He divides opinion certainly but he was still a part of a really top notch group in The Smiths and he's done very well on his own as well.
Couldn't agree more. Last Of The International Playboys; Everyday Is Like Sunday etc etc are brilliant. In the meantime lets meet up at Knebworth for Sonisphere in July. Metallica, Slipknot, Motorhead, Airborne and the out-of-this-world Sisters of Mercy amongst trillions of other class acts. What could be better? Errr....there's a big REAL beer festival in London soon.
Morrissey is currently the greatest living Englishman. By a long stretch. Seen him solo and with the Smiths. Superb.
Would like to have seen The Smiths. I go to Rebellion every year but this year I'm not sure I can, shame as Adam Ant is playing, never seen him.
Johnny was great but it was a fantastic partnership. They complimented each other well. Johnny's guitar playing was top notch but you wouldn't really call him the brains. Especially against the intelligence and wit of the great Mozmeister. The Smiths would have been a nice jangly guitar band without Morrissey's lyrics, voice and personality. With him they were the greatest and most important band of the 80's.
The Smiths were okay but they existed in a decade of the most turgid, poptastically ****e music so anyone with a bit of talent was likely to stand out. The 80s was possibly the worst decade for music since the hit parade started.
I grew up listening to my older sibling's music so I was raised on a diet of Bowie, the Beach Boys, Dylan, The Who, Marvin Gaye, Simon and Garfunkle et al. I was listening to that while my mates were listening to the likes of U2, Simple Minds, The Smiths etc. thinking they were cutting edge and hugely talented. Not to mention the 80s was the time of new romantics (ie. style over content) and the likes of Bowie produced some of his worst music and was highly successful just shows you how awful a decade it was for music.
Don't try to make me out to be as old as you grandad. Unlike you I wasn't able to watch the moon landing live on the telly.
I'm being dragged against my will to see Roger Waters 'The Wall'. Completely underwhelmed. The whole point of going to a gig is that you don't know what the set list is, what's coming next, will they play this, will they play that, what's the finale, whats going to be in the encore etc., it's a great buzz when you hear the opening chords of one of your faves out of the blue, that's whats going to a gig is about. Instead I'll know exactly how long it's going to be, exactly what songs will be played and exactly what order. There'll be no suprises. Might as well chuck the CD on really loud and listen in my own home and save money. And all the songs are about unrelenting misery.
Most of what I listen to is from the 1980s: anarcho punk, oi!, gothic, Smiths and similar, industrial, acid house plus the pop songs are great and take me back when I hear Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, Tears For Fears, etc, etc. My little brother says I've got **** taste...
It's very unbecoming when two old men argue. Apart from the Smiths it's very hard to defend the 80's. I had to spend my teen years living through that, no wonder I was a miserable ****. This is the decade that made stars of Duran, Spandau, Nik kershaw, Kajagoogoo, Rick Astley, Sonia, Jason Donovan, U2, Go ****ing West for Christs sake. And you are right about Bowie. Had he done the decent thing and checked out after 'Super Creeps' he would have remained a legend. Sadly he lived on and turned into an embarrassing pretentious old tosser.
Gotta agree about 'The Wall'. I'd rather hack my own head off with a rusty spoon than sit through that. I reckon they make the prisoners in Guantanamo watch dvd's of that.
To be fair, by the end of the 70s he had lost all his money due to a bad management and his drug habit so he needed to make commercial pop to stop him going bankrupt. Oh, and if you ever call him a tosser again ER1980 and I will join forces, find out where you live, tie you to a chair and blast the Laughing Gnome at you on full volume for 24 hours!
