Rapid transit
5 days ago
Friday, December 04, 2009
National Treasure Island
Morrissey's choices of songs on Desert Island discs were hardly inspiring. New York Dolls, Ramones, Velvet Underground, Nico, Marianne Faithfull, Iggy & The Stooges, Mott The Hoople, Klaus Nomi. Seven-eighths white rock from the 60s and 70s. Even if we take the 70s, there was no prog, no disco, no reggae, no krautrock, no soul, no post-punk. Morrissey knows what he likes and he ploughs a very narrow furrow. This is evident in the whole of his and The Smiths' recorded output, lyrically clever but musically leaden.
Still, I like him and he's a national treasure and all that. Where would we be without Morrissey? Just who from the 80s would we have had posters of on our bedroom walls? Whose name would we have written in our exercise books? Whose name would we have referenced when announcing to our parents we were to become vegetarians? Who would have got us into Oscar Wilde?
Stephen Fry?
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It's a good job he didn't ask for Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick as the programme would have overun.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they're musically leaden. That Marr chap can jangle with the best of 'em. But yes, his choice was as boring and irrelevant as he is nowadays.
ReplyDeleteRog - The podcast cuts the songs down to about 20 seconds each so those prog epics wouldn't get a look-in.
ReplyDeleteMr London Street - The trouble was Marr had to do it all himself. They would have been better off being an acoustic duo.
Up until today I had never heard Mr Morrissey perform. Inspired by your praise of him I went over to youtube to see what I was missing. Nothing, apparently.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to listen in to a conversation between Morrissey and Alan Bennett.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Vicus' cut-off date for singers he HAS heard of?
ReplyDeleteVicus - I think you'd approve of his diet more than his music.
ReplyDeleteKaz - Their conversation would be more entertaining than the fruits of their labours.
MJ - Janis Joplin spoiled him.