(1988) Viva Hate - your thoughts?

[CrystalGeezer]

It really all comes down to a matter of taste -- for me there is not ONE Smiths' album I can listen to the whole way through without loving every single song on it.

I agree that Smiths songs are brilliant and serve a very important liturgical purpose (if that makes sense) other than just being amazing to listen to, but it's songs like Never Had No One Ever that tend to bite Morrissey in the ass today. That song is like the most mocked tone he's had to live with, having to be the Pope of Mope or whatever when actually he's probably pretty normal and in good spirits. I think if he were to do Never Had No One Ever not as a Smith, but as himself, it wouldn't have sounded so pathetic and served as mocking bait, making his cosmic life easier. Does that make sense?

 

[I am a Ghost]

It's a great album from start to finish.

 

[mcrickson]

I agree that Smiths songs are brilliant and serve a very important liturgical purpose (if that makes sense) other than just being amazing to listen to, but it's songs like Never Had No One Ever that tend to bite Morrissey in the ass today. That song is like the most mocked tone he's had to live with, having to be the Pope of Mope or whatever when actually he's probably pretty normal and in good spirits. I think if he were to do Never Had No One Ever not as a Smith, but as himself, it wouldn't have sounded so pathetic and served as mocking bait, making his cosmic life easier. Does that make sense?

I suppose.
But I think I disagree with what you're saying.
Are we sure if it ever really mattered to him personally whether people called him miserable or not? I mean, from my point of view, people have called me miserable when really I was quite fine, and I didn't really care too much about it.
I think for Morrissey, stating that he's alone isn't reaching for pity -- it's just stating a fact. Songs like 'Will Never Marry' and 'I'm OK By Myself' are kind of him saying, 'Yeah, I'm alone -- but I don't need to be with anyone.' These songs come across to me as the REAL Morrissey. He's written what can be considered 'love songs' before -- he CAN be in love. But there's a difference between loving someone and being in a committed relationship. And quite obviously he's not UNloveable
I guess what I'm saying is that what does it matter if people misunderstand the meaning of the songs -- at the end of the day, he really is a lot happier than even some of those passing the judgement!

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Okay, one quick point to make and then I'll shut up because I know my theory can be shot down due to the fact that Morrissey Song Intent Analysis is an almost impossible feat to tackle, but look at this. As a Smith he sings this song that people like this guy set to movie scenes:

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IqVSQJVTcXs&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IqVSQJVTcXs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Is the song dreadfully sad? Yes, undeniably. But he's calling of longing, not of what the end of this video suggests. He's like a dog howling, but set to Smiths music, it becomes more, Parusha so to speak. It becomes moony and final and tinged no hope and I honestly believe Morrissey NEVER felt there was no hope, or else he would've stopped singing. So yes, every Smiths song is a gem, but it's these gems that paved the mood for how he was percieved as an artist which pretty much guaranteed little to NONE airtime in sunny, happy America which meant...well, more hurdles.

 

[Suedebread]

Although 'The Ordinary Boys' is the only song on there I would happily condemn to oblivion, it gets a 4 because the songs on the second half that fall into the 'good but not great' category number too many.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Although 'The Ordinary Boys' is the only song on there I would happily condemn to oblivion, it gets a 4 because the songs on the second half that fall into the 'good but not great' category number too many.

I love that song. Couldn't find it on the internet. Found this though.

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6M2m43YYUrc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6M2m43YYUrc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Retire already!!!!

 

[marred]

I don't understand why you don't have a button to click for "It's his best!" which is why I couldn't vote

 

[ForgetMe]

Retire already!!!!

Hahaha. If he can bring the Vikings to the Super Bowl this year, then I'll like him. So far, so good.

Anyways, I love Viva Hate. I think it's a great first album branching off from the Smiths. He seemed to be trying new things and not following The Smiths' sound too much. When I listen to that album, even now different songs will all of a sudden stand out to me and I'll fall in love with it all over again. This happens with most if not all of Moz albums for me, but Viva Hate has a particular feel to it. Well, all Morrissey albums have a particular feel in my opnion, but Viva Hate seems to set good ground for his solo career.

 

[CaliforniaMozGirl]

I have always enjoyed this album. I especially love Late Night, Maudlin Street. There are a lot of Classic Morrissey songs on here-Suedehead, Margaret on The Guillotine, Everyday is like Sunday, etc... It was a very strong intro to the Solo years.