No other artist looms so large or exerts such power over my listening habits as the flailing figure of one Steven Patrick Morrissey. I hang on his every rolled "rrr" and exaggerated movement.
I was surprised as anyone when it dawned on me that the Smiths were my favourite band. It wasn't love at first sight, more a tantalising glimpse of a sultry looking silhouette that held an attraction but I wasn't willing to commit right then. I knew and adored "How Soon is Now?" naturally but it was the sugar rush of "Bigmouth Strikes Again" that sealed the deal. The casual black comedy of its opening lines powered by those wonderful chords, the ability to turn relating to Joan of Arc into some wonderfully defiant statement, that drum break, the backing vocals, the yelping, for me it was a wake up call and though they had deeper and worthier songs in their canon my heart remains in my (Big)mouth when it comes to my love for the band.
It's a cliche to say the Smiths were there for you, soothing your insecurity with their life saving songs but it's a cliche we must employ because in most cases, that's exactly what the band represented. They were saying things in song form I needed to hear and what I wanted to be explored in music. Thematically they were self absorbed of course, but the ambiguity of the songs and their narratives gave them not only mystique but a permanence. Not having all the answers or all the angles keeps the story forever alive and always as vital as the first time the disc spun and you were seduced.
Being a mere 25 I wasn't around when the band was a living thing, therefore I discovered them retroactively and though I have their whole career to peruse at my pleasure there is something different about being there fresh for each release, wondering as to the trajectory of your favourite band. I have this with Morrisseys solo output especially in the last few years when his career rejuvenation was in a full magnificent stride. For me he represents a modern day version of the old star, the larger than life character in the vein of Elvis or Bowie, all stage histrionics and real life affirming performance of his art. With this blog I plan to go through every song in the Morrissey solo body of work providing a personal response or critique. This mans work means a lot to me but that doesn't make me a Morrissey apologist by any means. While being passionate enough to write this sort of in depth analysis obviously indicates a deep love for the music I won't love everything and surely such dissent is the lifeblood of analysis.
I won't adhere too strictly to continuity or chronology. My plan is to pluck whatever I wish to discuss from any and all Moz eras to keep it fresh. These songs are very important to me and so is their elusive, beguiling creator. I never disliked any of the music of Morrissey or the Smiths but when I was first exposed I never expected to become so captured. The word acolyte always read as derogatory to me but there's some truth to it in this case. Prophetically the artist once claimed "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get". A vague "you" is the quarry of that particular song it would appear, but we as an audience are never exactly sure where he will continue to go. One doesn't have to ignore Morrissey to draw him in always closer, he seems to be forever heading purposefully in some direction with a momentum unknown to all but himself.
