Dave Haslam - Before The Smiths were The Smiths

Nice article from Dave on Manchester architecture, Crazy Face, X-Clothes and Joe Moss

Before the Smiths were the Smiths

Johnny Marr & Joe Moss - the cool dude and the true bohemian

davehaslam.substack.com

 

[j*e*t]

I wondered why Marr hadn't mentioned Joe's son David when he wrote his autobiography (afterall, teenager David was closer in age than Joe's toddler, Ivan) until I realised that the cosy set-up in Heaton Chapel with Joe's 'wife' Janet was his second family - David was from his first family in Stockport. By the eve of The Smiths' first US tour, Joe had quite a lot on his plate, and adding in the habitual illegal weed use, a habit shared with Marr, he seems to me to have been quite unsuitable as a manager to accompany the young band to America, even if Marr did hold him in great esteem.

 

[Anonymous]

OMG - weed?!?

 

[bhops]

Still surprising, 10 years after "Autobiography" was published, that Joe Moss's exit from The Smiths hasn't gotten more scrutiny. Even on Substack, Haslam and Moss's son are actually more respectful and sparing than they need to be. Morrissey's own account of the 'sinister plot' to oust him from the band so Joe could become the front-man is pure crackpot paranoia, proof positive his talent for self-sabotage is unparalleled in the history of rock and roll. When you consider that Johnny loved Joe as a father figure, and Morrissey apparently blamed Johnny, Mike and Andy for going along with the 'plot', the band's acrimonious break-up was a fait accompli as early as 1984. Moss's forced departure could have and maybe should have ended The Smiths.

Thankfully for the rest of us, Johnny knew he had a special songwriting partner. Or maybe, like a lot of 21-year olds, his callow youth made him emotionally bulletproof. In any case it's stunning The Smiths survived as long as they did.

This is all well and good but at the time that Morrissey revealed it not a single member of the band refuted it. I myself thought it to be so outlandish that surely one of them, principally Johnny or Mike would've dismissed it outright. No-one ever has and I find that interesting.

 

[Anothermous]

This is all well and good but at the time that Morrissey revealed it not a single member of the band refuted it. I myself thought it to be so outlandish that surely one of them, principally Johnny or Mike would've dismissed it outright. No-one ever has and I find that interesting.

No one has refuted it because it is so outlandish that everyone can see it is ridiculous. Once again, a circular argument.

 

[bhops]

No one has refuted it because it is so outlandish that everyone can see it is ridiculous. Once again, a circular argument.

Not really. It's kinda key and a revelation that I would have honestly expected any other key personal to have instantly dismissed in that it painted Moss in a particularly bad light.

 

[Anothermous]

Not really. It's kinda key and a revelation that I would have honestly expected any other key personal to have instantly dismissed in that it painted Moss in a particularly bad light.

Really? I think it paints Morrissey in a bad light as a paranoid, stubborn fool who gets rid of management just as they start to become popular. In the end because business was not taken care of, it ended up costing Morrissey and Marr millions.

 

[Skydreams]

No Moz and Mozzers career
The moment LIHS was released and he decided to show the world he was red pilled and addicted to red pill YouTube . Suddenly people saw their hero was a sad case

 

[BurgerButt]

Damn - people are still salty because Dave Haslam single-handedly ended Morrissey's career in 2018?

Didn't Dave Haslam come out and say he knew something about Morrissey, that he could end Morrissey's career just like that.....

Did it come out on this board or does anyone have a hint what this might be?

I once heard Morrissey drives an Ice Cream Van round Bolton and when he sells a lolly, he does that flapping thing under your arm to make fart noises..... I obviously cant substantiate this, as i don't live in Bolton, i read it online, but could this be what Dave is referring to?

 

[Gray Fruit]

Didn't Dave Haslam come out and say he knew something about Morrissey, that he could end Morrissey's career just like that.....

Did it come out on this board or does anyone have a hint what this might be?

I once heard Morrissey drives an Ice Cream Van round Bolton and when he sells a lolly, he does that flapping thing under your arm to make fart noises..... I obviously cant substantiate this, as i don't live in Bolton, i read it online, but could this be what Dave is referring to?

It's got to be that Morrissey is somewhere between John Wayne Gacy and Gary Glitter. Is something going to surface soon? Is that why he's hiding out in Zurich? Who knows?