"Trouble Loves Me" - #1 song of the year in Dallas

Morrissey is still indie? From John Bug:

Morrissey’s "Trouble Loves Me" was named the number one song of the year by Dallas’s 94.5 The Edge. It was the number one song on the indie radio show. The number 16 song on the regular radio "Top 100 songs of the last decade" was the Smiths "How Soon Is Now?".

"How Soon Is Now?" - perennial favorite

From Lisa Murer:

Our local radio station in Indianapolis had listeners vote for the top alternative songs of all time. All in all, a pathetic showing that seems to accurately reflect people from Indiana... but "How Soon Is Now?" was voted #5.

http://www.wrzx.com/Contests/103cds.htm

NME Miller Genuine Draft Awards nomination

From Eddie C.:

Morrissey is nominated for best-solo artist in the NME awards. It is on the NME web site.

"Satan" chart commentary on Dotmusic

From Christian Arvidson:

This is the UK Singles Chart Commentary from the Dotmusic chart index:

Week 1 1998

39 SATAN REJECTED MY SOUL (Morrissey)
Strange indeed to relate that it is now almost ten years since Morrissey stopped being part of the Smiths and became a solo star. Sadly these days he is a prime example of how the mighty can fall, his fanbase diminishing to such an extent that he spent most of 1997 having the unusual experience of seeing singles miss the Top 40. Indeed I suspect it is only due to the post-Christmas lull than 'Satan...' sneaks in at the bottom end, his first Top 40 hit since 'Alma Matters' made Number 16 last August. The followup 'Roy's Keane' [sic] missed out altogether. Needless to say that 'Satan Rejected My Soul' is probably one of his best singles for mant a long while [?] but in an industry where the most important thing is to be 'in', Morrissey is most definitely 'out'.

You can also go to this site to vote on the best album of the year and best single of the year at this address http://www.dotmusic.com/dotvote97.html

Cilla settles

Thanks to Rachel Mckeon for the following:

In case you’re interested, here’s the concluding part of the legal kerfuffle that caused the postponement of the Brit Girls series:

Cilla settles out of court

Cilla Black has settled out of court with Granada Television over a ‘misunderstanding’.

Cilla sued for a reported 70,000 pounds after it emerged a one-hour documentary about her formed part of a series instead of a one-off special as she had believed.

Granada said it was making unspecified donations to two of Cilla’s favourite charities in lieu of damages.

This news item appeared on teletext in the Granada TV region.

Harvard Smiths Tribute

From Emily Donahue:

For Boston area fans:

I just got off the phone with the Harvard Radio Station, and the 12-hour Smiths tribute we heard about is starting on January 22nd at 7pm. Yay!

The original posting about the tribute is here.

Hearing aid debate

Also from Emily Donahue:

...Did you happen to see the review of the new Johnnie Ray compilation album in Details magazine? The first sentence describes him as "the one who inspired Morrissey’s hearing aid chic". Please. I thought we all knew by now that a letter from a hearing-impaired fan inspired that!

The Jack Docherty Show (Dec. 30) - a differing report

From Stuart Harvey:

I’ve only just got back to university after the xmas holiday and was surprised to see the news section contain an article about Moz performing ‘Satan’ live on Jack Docherty. I can only presume this was very much a case of wishful thinking on the part of the sender. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, and on no occasion can I remember the singer’s voice still being heard clearly, even though the microphone is quite a distance from his mouth and facing in the other direction.

The Queen Is Dead voted #21 all-time in Q

From Stuart Harvey:

The Queen is Dead was voted 21st best album of all time by the readers of Q. It gave a short overview of the album, and how out of step it was at the time with the cheesy Euro dance thing that seemed to be so popular. It also had ‘There Is A Light...’ cited as the key track on the album, describing it as absurd but touching. Lastly, it had a voter’s view of it, along the lines of ‘Modern life is rubbish. Let Morrissey tell you why.’

#39

"Satan Rejected My Soul" enters at #39 in the British music charts. Thanks to Stefan Krix (..."disappointing") and Naomi (..."better than the third single taken off a Morrissey album usually manages") for the info.

And by the way, happy birthday to Naomi!

#91

We take what we get, I suppose..., from Steven Boz:

A local radio station in Toronto Ontario, Canada (CFNY 102.1) Just voted Morrissey's latest album Maladjusted in the top 100 best albums of 1997. It placed 91.

click on drawing to enlarge
Thanks to Aaron Conley (Orlando, FL) for the drawing of his four favorite pop stars, sent on a postcard. Do you recognize all of them?

The Jack Docherty Show (Dec. 30) - another report

Report from hAzArD:

I am in UK, and saw the Jack Docherty show with Morrissey playing "Satan Rejected My Soul" the day before New Years Eve.

Morrissey sang totally live and, to be honest, the band were great on the guitars, all of them were really going for it. Morrissey was very accomplished - voicewise, as well as looking the part in a dark pinstripe suit. It all sounded amazing. all 2mins 53 secs. They were all really polished and professional and perhaps surprisingly, after all this touring he’s been doing - he looked in great shape.

A great start to 1998 for him.

Morrissey ‘performed’ "Roy’s Keen" on the New Years Eve Jack Docherty Show on channel 5 last night. The whole thing was a monumentally pathetic affair. There was no audience - just Jack Docherty alone in a theatre.

It was really sad to see Morrissey limply mime his way through the song on this pre-recorded nightmare nobody watched (apart from those recording it cause somebody they liked was on) which incidentally included the Cure playing more than one song and the hated Robert Smith giving a lengthy interview.

Frankly the band looked embarrassed to be there so why they did it I have no idea. Perhaps it was recorded the same day they went in to do "Alma Matters"? However, they were all wearing different clothes (Moz in Battersea/TFI outfit) and Morrissey's hair looked different and so I reckon it was done more recently.