesse Tobias in 1991?

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MozIsGod

Well-Known Member
How much would his career have changed? Would we have seen stuff like You Have Killed Me and I Just Want to See the Boy Happy 15 years earlier? We'd miss out on the subtlety of Vauxhall, but perhaps Jesse could have substituted the glam and rockabilly of Your Arsenal with something closer to American grunge, akin to Pearl Jam's Vs...

Here's some things Jesse was doing in the early '90s.

 
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Q: What if Morrissey met Jesse Tobias in 1991?
A: His career would have sucked 15 years sooner...
 
he would have made him get a haircut
6.jpg
 
He would never have had a "solo career" to speak of, and would have ran back to Marr in desperation after 6 months.
 
The_Myth said:
OMG!

Maybe Morrissey would have started a boy band! (OK, more like a man-boy band since he was 32-ish at the time).
Click to expand...

It is a bit embarrassing that he has Jesse in his band. Only Moz knows why. He says he fell in love with Jesse's guttural yet melodic playing. I can hear that on You Have Killed me but otherwise I don't recognise the description.
 
I think back then Jesse was helping write songes for Frente.

I like a lot of the songs Jesse wrote on ROTT. He has some good b-sides. I am not a huge fan of his YOR songs.

I do like him live. I think he can really play.

I don't think he's a great song writer but he's ok. I don't have nearly the dislike for him as most people.
 
Which one is Jesse in that video?

Morrissey had criticized the Polecats quite harshly and ironically hooked up with Boz later (and ever since) but their rockabilly and covers were at least in the realm of Morrissey's taste.
Pretty much all of his collaborators - while not all of their music would be to Morrissey's liking - were at least in his biome.
The music in that video above is something Morrissey would walk across the street to avoid if he heard it leaking out of a club.

On the positive side, I agree with bored that he has some OK songs. I cannot say all of Jesse's songs are at the bottom of the post-Quarry canon (though many are). I think he always has a couple good ideas and a decent propulsion to his songs but he should co-write with someone who can add finesse and artistry to them. Not enough brushes or colors.

But Morrissey likes touring with him and co-writing with him, which means we get more tours and songs sooner than later.
 
MozIsGod said:
How much would his career have changed? Would we have seen stuff like You Have Killed Me and I Just Want to See the Boy Happy 15 years earlier? We'd miss out on the subtlety of Vauxhall, but perhaps Jesse could have substituted the glam and rockabilly of Your Arsenal with something closer to American grunge, akin to Pearl Jam's Vs...

Here's some things Jesse was doing in the early '90s.

Click to expand...


How the hell is this grunge? This is a horrible Chili Peppers rip-off band. And god forbid Moz would have hired someone from a band that begins performances with an idiotic hat and, "Yo Yo Yo!" Hopefully that retard in the hat won't see this and spit in my food at McDonalds. Bassists should stand still and play - not practice St. Vitus's dance in front of an audience.
 
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MozIsGod said:
...but perhaps Jesse could have substituted the glam and rockabilly of Your Arsenal with something closer to American grunge, akin to Pearl Jam's Vs...
Click to expand...

And then you put in a video of the Chili Peppers.
 
SparkleBoy said:
And then you put in a video of the Chili Peppers.
Click to expand...

Well it was just something I thought about it. Just because he was in a Chili Peppers-like band doesn't mean he can't like or write like other bands. All his songs are short and simple, so he probably could have written some popular American radio-friendly stuff for Moz at that time. He ripped off T.Rex for In the Future When All's Well, so I'm sure he can rip off some more modern artists as well.

Either way, I'm sure you'll agree it would have sucked regardless.
 
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This is the part of the co-writing process that always remains a mystery to me. Yes, we know Boz and co. provide demos which Morrissey hums to and starts writing lyrics to - sometimes even requesting parts of the song be reordered etc. But what's never been clear is whether Moz says to Alain (edit: not Boz), for example, "Okay, on this album I want your take on T.Rex's Ride A White Swan" Alain goes away and comes back with Certain People. Same with In the Future on Ringleader? Or do they know (as well all do) that Morrissey loves T.Rex and just try to come up with something in that vein of their own accord? Does Morrissey say "I want a spaghetti western-esque showdown" and Alain comes back with Carol, or does it just appear in Morrissey's inbox? Jesse's Sparks-influenced Sorry Doesn't Help - Morrissey says "write a song with a Sparks-y outro".

MozIsGod said:
Well it was just something I thought about it. Just because he was in a Chili Peppers-like band doesn't mean he can't like or write like other bands. All his songs are short and simple, so he probably could have written some popular American radio-friendly stuff for Moz at that time. He ripped off T.Rex for In the Future When All's Well, so I'm sure he can rip off some more modern artists as well.

Either way, I'm sure you'll agree it would have sucked regardless.
Click to expand...
 
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King Leer said:
This is the part of the co-writing process that always remains a mystery to me. Yes, we know Boz and co. provide demos which Morrissey hums to and starts writing lyrics to - sometimes even requesting parts of the song be reordered etc. But what's never been clear is whether Moz says to Boz, for example, "Okay, on this album I want your take on T.Rex's Ride A White Swan" Boz goes away and comes back with Certain People. Same with In the Future on Ringleader? Or do they know (as well all do) that Morrissey loves T.Rex and just try to come up with something in that vein of their own accord? Does Morrissey say "I want a spaghetti western-esque showdown" and Alain comes back with Carol, or just it just appear in Morrissey's inbox? Jesse's Sparks-influenced Sorry Doesn't Help - Morrissey says "write a song with a Sparks-y outro".
Click to expand...

Hi King Leer,

You ask some very good questions! I'm willing to guess that each band member contributes whatever they feel to be the strongest material for submission, but Morrissey may occasionally request a certain part or song to have a certain influence or vibe to it. We'll never know for sure until someone from the Lads speaks about this.

The only thing that is worrying about Jesse is that he's basically written the same song for seven years now, i.e. the three-minute rockers which Morrissey certainly likes. No disrespect to Jesse, but he hasn't shown any progression -- musically-speaking -- with his songwriting since Ringleader. Considering Boz's recent material and Alain's questionable status to the songwriting fold, this is a bit worrisome! Maybe Jesse writes continuously in the same vein since he knows these songs are more likely to be chosen by Morrissey as singles?

Scandinavia has grown on me, anyone know who co-wrote it?
 
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