The Guardian: Stewart Lee's 'Honest Playlist' - 'can no longer listen to' Morrissey (September 5, 2022)

Like Reverend Richard Coles a few months ago, Stewart Lee has nominated Morrissey for the artist/song he can no longer listen to in a Guardian questionnaire, citing his 'drift to the far right'.
www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/05/stewart-lee-honest-playlist
It's a bit disappointing that someone as professionally obsessed with Morrissey as Lee was, doesn't mention Morrissey's clearly muddled/confused political outlook, and the (admittedly vague) support he's also given to non-right-wing figures in recent years. It's clearly the right-wing stuff that has stuck in people's minds.

---

Excerpt:

The song I can no longer listen to
Sadly, Morrissey. Loads of artists end up doing terrible things, but the Smiths meant such a lot to my generation, to have him drift to the far right doesn’t sit. I remember hearing How Soon Is Now when I went to see the Smiths at Birmingham Hippodrome and dancing to it at a disco in Tucson, Arizona in 1995. It’s hard to let go of my childhood attachment to the Smiths, but I don’t know how to square Morrissey’s solo stuff with what he’s become.

 

[Emotional Guide Dog]

What do you make of Stewart Lee?

I dislike him so much I can't even be bothered to spell his name right.

 

[Mike Rourke]

Stewart Lee seems to divide opinion - people tend to think he's a genius or not funny at all.
I just think he's a fairly good comedian.
His routine about James Corden liking him is flipping brilliant though:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q60Y8tPzWpg

 

[Johnnie Ray]

I'd hardly say his career is in the toilet.

But yeah, go online and bully and belittle anyone who stands up to your preachy virtue-signaling woke nonsense.

If anybody should apologize it should be you. To me. Because you're a dull c***.

Oooooh burn!

 

[Johnnie Ray]

Don’t know what you’re going on about there.

So I’ll repeat, you don’t need to stoop to their level, is all I’m saying.

Oh, let me clarify. Remember when The Simpsons made fun of Morrissey for being fat? Well, you true believers clutched your pearls and cried. I find it ironic that when the shoe is on the other foot, you die hards (not you specifically) have no problem calling someone else fat, merely for expressing his opinion. That's all. You're right though, I really shouldn't stoop to their level. I grant you that.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Oh, let me clarify. Remember when The Simpsons made fun of Morrissey for being fat? Well, you true believers clutched your pearls and cried. I find it ironic that when the shoe is on the other foot, you die hards (not you specifically) have no problem calling someone else fat, merely for expressing his opinion. That's all. You're right though, I really shouldn't stoop to their level. I grant you that.

Sorry but I have nothing to do with either that anon’s fat shaming comment or yours in reply to him/her.

I know why you did it, I’m just saying you don’t have to stoop to their level in reply.

Nor do you need to say that you love eating animals, simply because you know Morrissey’s position on such matters. It’s not clever.

 

[Anonymous]

People weren't using guns like this 40 yrs ago...........even in London. And kids/men carrying knifes or weapons now because they're in fear of what could happen when they go into the street isn't normal. I've felt it myself. You're in denial.

Good grief. Very little is the same as it was 40 years ago ya dolt. The world changes. Accept it and enjoy your life instead of kidding yourself you can control anything. I don't have any factual data to hand but yes you're almost certainly correct that 'it wasn't like this 40 years ago'. But remember that 40 years ago we also didn't have digital technology (not as we know it anyway), everything closed down on a Sunday, you risked getting beaten up by going to a football match, and there was a record 3 million on the dole. The good old days don't exist. With a growing population comes a growing crime rate. To blame it on immigration is lazy and ill-informed.

Watch Cathy Come Home. That's 1966, and in a scene in the homeless shelter she picks on a Jamaican woman and says her own predicament is the fault of 'you people' coming to the UK and 'taking all the jobs'. That was almost 60 years ago and it was lazy and ill-informed then as well. And people like you are still banging the same old tired drum.

As for feeling so under threat in public that you personally might need to carry a knife. That's utterly bonkers and I suspect speaks to a paranoia that's being fuelled by all the bullshit 'news' you are consuming online. You really need to do yourself a favour and start enjoying life without seeing immigrant murderers on every street corner. It's not healthy, Stephen.

 

[Johnnie Ray]

Sorry but I have nothing to do with either that anon’s fat shaming comment or yours in reply to him/her.

I know why you did it, I’m just saying you don’t have to stoop to their level in reply.

Nor do you need to say that you love eating animals, simply because you know Morrissey’s position on such matters. It’s not clever.

I'm just being 100% genuine. I actually do like eating animals but more than that, with Keto, I am in the best shape of my life and I feel better than I have ever felt.

 

[Stephen Hofmann]

Good grief. Very little is the same as it was 40 years ago ya dolt. The world changes. Accept it and enjoy your life instead of kidding yourself you can control anything. I don't have any factual data to hand but yes you're almost certainly correct that 'it wasn't like this 40 years ago'. But remember that 40 years ago we also didn't have digital technology (not as we know it anyway), everything closed down on a Sunday, you risked getting beaten up by going to a football match, and there was a record 3 million on the dole. The good old days don't exist. With a growing population comes a growing crime rate. To blame it on immigration is lazy and ill-informed.

Watch Cathy Come Home. That's 1966, and in a scene in the homeless shelter she picks on a Jamaican woman and says her own predicament is the fault of 'you people' coming to the UK and 'taking all the jobs'. That was almost 60 years ago and it was lazy and ill-informed then as well. And people like you are still banging the same old tired drum.

As for feeling so under threat in public that you personally might need to carry a knife. That's utterly bonkers and I suspect speaks to a paranoia that's being fuelled by all the bullshit 'news' you are consuming online. You really need to do yourself a favour and start enjoying life without seeing immigrant murderers on every street corner. It's not healthy, Stephen.

I know you can't control anything.......but you can be real and acknowledge the truth about what's happened in our country and the state of it, instead of pretending this country isn't a hell of a lot worse than it was in the 80's, which was then in dire straits. You can amplify a song like The The's Heartland x 10 for the times we're living in.

The growing population isn't being created by new British children's births... Our birthrates are constantly down, year upon year. Very few of the men i grew up with had children. I haven't. My 2 best friends don't. And numerous others never had kids.

As to running the risk of being beaten up at football...I never had any problems and I went to football regularly for about 4 yrs in the early 80's as a kid. Even went to the old Millwall den with my dad once. The 80's weren't perfect.....I had my share of violent encounters i was either involved with or witnessed. There was plenty of violence..between rival youth cults or straights attacking kids that looked different but I never felt that my life was in danger or felt the need to have a weapon. We used our fists. Nobody carried a knife or a gun. I'd walk home from town a million times ,walking miles without any real fear of being hurt. I can't say that now. Maybe that's getting older. I can't say.

 

[HIMv20]

may 22nd,wasnt that long ago,he has either had liposuction or a good visual effects team has been busy slimming him down.

perhaps 3 months touring since then helped loose the pounds?
don't really matter anyway

 

[gashonthenail]

Stewart Lee - totally called out by Graham Linehan:

 

[Anonymous]

I know you can't control anything.......but you can be real and acknowledge the truth about what's happened in our country and the state of it, instead of pretending this country isn't a hell of a lot worse than it was in the 80's, which was then in dire straits. You can amplify a song like The The's Heartland x 10 for the times we're living in.

The growing population isn't being created by new British children's births... Our birthrates are constantly down, year upon year. Very few of the men i grew up with had children. I haven't. My 2 best friends don't. And numerous others never had kids.

As to running the risk of being beaten up at football...I never had any problems and I went to football regularly for about 4 yrs in the early 80's as a kid. Even went to the old Millwall den with my dad once. The 80's weren't perfect.....I had my share of violent encounters i was either involved with or witnessed. There was plenty of violence..between rival youth cults or straights attacking kids that looked different but I never felt that my life was in danger or felt the need to have a weapon. We used our fists. Nobody carried a knife or a gun. I'd walk home from town a million times ,walking miles without any real fear of being hurt. I can't say that now. Maybe that's getting older. I can't say.

It's not getting older. It's the internet/social media. You are being bombarded with 'news' every day that is purely designed to stoke anger, hatred and bitterness. It didn't seem this way in the good old days because you weren't spending half your life on the internet reading 'news', much of which isnt news at all but is simply anti-immigrant propaganda dressed up as news by low-level British versions of Alex Jones.

Step away from the internet for a few weeks and live purely in the real world, reacting with real people living real lives. I reckon you'd be a lot less angry and frightened. You might even start enjoying life again.

 

[Stephen Hofmann]

It's not getting older. It's the internet/social media. You are being bombarded with 'news' every day that is purely designed to stoke anger, hatred and bitterness. It didn't seem this way in the good old days because you weren't spending half your life on the internet reading 'news', much of which isnt news at all but is simply anti-immigrant propaganda dressed up as news by low-level British versions of Alex Jones.

Step away from the internet for a few weeks and live purely in the real world, reacting with real people living real lives. I reckon you'd be a lot less angry and frightened. You might even start enjoying life again.

I am in the real world. I've had 4 c***** almost kill me this week, riding bicycles or E Scooters on the pavement.

 

[Anonymous]

I am in the real world. I've had 4 c***** almost kill me this week, riding bicycles or E Scooters on the pavement.

'Almost kill you'. That's not true though is it? They almost hit you. But didn't (I'd wager). It happens to most of us. Normal-thinking people think 'bloody idiots' and carry on with their day. People like you get all het up about it and add it to the growing list of things they hate about the modern world, and then drag it round with you like a dead horse forever.

You need to lighten up a bit fella. Where's yer good old British bulldog spirit? The world's not out to get you ya know.

 

[Johnajusted]

Like Reverend Richard Coles a few months ago, Stewart Lee has nominated Morrissey for the artist/song he can no longer listen to in a Guardian questionnaire, citing his 'drift to the far right'.
www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/05/stewart-lee-honest-playlist
It's a bit disappointing that someone as professionally obsessed with Morrissey as Lee was, doesn't mention Morrissey's clearly muddled/confused political outlook, and the (admittedly vague) support he's also given to non-right-wing figures in recent years. It's clearly the right-wing stuff that has stuck in people's minds.

---

Excerpt:

The song I can no longer listen to
Sadly, Morrissey. Loads of artists end up doing terrible things, but the Smiths meant such a lot to my generation, to have him drift to the far right doesn’t sit. I remember hearing How Soon Is Now when I went to see the Smiths at Birmingham Hippodrome and dancing to it at a disco in Tucson, Arizona in 1995. It’s hard to let go of my childhood attachment to the Smiths, but I don’t know how to square Morrissey’s solo stuff with what he’s become.

I'm sure Morrissey is so distressed over this those pillow pillars will remain undisturbed. FFS pathetic.

 

[chrisinho]

He has nothing to regret and he doesn't owe anyone an apology.

He really does. He's spoken in defence of actual fascists. He owes HIMSELF an apology, because he's let himself down so badly. It's sad.

 

[Skylarker]

He really does. He's spoken in defence of actual fascists. He owes HIMSELF an apology, because he's let himself down so badly. It's sad.

I'd say he's been consistently and increasingly vocal in denouncing fascism.

He's against mask and vaccine mandates set by civil authorities with NO evidence for the efficacy of either, he mocks and denounces the scaremongering "do what's good for you or else" tactics of corporate news outlets, he opposes diversity mandates imposed by corporate entities, he loudly and bravely heralds free speech no matter what side it comes from, he defies cancel culture even at his own career's peril, and he rejects the notion that the state should have any excess power over the people.

His entire legacy has been predicated on celebrating the sovereignty of the individual and exploring the plight of society's downtrodden and misplaced.

He's long sung the praises of countless black artists and he continues to place great importance on the voice of gay and trans folk. He is an ardent enemy of those who subjugate and harm animals and he has made no secret of the fact that he does not take sides politically nor does he trust any elected politician or any government agency advocating bullying and violence as a means of control.

So, fascim? Nah. More like kickassism.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd say he's been consistently and increasingly vocal in denouncing fascism.

He's against mask and vaccine mandates set by civil authorities with NO evidence for the efficacy of either, he mocks and denounces the scaremongering "do what's good for you or else" tactics of corporate news outlets, he opposes diversity mandates imposed by corporate entities, he loudly and bravely heralds free speech no matter what side it comes from, he defies cancel culture even at his own career's peril, and he rejects the notion that the state should have any excess power over the people.

His entire legacy has been predicated on celebrating the sovereignty of the individual and exploring the plight of society's downtrodden and misplaced.

He's long sung the praises of countless black artists and he continues to place great importance on the voice of gay and trans folk. He is an ardent enemy of those who subjugate and harm animals and he has made no secret of the fact that he does not take sides politically nor does he trust any elected politician or any government agency advocating bullying and violence as a means of control.

So, fascim? Nah. More like kickassism.

If 'cancel culture' exists (it doesn't - it's just people exercising the free speech you like so much to denounce and refuse to have anything to do with people/opinions they find objectionable) - but if it does exist, it's arguably far worse from right-wing people than it is from the left. Hardcore Brexit voters still, even now (!), will 'boycott' anyone or any company that makes it clear that it's against Brexit. 'Boycott' is simply an anaemic substitute word for 'cancel'.

Or to put it another way - I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'go woke, go broke'. What's that if not cancel culture?

As for Morrissey sticking up for gay and trans folk. That shouldn't really go as far as defending Kevin Spacey ffs.

And I think before you assert that he does not take sides politically, you should remember he said people should vote for For Britain and said Nigel Farage would make a good Prime Minister. You can't undo that no matter how much you might want to.

 

[Ketchup]

Hardcore Brexit voters still, even now (!), will 'boycott' anyone or any company that makes it clear that it's against Brexit.

Utter and complete nonsense. You have no idea what you're talking about.
As for the rest of your post; absolute drivel.

 

[Anonymous]

If 'cancel culture' exists (it doesn't - it's just people exercising the free speech you like so much to denounce and refuse to have anything to do with people/opinions they find objectionable)

Cancel culture goes far beyond 'refusing to have anything to do with people' - it aims to cancel an artist to the extent that no one will do business with them, and they become an unemployable non-person. I've got no problems with people exercising their free speech or refusing to consume art produced by someone they find objectionable. What I despise is this totalitarian concept of trying to impose their views on everyone else, by writing to publishers and demanding they stop publishing certain authors, or have actors removed from films/TV series etc. If someone has the wrong views, or has said the wrong thing, they must be destroyed.

 

[Skylarker]

If 'cancel culture' exists (it doesn't - it's just people exercising the free speech you like so much to denounce and refuse to have anything to do with people/opinions they find objectionable) - but if it does exist, it's arguably far worse from right-wing people than it is from the left. Hardcore Brexit voters still, even now (!), will 'boycott' anyone or any company that makes it clear that it's against Brexit. 'Boycott' is simply an anaemic substitute word for 'cancel'.

Or to put it another way - I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'go woke, go broke'. What's that if not cancel culture?

As for Morrissey sticking up for gay and trans folk. That shouldn't really go as far as defending Kevin Spacey ffs.

And I think before you assert that he does not take sides politically, you should remember he said people should vote for For Britain and said Nigel Farage would make a good Prime Minister. You can't undo that no matter how much you might want to.

The difference is that the right doesn't call for boycotts or advocate to silence people/artists whose views they don't agree with. They don't advocate for deplatforming....whereas the left wants to demolish and abolish anyone who says or thinks anything that differs from their views. A great example is the Joe Rogan podcast. Lefty dummies DEMANDED he be removed from Spotify because he dared to give voice to a scientist who had a different view of Covid vaccines than what is proffered by the mainstream. They didn't demand people not listen to him. They wanted his contract broken and his platform taken from him.