“I’m Still Taboo” – An Interview With Morrissey

“I’m Still Taboo” – An Interview With Morrissey

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morrissey interview this is morrissey
Morrissey (Photo by Kerstin Rodgers/Redferns/Getty Images)

Curated by Morrissey “to commemorate my 30 solo years”, new compilation This Is Morrissey moves from 1988’s blinding debut single “Suedehead” (here remixed by Sparks, one of Morrissey’s favourite artists of the teenage years) through potent album cuts such as “Speedway” and live surprises including the Lou Reed cover “Satellite Of Love”. Just as This Is Morrissey provides a fleeting taste of this profound, erudite and wilfully perverse songsmith, the album’s release has also seen the quixotic enigma behind the quiff emerge for a handful of email interviews.

Despite pulling back on media appearances over the past decade, Morrissey’s sporadic soundbites persistently incense his critics. Recent critiques of UK politics have created a commotion in his homeland akin to Molotov cocktails lobbed at hornet’s nests, yet his global fanbase remain steadfastly true to their idol. In this Australian exclusive, Morrissey addresses our questions with the same bleak gallows humour which has infected his music since The Smiths debuted with Hand In Glove in 1983, even drolly renaming our site “I Like Your Old Stuff (But Can’t Stand Your Recent Stuff)” in the process…  

I LIKE YOUR OLD STUFF: Like a cheeky school student doodling in a library book, there seems to be some pleasure taken in messing with your history: amending album cover art for reissues, revisionist adjustments of tracklistings on re-releases, selecting unexpected (or unloved) songs for compilations. Some fans seem flummoxed by your song choices on This Is Morrissey. How much delight do you take in causing mischief - even among your most ardent fans?

MORRISSEY: I don't see it that way. It's important to make things interesting for people, otherwise... what's the point?

ILYOS: Three of the songs on This Is Morrissey date from the 1988 debut album Viva Hate. Thirty years on, what do you know now you didn’t know then? And what did you know then you don’t know now?

M: I didn't know anything then. I was appallingly gauche, ridiculously fragile and completely unknowable as a human being. Now, I can at least find an excuse to leave the room... which is progress.

ILYOS: New Marvel film Ant-Man And The Wasp features your songs “Everyday Is Like Sunday” and “First Of The Gang To Die”. In its first week of the film’s release, these songs have been heard by a larger audience than ever saw a Morrissey Top Of The Pops performance. With films offering an opportunity for old songs to be heard by new audiences, how do you feel about how the world’s changed? And have you changed?

M: I don't know what it's like in Australia but if you hear a Morrissey track on the radio in England... you are probably dreaming, so it's only been through film and TV usage that the music has been found, and I thank all the gods for that. Have I changed? No. I'm still taboo.

 

ILYOS: When you encounter Morrissey followers in your day to day life, which of This Is Morrissey’s lyrics are most often quoted back to you? What’s the most far-flung location you’ve been confronted by fans excited to cross your path?

M: I arrived at a hotel in Jakarta and the doorman swung the doors open and bowed, "Let me kiss you" (You Are The Quarry, 2004). That's not something you hear every day. The lyrics are constantly quoted to me wherever I go. That's success, isn't it? 

ILYOS: It was never a single, yet Vauxhall and I’s closing song “Speedway” offers a spine-tingling thrill at Morrissey concerts to this day. The lyrics remain a hurt yet humorous, ruined yet resolute insight into the man behind the myths. When you’re finally sequestered behind the cemetery gates, will it be “Speedway”’s lyrics you choose for the marble inscription?

M: There's so much to choose from, isn't there, when it comes to the final beheading.

ILYOS: On your live cover of Lou Reed’s “Satellite Of Love” on This Is Morrissey you change a lyric to “I cannot stand the TV”. What was the last programme to capture your eye/heart/mind? 

M: I don't ever watch... I find it to be a ridiculous waste of time - all of those deafening commercials trying to sell you pigs’ innards. I think television has become more and more stupid in recent years, yet no one will admit there's anything wrong. There are so many fascinating interviews on YouTube... Huey Newton, James Baldwin, WH Auden... Modern television wouldn't allow this form of quiet debate because every comment must now be offered for audience laughter. Help.

ILYOS: You’ve sustained more than 30 years of desperate fans lunging onto stages to touch, manhandle and hold you. Has it become a clichéd rite of passage as mindless as partaking in a Gloucester cheese rolling festival, or do you still enjoy this primal, physical connection with your followers?

M: Yes, it's exactly like a Gloucester cheese rolling festival. Well, I'm not bored... that's all I can say. I see so many concerts where the audiences don't budge, so I still feel complimented if someone goes to the trouble of climbing on the stage because... it's not easy.

ILYOS: You’re one of England’s great writers, yet you’ve won relatively few awards recognising songs such as those on This Is Morrissey. Given your 2013 tome Autobiography divulged how closely you watched your chart positions, how galling is the absence of a bulging trophy shelf? 

M: Artists are given awards because they have someone from the label pitching for them, and because they are the label's current commercial speculation... who must be seen to be enormous worldwide. There's no other reason. I've never been in that situation, and I wouldn't see the point in thanking everyone for being handed a small wax doll with no legs.  

ILYOS: What emotions did you feel when listening to these songs again while putting this compilation together? How has curating this collection affected your next musical move?  

M: It's a well-developed history, I think, and I don't envy anyone else. It's still a joy for me to listen, and I'm still unable to imagine anything else other than music. I am pleased, and I have a strong identity. Most pop artists start with dreams and then it turns into a career. I haven't reached the career stage yet. When a new album is recorded, life begins again.

This Is Morrissey is available on CD and digital through Regal Parlophone now. An LP edition will be released on August 31 and can be pre-ordered here.  
 

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