Seymour Stein on The Smiths and Morrissey - The Music Ally interview

Great find.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

ultimately things DO make sense though on some level or another

i never read jane austen. she never seemed relevant. and yes, his growl is fantastic

 

[Anonymous]

oh it's not what others think of me that i care about. it's the fact that i know i have no defense for not being vegan in this day and age. but im a very all or nothing person so somedays ill be very ascetic, and then other days... not so much. and i dont have that presence of mind or immediacy of feeling to make one absolute decision and stick with it, to make of myself a symbol.

admittedly i have been given to many great infatuations over the course of my life (all very very harmless), and of all of them, morrissey, rather than inspiring fantasies or delusions, has the singular distinction of bringing me into the context of reality, the thick of life known as the present, and asking me: 'who are you? what do you want to be?' no idee fixe of mine has ever had the nerve to ask me that. and i know, that if you believe that what matters most in life is not what you experience, good or bad, but who you are and what you become, as i do, than there is only one answer for that, and that i must develop a higher consciousness about the way i live.

I found a selfie of you:

Nice sweater - assuming you knit it yourself (you didn't need to include "Morrissey" though since he is ultra-iconic).

 

[Anonymous]

lol, so lame. can you, like, not comment on my posts, particularly in picture form, which is the most unclever and obnoxious way of responding to anything, because that just forces me to have to condescend, which i dislike having to do, as a rule.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

lol, what ARE you on about? also it is a lamentable fact that dont own any morrissey clobber. perhaps instead of being an obtuse clod you could you make yourself useful and send me one of yours.

 

[Anonymous]

lol, what are you on about? Also it is a lamentable fact that dont own any morrissey clobber. Perhaps instead of being an obtuse clod you could you make yourself useful and send me one of yours.

f***!

 

[Anonymous]

I found a selfie of you:

Nice sweater - assuming you knit it yourself (you didn't need to include "Morrissey" though since he is ultra-iconic).

Nothing wrong with this picture, but from the tone you were thinking this was funny. It isn't and the poster has only contributed fun points of view on so-low.

 

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong with this picture, but from the tone you were thinking this was funny. It isn't and the poster has only contributed fun points of view on so-low.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the endlessly enigmatic and intellectually mysteria started with this short film, the swinging flowers stuck in my head the whole day after i first saw this.

https://youtu.be/PkdzORpDcvw

 

[nicky wire's legs]

Nothing wrong with this picture, but from the tone you were thinking this was funny. It isn't and the poster has only contributed fun points of view on so-low.

oh thank you darling. i agree. if the person taking the picture didnt think there was anything wrong with it, then i am loathe to think that there is anything wrong with it either (aside from the fact that i categorically do not take selfies). actually i regret now that i didnt comment on what a handsome--and i do mean handsome--sweater it is. a fine, fine specimen of sweaterhood. every sweater should look like that. would i could knit!

 

[Anonymous]

I found a selfie of you:

Nice sweater - assuming you knit it yourself (you didn't need to include "Morrissey" though since he is ultra-iconic).

Strange. I immediately thought that it is a room in the U.S.A. Maybe because of the mirror in the background? The party stuff attached to the shelf? Hm.

The next moment I thought that this woman is stressing out over studying stuff, because of the scattered paper and that she really needs to relax. That might also help her to lose some weight actually, because people often eat under stress.

Well, and then during the third second I felt sorry for her, because somebody like you used her picture that she took to share her Morrissey jumper with others.

I honestly think that the whole supposed Morrissey "legacy" shit has failed, because there has never been any legacy that is worth mentioning. There is a lot of bullshit talk about him being the blablabla of the disenfrenchised, but his superduperfans are the first to shit on anybody else and show their own grandeur by belittling others, just like their superhero Morrissey of course.

Having said this, it should be obvious that this rifke is a complete fake, like so many others who are using this website. I admire Brummyboy and Bennie the Butcher in a way, because I honestly think that the 70 people who actually look at threats here aren't worth all the effort.

 

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of bullshit talk about him being the blablabla of the disenfrenchised, but his superduperfans are the first to shit on anybody else and show their own grandeur by belittling others, just like their superhero Morrissey of course.

This is so true, and the worst thing is that he encourages it. He sings about outsiders but in reality he is just as elitist as the royals, which is probably why they bother him so much.

 

[messengers]

Hard to read this thread, what with all the trolls and handbag fights.

I think The Smiths and The Beatles are very comparable, post-band outputwise. Maybe The Beatles fared better post-split, Lennon, Harrisson and McCartney put out some great solo stuff. Despite that, for me it all pales in comparison with their Beatles work. Out of their solo stuff, you could maybe compile two or at most three Beatle-worthy LP's, of course none of it in a cooperative mode like Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, but more White Album style. How many solo songs would have been real Beatle classics, comparable with Yesterday, Hey Jude, A day in the life? 'Imagine' and not much more. The rest is second- or third-tier.

Post-breakup Smiths? Johnny Marr has been disappointing to me. He did interesting work, with Talking Heads, The The, Mouse on Mars, Electronic, but nothing comparable to his Smiths greatness. It seems he could or would not work with the intensity of his Smiths period anymore and lost the thing that raised him to brilliant levels: The Smiths and Morrissey.

Morrissey has made some great solo music. The Smiths had something special, you can feel that in the music. Young men starting a revolution. Morrissey went for broke in his lyrics, tackling poetic and uncommon themes, attacking the queen and the meat industry. They were, in their own way, a revolutionary band. The guitar work of Johnny is something special: unique, briljant, Always fresh and original. Listen to This Charming Man, Bigmouth Strikes Again, How Soon is Now, Heaven knows I'm Miserable now, The Headmaster Ritual, Stop me if you think...' You can't find this guitar work and these arrangements on Morrissey solo work. Only thing coming close is the work of Vini Reilly and Stephen Street on Suedehead and the Viva Hate album, now that combination came close to (but did not quite succeed in) matching Johnny Marr. Morrissey made a lot of great and very enjoyable music after that. I love 'Vauxhall and I', beautiful songs, great singing, very warm, but the song structures are more conservative and the guitar work is less brilliant than Johnny's.

For me, The Smiths' songs are between an 8 and a 10, mostly at least a 9. While Viva Hate-Vauxhall Morrissey goes from 6 to 9 (Everyday is like sunday and Suedehead are stunning and match the best songs of The Smiths), and only one in three songs (none of Kill Uncle) would qualify for a Smiths album or B-side. After Vauxhall, Morrissey isn't all that special anymore, to his fans yes, but even Quarry is no match for The Smiths, it's good but musically quite middle of the road. What's left are the voice and lyrical power (on the wane these days) of Morrissey, but the beautiful inventive music of Marr is long gone and replaced by MOR trad rock.

I am too young to have consciously followed the Smiths while they existed. But still I keep wondering what could have been if they had given us more albums. But Morrissey being hard to work with and Marr being fed up with this and musically restless, this was not to be. Luckily we still have a lot of great music left.

 

[Irregular Regular]

Hard to read this thread, what with all the trolls and handbag fights.

I think The Smiths and The Beatles are very comparable, post-band outputwise. Maybe The Beatles fared better post-split, Lennon, Harrisson and McCartney put out some great solo stuff. Despite that, for me it all pales in comparison with their Beatles work. Out of their solo stuff, you could maybe compile two or at most three Beatle-worthy LP's, of course none of it in a cooperative mode like Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, but more White Album style. How many solo songs would have been real Beatle classics, comparable with Yesterday, Hey Jude, A day in the life? 'Imagine' and not much more. The rest is second- or third-tier.

Post-breakup Smiths? Johnny Marr has been disappointing to me. He did interesting work, with Talking Heads, The The, Mouse on Mars, Electronic, but nothing comparable to his Smiths greatness. It seems he could or would not work with the intensity of his Smiths period anymore and lost the thing that raised him to brilliant levels: The Smiths and Morrissey.

Morrissey has made some great solo music. The Smiths had something special, you can feel that in the music. Young men starting a revolution. Morrissey went for broke in his lyrics, tackling poetic and uncommon themes, attacking the queen and the meat industry. They were, in their own way, a revolutionary band. The guitar work of Johnny is something special: unique, briljant, Always fresh and original. Listen to This Charming Man, Bigmouth Strikes Again, How Soon is Now, Heaven knows I'm Miserable now, The Headmaster Ritual, Stop me if you think...' You can't find this guitar work and these arrangements on Morrissey solo work. Only thing coming close is the work of Vini Reilly and Stephen Street on Suedehead and the Viva Hate album, now that combination came close to (but did not quite succeed in) matching Johnny Marr. Morrissey made a lot of great and very enjoyable music after that. I love 'Vauxhall and I', beautiful songs, great singing, very warm, but the song structures are more conservative and the guitar work is less brilliant than Johnny's.

For me, The Smiths' songs are between an 8 and a 10, mostly at least a 9. While Viva Hate-Vauxhall Morrissey goes from 6 to 9 (Everyday is like sunday and Suedehead are stunning and match the best songs of The Smiths), and only one in three songs (none of Kill Uncle) would qualify for a Smiths album or B-side. After Vauxhall, Morrissey isn't all that special anymore, to his fans yes, but even Quarry is no match for The Smiths, it's good but musically quite middle of the road. What's left are the voice and lyrical power (on the wane these days) of Morrissey, but the beautiful inventive music of Marr is long gone and replaced by MOR trad rock.

I am too young to have consciously followed the Smiths while they existed. But still I keep wondering what could have been if they had given us more albums. But Morrissey being hard to work with and Marr being fed up with this and musically restless, this was not to be. Luckily we still have a lot of great music left.

A balanced assessment, I find myself agreeing with most of the points you make.
Refreshing to see 'round these parts, thank you.

 

[Anonymous]

oh thank you darling. i agree. if the person taking the picture didnt think there was anything wrong with it, then i am loathe to think that there is anything wrong with it either (aside from the fact that i categorically do not take selfies). actually i regret now that i didnt comment on what a handsome--and i do mean handsome--sweater it is. a fine, fine specimen of sweaterhood. every sweater should look like that. would i could knit!

Handsome indeed. I have a shirt like this i wear around town and people kept staring at my chest! They were just admiring this handsome devil.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

Strange. I immediately thought that it is a room in the U.S.A. Maybe because of the mirror in the background? The party stuff attached to the shelf? Hm.

The next moment I thought that this woman is stressing out over studying stuff, because of the scattered paper and that she really needs to relax. That might also help her to lose some weight actually, because people often eat under stress.

Well, and then during the third second I felt sorry for her, because somebody like you used her picture that she took to share her Morrissey jumper with others.

I honestly think that the whole supposed Morrissey "legacy" shit has failed, because there has never been any legacy that is worth mentioning. There is a lot of bullshit talk about him being the blablabla of the disenfrenchised, but his superduperfans are the first to shit on anybody else and show their own grandeur by belittling others, just like their superhero Morrissey of course.

Having said this, it should be obvious that this rifke is a complete fake, like so many others who are using this website. I admire Brummyboy and Bennie the Butcher in a way, because I honestly think that the 70 people who actually look at threats here aren't worth all the effort.

oh my darling, i wasnt belittling anyone. i have a deep aversion to being misrepresented or having my words indecently ascribed to someone else. my annoyance was at being in the position of having to assert my otherness from this person, because how do you do that without it looking like you are insulting them? i think that's fair, really. oh but internet forums are awkward and distateful places! no wonder mozzer washes his hands of you lot.

 

[Anonymous]

Strange. I immediately thought that it is a room in the U.S.A. Maybe because of the mirror in the background? The party stuff attached to the shelf? Hm.

The next moment I thought that this woman is stressing out over studying stuff, because of the scattered paper and that she really needs to relax. That might also help her to lose some weight actually, because people often eat under stress.

Well, and then during the third second I felt sorry for her, because somebody like you used her picture that she took to share her Morrissey jumper with others.

I honestly think that the whole supposed Morrissey "legacy" shit has failed, because there has never been any legacy that is worth mentioning. There is a lot of bullshit talk about him being the blablabla of the disenfrenchised, but his superduperfans are the first to shit on anybody else and show their own grandeur by belittling others, just like their superhero Morrissey of course.

Having said this, it should be obvious that this rifke is a complete fake, like so many others who are using this website. I admire Brummyboy and Bennie the Butcher in a way, because I honestly think that the 70 people who actually look at threats here aren't worth all the effort.

Here's transsexual Morrissey getting all dolled up and shaking his tits to some of his favorite hits (guess you can put lipstick on a pig after all):

https://vimeo.com/102576308

 

[Anonymous]

Here's transsexual Morrissey getting all dolled up and shaking his tits to some of his favorite hits (guess you can put lipstick on a pig after all):

https://vimeo.com/102576308

an oink oink here and an oink oink there..just eww-ful!

 

[Anonymous]

an oink oink here and an oink oink there..just eww-ful!

Morrissey should run for Mayor of Farmville! He stinks and looks and behaves like a pig.

 

[Anonymous]

Morrissey should run for Mayor of Farmville! He stinks and looks and behaves like a pig.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/seymour-stein-on-sire-records-greatest-hits/064450

"Geoff Travis called me up and said, I’ve just seen a band I’m in love with, I think you’ll love them even more than I do. That was enough for me because Geoff is a great talent. I said, When is the next gig? He said, In two days, it’s probably a bit hard for you to get here. I said, No, it’s nothing. I found out about Depeche Mode the morning that they were playing and luckily I decided to take a wad of money and take the Concorde, which was like $8,000, to see them and I signed them on the spot. This was nothing compared to that, I fell in love with [The Smiths] as much as he did and that’s what happened. I still love them. Morrissey can be hard to deal with at times but that doesn’t make him any less of a talent, he’s a genius, and Johnny Marr is the greatest guitar player of his period."