Was/Is Morrissey Racist?

Having read every post on this thread I can now say that I am thoroughly bored of the controversy about Morrissey (so why am I posting? I dunno. Boredom?)that if someone told me Morrissey was rounding up jews I would find it hard to raise enough energy to be appalled. Which is kind of the problem with the debate. We stop understanding what we're discussing. Racism is a very serious charge to level at someone, especially based on a couple of ambiguous lines in a pop song. The NME should have thought about the fact that this is someone's career and reputation they were playing with.

Also, I don't see why people think an artist is responsible for the way in which people interpret or use their art. Should the Beatles take responsibility for Charles Manson? That would seem odd. Ok, it's more predictable that certain uses of the union flag will appeal to certain groups, but I really don't think that an artist is responsible for that either. Anything you put out could be used as an anthem for a nefarious movement, or taken as support. I don't see how an artist could take responsibility for that - once art is in the public sphere people will make whatever use they wish of it. If I think morrissey speaks to me bacause I'm gay, hispanic, disabled or fascist is really not of his concern. He's responsible for the art as he makes it, and people who buy his albums are responsible for the way they use it.

I dunno, I guess none of that makes sense. I'm sure there's a rational (though probably mistaken) thought in there somewhere...

as per this weeks cover of the NME this story is back : http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_071127_01

Interview - Tim Jonze
Words - NME

lololol

tim jonze lololololol

nme lololololol

morrissey lololololol

"Not for publication", eh?

very liberal world of rock'n'roll

lol

besides all the Bowie covering and all, he also was doing "My Insatiable One" by Suhr-uede. Wasn't it you, Momus, who talked about seeing an early show by them and doing nothing but videotaping Justine at chest level?

Fans of hip-hop/R&B have been hunting Morrissey ever since his oh-so-entirely-correct "Hang The DJ" statement with The Smiths back in 1986. Some people have very misguided idea that any dislike of rhythm/dance oriented music is racist.

Burn Geir

But this is a fact. The World would have been a much better place had there never been disco, DJs, or dancing at all for that matter. Morrissey knows this, and that is hard to accept for die-hard-dance-no-brainers.

the World

Q you live in italy now. would you ever consider moving back to Britain ?

A Britain's a terribly negative. And it hammers people down and it pulls you back and it prevents you. Also, with the issue of immigration, it's very difficult because although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England, the more the Britich identity disappears. So the price is enormous. If you travel to Germany, it's still absolutely Germany. If you travel to sweden, it still has a Swedish identity. But travel to england and you have no idea where you are !

Q Why does this bother you ?

A It matters because the British identity is very attractive. I grew up into it , and I find it quaint and amusing. But England is a memory now. Other countries have held on to their basic identity, yet it seems to me that England was thrown away

Q isn't immigration enriching the British identity rather than diluting it ?

A It does in a way, and it's nice in its way. But you have to say goodbye to the Britain you once knew.

Q that's just the world changing

A But the change in England is so rapid compared to the change in any other country. If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won't hear an English accent. You'll hear every accent under the sun apart from the British accent.

Geir's right, nobody reps for R&B and rap music as hard as the NME.

Interesting stuff J0hn, didn't know anyone had interviewed Geir

Geir is desperate for a big dust-up, he's graduated to condemning dancing in general - I suspect Mozart wouldn't share his distaste for it but that's neither here nor there

xpost lol

Q you live in Italy, would you ever consider moving back to Norway?
A melody is the the primary element in all great music.

The parts quoted by NME shows some signs of Morrissey being racist, although he needs to visit his old hometown some more, I guess. A land's capital is always more cosmopolitical than the rest of the country, and I am sure Manchester and Liverpool are just as English as most of Germany outside Berlin is still very German.

no dancing? you sound like some sort of puritan. reminds me of the old joke. bible-belt girl goes to parents and tells them about new boyfriend. "what have you done with him?" "nothing, ma, nothing, pa!" "have you danced with him?" "i haven't ma, i haven't pa!" "have you had sex?" "no ma, no pa!" "well, when you do, do it lying down." "why ma, why pa?" "because if you do it standing up, it might lead to dancing!"

http://www.truthmagazine.com/archives/volume9/TM009094.html

"The answer to these questions will show every sincere person that the Christian must not dance."

Geir Qubt

Geir is Sayyid Qutb.

xpost

you put it better

I was about to say that.

shall we dance?

The parts quoted by NME shows some signs of Morrissey being racist, although he needs to visit his old hometown some more, I guess. A land's capital is always more cosmopolitical than the rest of the country, and I am sure Manchester and Liverpool are just as English as most of Germany outside Berlin is still very German.

-- Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 28 November 2007 13:41 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Current percentage of the population of Manchester who are immigrants: 15%.

Or, y'know, 5 times the UK average. Good work Geir.

2. "Dancing its good exercise." Is that really why you dance? Boys may dance with other boys and get the same exercise. Plan a "boys with boys" dance for "exercise," and see what response you get. You will see the "basic spell" of the dance to be the sex impulse and its "unchaste handling of males and females."

3. "I just enjoy the rhythm of the music; I've got rhythm in my bones." I do not object to persons enjoying good music. But girls could dance with girls and enjoy the music just as much.

Morrissey's just old and nostalgic. It would be a half-hearted racist who described immigration as 'nice in its way'. I'm annoyed at Morrissey for thinking Knightsbridge is typical England, when his best work stands up for the provinces that everyone else ignores. Manchester's still pretty obviously Mancunian, anyway.

I think Ismael's OTM - "immigration" here is just another version of "they're tearing down the buildings I loved," although the latter is something you can actually have a legitimate gripe about because the new building are so fuckin ugly

also, a writer/character like Morrissey should actually thank anything that gives him the opportunity to feel wistful

Is there a transcript of this piece anywhere? Don't make me have to pick up the NME in the shop and not buy it in order to find out.

The World would have been a much better place had there never been disco, DJs, or dancing at all for that matter.

:(

A land's capital is always more cosmopolitical than the rest of the country, and I am sure Manchester and Liverpool are just as English as most of Germany outside Berlin is still very German.

-- Geir Hongro, Wednesday, November 28, 2007 1:41 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

morrissey's parents were immigrants.

Interview - Tim Jonze
Words - NME

This is a classy move.

i'm just gonna throw this out there.

jonze is not his real surname.

he has stolen a fake surname from spike jonze.

is that's what happened here?

Good back story to this regarding NME weaseling.

Some of it here.

http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_071127_01

Wow, where did you find that link?

442

That "interview tim jonze/words nme" thing is doing my head in a bit.

I think Britain is a negative place, and it does pull you down and prevent you from getting ahead. It seems weird to conflate this with immigration though, I don't see a connection. If this part of the british identity were to disappear, it would be good, maybe.

Morrissey's words in that excerpt read like the words of a much older guy, it's the way some of my dad's friends (in their early 70's, mainly) talk. It reads like he grew up in the early 1950's or something. He is a v v weird guy, and not in a good way, I think.

This is from the "MOZ FAQ" at http://www.oz.net/~moz/faq/faqlyric.htm
"At the heat of the racist debate, the former NME editor Steve Sutherland wondered if Morrissey's alleged racism "might be a gay thing". "

I wonder if that quote is true?

-- Dickon Edwards, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (5 years ago) Bookmark Link

lol "dick"-on

Also, with the issue of immigration, it's very difficult because although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England, the more the Britich identity disappears. So the price is enormous. If you travel to Germany, it's still absolutely Germany. If you travel to sweden, it still has a Swedish identity. But travel to england and you have no idea where you are !

I'm not sure if it's even worth debating statements like this, but according to the official statistics both Germany and Sweden have a bigger percentage of immigrants than the UK, so maybe "national identity" (whatever that means) has little to do with immigrant influx. Unless that identity is built on xenophobic ideas of us against them.

Also, I'm sorta ashamed how low my country places on that list.

lol no-one wants to live in finnland