Morrissey Central "PLEASE LISTEN AGAIN (DUB)" (May 29, 2021)

@Thewlis appears to be correct:

Johnny Marr and Morrissey were both fans of Bob and Marcia's 1970 reggae tune "Young, Gifted and Black" Marr told The Observer in 2013: "We bonded over a lot of records, but we both loved that song in the same way at the same time. And that's very likely to be the thing that inspired the music for 'Girlfriend in a Coma.'"
It’s been played many times on the video montage. He likes that song. That’s it.
 
It’s been played many times on the video montage. He likes that song. That’s it.

Not entirely:

I once said Reggae is vile, did I? Well, several tongue-in-cheek things were said in those days, which, when placed in cold print, lost their humorous quality. This track (Swan Lake, Cats), along with Double Barrel and Young, Gifted and Black, were staple necessities to me. (Word, June 2003)







Plus he loved Madness & he revived Attack.

agrovators-attack-dub-rare-dubs-from-attack-records-1973-1977-jamaican-recordings-lp-29797-p.jpg
 
Not entirely:

I once said Reggae is vile, did I? Well, several tongue-in-cheek things were said in those days, which, when placed in cold print, lost their humorous quality. This track (Swan Lake, Cats), along with Double Barrel and Young, Gifted and Black, were staple necessities to me. (Word, June 2003)







Plus he loved Madness & he revived Attack.

View attachment 72752


It was part of his youth as he explained to Len Brown in 1988 and later repeated in his sleeve notes for Under The Influence...

Screenshot_20210529-231958_Chrome.jpg


20210529_231507.jpg




From the Quarry press release:

"'They had a drawer full of labels that they bought and Attack was part of the Trojan family,' Morrissey said. 'I've been a fan of the Attack label for quite some time. I have a Gregory Isaacs seven inch on my refrigerator. Well, I told Sanctuary that I wanted to re-launch the label and have Quarry released on Attack and they agreed."'

The Gregory Isaacs single, Love Is Overdue, that Hamish Brown photographed him with was a gift from Len Brown...

morrisseyhamishbrownL171209-4.jpg
 
Morrissey 1986 — “Reggae, for example, is to me the most racist music in the entire world. It's an absolute total glorification of black supremacy... I don’t have very cast iron opinions on black music other than black modern music which I detest. I detest Stevie Wonder. I think Diana Ross is awful. I hate all those records in the Top 40 – Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston. I think they’re vile in the extreme... Obviously to get on Top Of The Pops these days, one has to be, by law, black,” he told Melody Maker.

Complaint seems to be more about the culture of reggae and the people making it at the time vs the style of music
 
Not entirely:

I once said Reggae is vile, did I? Well, several tongue-in-cheek things were said in those days, which, when placed in cold print, lost their humorous quality. This track (Swan Lake, Cats), along with Double Barrel and Young, Gifted and Black, were staple necessities to me. (Word, June 2003)







Plus he loved Madness & he revived Attack.

View attachment 72752


Judge John Weeks described the lead singer, Stephen Morrissey, as "devious, truculent and unreliable"
 
Surface = FAIL
 
People here sometimes get too riled up over nothing. Personally I don't think Moz is racist or hates all black music, whatever that is. He's entitled to hate whatever he wants and to change his opinion 35 years later.
Now I'm off for some light relief by reading the excellent Stephen Morris autobiography (part 2) Fast Forward.
 
People here sometimes get too riled up over nothing. Personally I don't think Moz is racist or hates all black music, whatever that is. He's entitled to hate whatever he wants and to change his opinion 35 years later.
Now I'm off for some light relief by reading the excellent Stephen Morris autobiography (part 2) Fast Forward.

It seems it’s only Surface that’s being triggered by Morrissey’s love of reggae.
 
‘surprising’ ?
 
Farout is far off.

“who’d have thought that the sounds of the Caribbean would have influenced this duo of young punks?” :rolleyes:

Wha?! Lots of ‘punks’ were into
reggae and dub... Lydon/PIL the Slits, Clash, etc...

I thought Farout would be knowledgeable about music culture,
guess not.

As it's being discussed here:

Far Out:
The surprising song that bonded The Smiths duo Morrissey and Johnny Marr
(May 29, 2021)

 
That interview from ‘86 was obviously just Moz in a foul mood. Every other account seem to just confirm his love of certain sounds from the reggaesphere. His love for and fascination with British working class youth culture confirms it even further.

Stop bickering about nothing.
 
Not entirely:

I once said Reggae is vile, did I? Well, several tongue-in-cheek things were said in those days, which, when placed in cold print, lost their humorous quality. This track (Swan Lake, Cats), along with Double Barrel and Young, Gifted and Black, were staple necessities to me. (Word, June 2003)







Plus he loved Madness & he revived Attack.

View attachment 72752


Steves got good taste in music.
 
Morrissey 1986 — “Reggae, for example, is to me the most racist music in the entire world. It's an absolute total glorification of black supremacy... I don’t have very cast iron opinions on black music other than black modern music which I detest. I detest Stevie Wonder. I think Diana Ross is awful. I hate all those records in the Top 40 – Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston. I think they’re vile in the extreme... Obviously to get on Top Of The Pops these days, one has to be, by law, black,” he told Melody Maker.
And he grew to change his mind. Why would he cover Redondo Beach? Since when is 1986 a short memory? Plus I think we all know this is Sam Etsy Central.
 
That interview from ‘86 was obviously just Moz in a foul mood. Every other account seem to just confirm his love of certain sounds from the reggaesphere. His love for and fascination with British working class youth culture confirms it even further.

Stop bickering about nothing.

The thing is, even in that quote, he doesn't say he hates reggae music. See the full quote Nerak posted (#15). Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Janet Jackson - all the music he mentions that he dislikes in this context is mainstream pop, not reggae.
 
A couple of things, It is true Morrissey did state clearly, he was talking about Reggae, as well as soft black pop that was in the charts in the 80
The thing is though, it's obvious to even a 14-year old that he's taking the piss. Even I at 14, when I wasn't into Morrissey and the smiths. could tell he was on the wind-up
When I actually heard the Morrissey smiths music, I got it instantly and could tell where he was coming from and could tell Morrissey is pretty much typical of a sort of British male , that deals mainly in double talk and wind up etc .

He is also a man of many moods so even if he is bitching something to high heaven he can still love it (bowie is a great example)

It's shocking to me that even his fans in the UK don;t get him: these days, we expect the rest of the world, especially the Yanks to not really get it, they never do.

Now, there has actually been reggae versions of the smiths and other bands, Sex pistols and Radiohead for instance, being covered by reggae music for a while
Im not sure why its being dragged out mow, especially twice.

I tend to think Morrissey is a fan of reggae via Dance Hall and Ska . rather than reggae reggae (sadly this music was also loved by skinhead racists, so its no real defence of anti-racism) .

Its sad to me that Morrissey just doesn't let the facts speak for themselves, the British press and certain parts of the internet may like to pretend Morrissey's fan base is British bigots and confused Mexicans but anyone who as every spean time away from the UK can tell he is popular all around the world among various skin colours


By thee way bringing the Girlfriend In A Comma demo in as evidence of Morrissey liking reggae isn't helpful. For s start maybe it wasn't used, down to Morrissey?
Is it possible Johnny made up the music for Morrissey (in another room to the band, watching tv) only to say no "make something else" ?
Isn't also reported that the band have admitted trying to sneak "black influences " into the smiths music, under Morrissey nose?

At the end of the day none of this matters.
 

Trending Threads

Back
Top Bottom