Wish I'd never heard The Smiths.

[Weiß]

I was driving back from lunch on Friday when the flashback radio show played This Charming Man. It was the version from The Smiths. I actually got The Smiths years after I was accustomed to Hatful, and between the two I had obtained the NuNoize boot of The Hand That Rocks, so most of the stuff on The Smiths was redundant x 2 and, consequently, I got it last and I rarely listen to it.

Anyway, maybe it was just the accustics of the car, the double soy-capp, or my mood, but I was struck by how very different Morrissey's voice was. Not from every other Morrissey/Smiths song, but from every other singer. The sound itself is unique, as is his barely off-tempo delivery of the lyrics in that version of the song.

I realized that I was straining to hear his voice, make out what it was he was saying and what he would sing next. And just for an instant, a tiny fraction of a second, I had the feeling of enthusiastic discovery that I know I felt the first time I listened to Hatful of Hollow.

I'm either blessed or cursed with the type of mind that remembers very subtle differences between touch, sound, and sight. And I've listened to The Smiths and Morrissey weekly if not daily for nearly 20 years now. That is a hell of a lot of reinforcement and familiarization. So to have that feeling of "newness" and to have it apply to Morrissey's voice was intensely beautiful and emotional. It went so far beyond hearing a boot or a new Moz single for the first time. It was sublime. We're all addicts, burdened with this genetic predisposition to Morrissey's voice, these receptor cells in our brains for The Smiths. I envy those of us who have only recently (or have not yet) discovered The Smiths and Morrissey. You've got something I'll never have again. You get to hear Morrissey sing for the first time.

 

[Edith Sitwell]

> I was driving back from lunch on Friday when the flashback radio show
> played This Charming Man. It was the version from The Smiths. I actually
> got The Smiths years after I was accustomed to Hatful, and between the two
> I had obtained the NuNoize boot of The Hand That Rocks, so most of the
> stuff on The Smiths was redundant x 2 and, consequently, I got it last and
> I rarely listen to it.

> Anyway, maybe it was just the accustics of the car, the double soy-capp,
> or my mood, but I was struck by how very different Morrissey's voice
> was. Not from every other Morrissey/Smiths song, but from every other
> singer. The sound itself is unique, as is his barely off-tempo delivery of
> the lyrics in that version of the song.

> I realized that I was straining to hear his voice, make out what it was he
> was saying and what he would sing next. And just for an instant, a tiny
> fraction of a second, I had the feeling of enthusiastic discovery that I
> know I felt the first time I listened to Hatful of Hollow.

> I'm either blessed or cursed with the type of mind that remembers very
> subtle differences between touch, sound, and sight. And I've listened to
> The Smiths and Morrissey weekly if not daily for nearly 20 years now. That
> is a hell of a lot of reinforcement and familiarization. So to have that
> feeling of "newness" and to have it apply to Morrissey's voice
> was intensely beautiful and emotional. It went so far beyond hearing a
> boot or a new Moz single for the first time. It was sublime. We're all
> addicts, burdened with this genetic predisposition to Morrissey's voice,
> these receptor cells in our brains for The Smiths. I envy those of us who
> have only recently (or have not yet) discovered The Smiths and Morrissey.
> You've got something I'll never have again. You get to hear Morrissey sing
> for the first time.

As a long term Smiths fan too, I completely understand your sentiments here!

Edith
www.workingclassproduction.co.uk

 

[Speed]

My case is so strange. I was an utterly obsessed fan once and I could never let one day pass without listening to the Smiths or Moz. This lasted about five years, my teenage years. Then suddenly I quit. I don't remember exactly why, I just got interested in other things. I stil loved the music but the obsession was gone. 8 years went by. I don't know what happened about two months ago, I think I was burning a compilation for my boyfriend's sister and I was downloading many of my fave songs ever, and at one point I realized that I kept looking for Smiths/Moz songs. So I got close again, and tried to recuperate all the things I had missed and all the things that I hadn't been listening to or watching for ages. Guess what, the obsession is back. I have listened to all the new stuff too, things that I hardly knew they existed. I love them all. It seems so weird to me. Imagine you find an old friend or lover you haven't seen for 8 years. At first I was taken aback, something like "Oh Steven you got old, shit you were so beautiful!", now I find him more attractive than ever as he is now, let alone his voice and all the marvellous things he's always had. Yes I think you're right, it's a a genetic trait. I love a lot of other artists, I love Pearl Jam, R.E.M., P.J. Harvey, Radiohead, Muse, Chili Peppers and also new things like the Strokes and White Stripes, but NOBODY, I mean NOBODY has ever had on me not even 5% of the effect this man has, with his songs, his voice, his face, his simply way to be. Somebody should maybe study our genomas, and probably they would find something interesting.

 

[kurt]

Somebody forget about Johnny Marr? That song would not have been an eight as wonderful without Johnny at the guitar helm.

Morrissey was not the sole creative force you make him out to be; a duo existed.

 

[dusk]

> Somebody forget about Johnny Marr? That song would not have been an eight
> as wonderful without Johnny at the guitar helm.

> Morrissey was not the sole creative force you make him out to be; a duo
> existed.

Hmm... and I've always thought The Smiths were a quartet

 

[Girlinabox]

> My case is so strange. I was an utterly obsessed fan once and I could
> never let one day pass without listening to the Smiths or Moz. This lasted
> about five years, my teenage years. Then suddenly I quit. I don't remember
> exactly why, I just got interested in other things. I stil loved the music
> but the obsession was gone. 8 years went by. I don't know what happened
> about two months ago, I think I was burning a compilation for my
> boyfriend's sister and I was downloading many of my fave songs ever, and
> at one point I realized that I kept looking for Smiths/Moz songs. So I got
> close again, and tried to recuperate all the things I had missed and all
> the things that I hadn't been listening to or watching for ages. Guess
> what, the obsession is back. I have listened to all the new stuff too,
> things that I hardly knew they existed. I love them all. It seems so weird
> to me. Imagine you find an old friend or lover you haven't seen for 8
> years. At first I was taken aback, something like "Oh Steven you got
> old, shit you were so beautiful!", now I find him more attractive
> than ever as he is now, let alone his voice and all the marvellous things
> he's always had. Yes I think you're right, it's a a genetic trait. I love
> a lot of other artists, I love Pearl Jam, R.E.M., P.J. Harvey, Radiohead,
> Muse, Chili Peppers and also new things like the Strokes and White
> Stripes, but NOBODY, I mean NOBODY has ever had on me not even 5% of the
> effect this man has, with his songs, his voice, his face, his simply way
> to be. Somebody should maybe study our genomas, and probably they would
> find something interesting.

Same here. Morrissey was "my hero" in high school,and everyone thought I was "strange"...LOL! Then...I just stopped...grew out of it,if you will,and I ended up getting rid of all my Moz/Smiths CD's,only to find later that it was "bad judgement" on my part. Luckily, I held onto my videos/DVD's =) LOL!

GB

 

[kurt]

> Hmm... and I've always thought The Smiths were a quartet

Just do not tell Morrissey that or he'll sue.

 

[Spring Heeled Jim]

Johnny who?

 

[DaVeYhAvOkFrEaK1]

Re: Johnny who? johnny marr

johnny marr is great and he is still the best and and Boz is the greatest bass player ever.....

 

[Ruffian]

Re: Errrmm Boz ? A great bass player??? shurely some mishtake