Loyalty

Warning: Gushing and lengthy fan blog ahead.

One of the many PETA flyers that are distributed at all Morrissey gigs

I was recently fortunate enough to score - at vast expense - a ticket to see the incredible Morrissey perform, at the Royal Albert Hall, no less. 

I've been a fan since the early days of The Smiths (early/mid 80s), but I've only managed to see Moz live once before, and that was at the Sydney Opera House in 2012. That concert was almost a surreal experience - I couldn't believe I was actually seeing the man himself in the flesh, after so many years of dreaming about it. He didn't disappoint.

So it was that, having missed out on the 'ordinary folk' tickets that sold out within seconds, some months ago I persuaded myself to part with more money than I've ever spent on a concert ticket - in order to secure an actual seat (I'm too old to stand for hours in the crush of the Moz-pit). The bonus was that the ticket came with a hospitality package, ie drinks and canapés in a private lounge for the hundred or so of us who had shelled out for the privilege.

As so often happens when I visit an iconic building for the first time,
the RAH was covered in scaffolding. So I wasn't able to get a great shot

Vegetarian & vegan delights, and bottomless drinks,
as part of the hospitality package at the concert

Farnham is a full hour's train journey from Waterloo, and the last train leaves at around midnight. So for my second Morrissey concert experience, and given the king's ransom I'd paid for the ticket, there was no way I was risking missing a single second of his performance in order to make the train (we've had to leave concerts halfway through encores in the past). So I took advantage of a discount offer and stayed the night in town, in a hotel about a 20-minute walk from the Albert Hall, in the Kensington/Chelsea area.

The lobby of The Cranley Hotel in Kensington
(appearances can be deceiving... the room cleanliness was not great)

The view from my room at The Cranley Hotel

Together with Kate Bush and David Bowie, Morrissey forms one-third of what I like to think of as my triumvirate of modern musical genius. There are a few other artists that hover around the fringes, but these three are unshakeable from the pinnacle. Each has created unique sounds and images across several decades. Each has been incredibly influential to other artists.

Only Morrissey, however, has suffered consistent criticism and yes, sheer hatred, from certain sectors of the press, the music industry and the public. 

There are people who truly, vehemently loathe Morrissey. 

There are many reasons he's so despised by some, and so adored by others. This is a man who doesn't do anything by half measures.

My favourite picture of Morrissey.
Both Moz and Cat appear to be saying 'Yes? May we help you?'

Like myself, Morrissey is passionate about animal welfare. He's been a vegetarian since he was about 11 years old, and a few years ago converted to veganism after decades of activism. He has particularly done a lot of work with PETA. 

From the days of The Smiths (who split in 1987), Morrissey's performances have always included stomach-churning, tear-inducing footage of abattoirs, whaling ships and intensive farms. His tradition is to leave the stage halfway through the show while the film runs, and up until recently the accompanying audio track would be Meat Is Murder, the title track from a 1985 Smiths album. In the past year or two, that has been replaced by The Bullfighter Dies (a song from Moz's 2014 album World Peace Is None of Your Business), played alongside a video sequence showing the horror that is bullfighting. 

Those of you who know me are probably aware that I have never visited Spain, and I go to fairly strident lengths never to purchase Spanish goods. This is solely because of the abomination that is bullfighting. There is something particularly repugnant about taking animal torture and promoting it as entertainment, for which you charge people, under the guise of it being 'traditional' or 'cultural'.

An example of Morrissey's commitment to animals combined with his savage wit
- his website sells these t-shirts

Another commonality is that we are both staunch anti-monarchists (made abundantly clear in 1986's seminal Smiths album, The Queen Is Dead).  I've lost track of the number of songs in which he lampoons and criticises the royal family. Bless his cotton socks.

Like Moz, I couldn't give a rat's arse about royal weddings - to me they're just a drain on the public purse and a way of keeping the common people in their place. This new breed, this new generation of young royals might be an improvement on their forebears, and they might be nice people who do some good things. I still think they should be stripped of their taxpayer-funded wealth and privilege and have to make their own way in the world, like the rest of us. Monarchy is a concept that has no place in the modern world.

I'm with you all the way, Moz...

Morrissey is intimidatingly intelligent, with a very wry sense of humour. He's incredibly well read - his songs have quoted George Eliot and referenced Oscar Wilde. At the other end of the scale, he's always been partial to a silly lyric. I must have heard Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others at least a thousand times, but the line 'As Anthony said to Cleopatra, as he opened a crate of ale' never fails to make me laugh out loud.

Equally, both as fifty per cent of the creative force behind The Smiths and as a solo artist, Morrissey has written some of the most beautiful, sonorous, mournful and touching songs. This has earned him many unflattering monikers, including The Pope of Mope (which is unfair, given many of his songs contain great humour).

Asleep is a gentle introduction to Moz's voice, because on many tracks - and particularly in his early days with The Smiths - he has quite an unusual singing style. I can understand why some people don't take to him, and clearly remember my own puzzled reaction the first time I heard his dulcet tones.

If you think you've never heard a Smiths song, then listen to How Soon Is Now? and you'll surely stand corrected. Such a unique sound - Johnny Marr's brilliant guitar combination of juddering riff and haunting slide... this song has been covered by many artists. And then there are those lyrics:

     I am the son
     and the heir
     Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
     I am the son and heir
     of nothing in particular

     You shut your mouth!
     How can you say
     I go about things the wrong way?
     I am human and I need to be loved
     just like everybody else does

In the past couple of years a fresh element of controversy has surrounded Morrissey. My friend Roy and I have had lengthy conversations about some of the statements Morrissey has made. We have both been quite distressed by them, and I'm particularly frustrated because I know he is not racist or xenophobic, or any of the other insults that have been hurled at him. I am supremely confident in this.

There is categorical proof in many of his songs. Ganglord makes it clear Morrissey is appalled by the constant prejudices that people of colour face in the USA:


     Ganglord, the police are here
     Kicking their way into my house
     and haunting me, taunting me
     Wanting me to break their laws

The difference is that Morrissey doesn't dress up his opinion in the language deemed acceptable in our very sanitised world. He speaks plainly, without clichés, without needing to resort to profane language (unlike myself, whose is prone to the odd bit of foul language). 

The thing is, he's ALWAYS been this way. He has never been one to follow the crowd. And being accused of racism is nothing new - refer this article about music newspaper NME withdrawing its accusations of racism back in 2007.

The world is now so terribly sensitive that every sentence he utters is greeted with accusations. I don't agree with his comments about UKIP former leader Nigel Farage, but then I don't have to. Morrissey's entitled to his own views, and he knows I'm entitled to mine. The two don't always need to correspond. Above all else, he supports free speech.

He's expressed a longing for the time when cultures didn't clash, and for the nostalgia of his childhood when England was more 'English'. So - is this racism? I don't think so. Coming from a multicultural place like Sydney (of course my own father was an immigrant), there have been times when I too have spoken of frustration with certain cultures that seem to bring the discord of their home countries with them. Have you really never become angry in those circumstances? If you say you haven't, I'm sorry but you're probably not being completely honest.

Morrissey's parents were also immigrants - of the much-maligned (in those days) Irish persuasion. He has categorically stated 'I abhor racism and oppression or cruelty of any kind'. How more clear can somebody be?

I can't imagine that these days Morrissey would get away with something like November Spawned a Monster (from 1993's album Beethoven Was Deaf) which, were it released today, would be seized upon by his critics as insulting to disabled people. But close examination of the lyrics reveals an incredible depth of sensitivity to the plight of people whose physical limitations leave them without any independence or control over their own lives. I challenge you to find a song that better expresses empathy for this plight:

     One November spawned a monster
     In the shape of this child
     Who must remain
     A hostage to kindness and the wheels underneath her

These are the words of a man who has really thought about what life must be like in that situation; where you are deprived of even something as basic as being able to choose your own clothing:

     Oh, one fine day, let it be soon
     She won't be rich or beautiful
     But she'll be walking your streets
     In the clothes that she went out and chose for herself

Some time ago, in a response to the latest revelations of the cat and dog meat trade in China (footage of animals being skinned alive), Morrissey made this statement in an interview with Simon Armitage:

"Did you see the thing on the news about their treatment of animals and animal welfare? Absolutely horrific. You can't help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies."

Now, perhaps Morrissey could have chosen his angry words more carefully. You can imagine the reaction of the world's press. However, if Morrissey is guilty of 'racism' for uttering these kinds of remarks, then I might as well sign up for membership of the Klu Klux Klan. The thing is, those of us who care deeply for animals just cannot react without strong emotion when we hear about these things.

Even the interviewer later said "I'm not an apologist for that kind of remark, and couldn't ignore it. But clearly, when it comes to animal rights and animal welfare, he's absolutely unshakable in his beliefs. In his view, if you treat an animal badly, you are less than human. I think that was his point."

The Chinese are particularly abhorrent to animal rights activists because they've been responsible for actually pushing back the progress made over several decades - I'm speaking about testing of cosmetics and other products on animals. The EU and many other countries have introduced laws to stop animal testing. However in recent years China has started importing cosmetics from the west. They actually have legislation that demands that products ARE tested on animals - supposedly for health and safety reasons. Apparently the research of the world's top dermatology scientists is not proof enough for the Chinese that you don't need to undertake animal testing. The result of this is that many large producers have reverted to their former ways in order to sell to China - and have thus been struck off all the cruelty-free product guides.

If somebody was to say to me 'Australians are all uncultured bogans' my reaction would be to look thoughtful and say 'Yes, it's true - quite a few of us are'. I wouldn't accuse the person making the statement of being a racist.

Lord knows Morrissey doesn't need me to defend him - he's always been very capable of giving his opinion and standing by it. And he's also always been very self-aware - he wrote a song called Big Mouth Strikes Again (from The Queen Is Dead), for goodness' sake.

This artwork from Morrissey's 2009 single, I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris,
caused a sensation!

Those of you who've been with this blog since the beginning might recall my post on Kate Bush, just after we moved back to the UK in 2014. By a miracle I was able to attend one of the Before the Dawn concerts, and I wrote at length about my attachment to Kate, and how she'd seen me through some tough times.

Similarly, I owe a lot to Moz for being there when I needed him. Most significantly, when I think back to the period when my first marriage was breaking down, it's against a soundtrack of The Smiths (but also Howard Jones and The The). At the time I was totally absorbed by 1987 compilations The World Won't Listen and Louder Than Bombs. Most Smiths / Morrissey fans will probably admit that the main reason they became a fan was because nobody expressed what they were feeling quite as sensitively as Moz. I clearly remember the feeling of delight and relief as I discovered somebody else felt as out of kilter with the world, as unloved, as I did.

Yootha Joyce - just one of many cultural icons that have graced
the covers of Smiths and Morrissey singles and albums

And so getting back to the concert... it was wonderful, though in truth Moz could probably just stand there looking mournful and I'd be happy. However he genuinely was in very fine voice and, what's more, appeared to be enjoying himself. The audience heartily sang along to the bigger hits, but were also appreciative of the tracks from the most recent album.

With somebody of Morrissey's longevity there's always bound to be a lot of love in the room.  Before the show I spent about an hour chatting with a man of my age in the VIP lounge. He was also there on his own. We were almost uttering the same sentences to explain our admiration for this artist. It felt good to be with 'my own kind' - people profoundly affected by Morrissey's work. He has been our rock, our anchor - that shred of hope that says somebody else has felt the pain and survived.

I might add that this chap was what is referred to as Asian in the UK - ie he was of Pakistani background. We spoke briefly about the controversies surrounding Morrissey's recent comments.  He wasn't offended. He too believed Morrissey was wilfully being portrayed as a bigot, with little to substantiate it. 

There were plenty of people of different race and nationality at the concert. I rest my case.

Pre-show and the Royal Albert Hall is buzzing.
Morrissey has always used nostalgic and iconic images on album covers,
in videos and at his concerts. 
He wears his literary, musical and cinematic influences on his sleeve

Moz with yet another image of rock heroes we share, as backdrop
- Dee Dee and Joey Ramone

I spent the following day replaying the concert in my head whilst exploring the local area, and then strolling around Bloomsbury. I've had Smiths & Morrissey music on a loop in the car, at home and on my headphones ever since.

This lovely building was just around the corner from my hotel

Reece Mews SW7
The blue plaque on the left indicates No. 7, where Francis Bacon
lived and worked from 1961-1992

Wall mural - portrait of Francis Bacon

This is what a Morrissey devotee looks like

Konditor & Cook in Fitzrovia - one of London's most renowned bakeries

The gorgeous Charlotte Street Hotel in Fitzrovia

I have a little shrine to Morrissey in one corner of the flat, one that has moved around with me from place to place for some years. I often wear Morrissey t-shirts to bed and Kevin even tolerates resting his head on Morrissey bedlinen. A select few of you may have received an 'alternative' Christmas card from me at some time or other (see below). 

Morrissey quotes and song titles on greeting cards are available from
Moz For Every Occasion

A couple of years ago he was diagnosed with throat cancer, about which he's been intensely private. He appears to have overcome that threat - there was no evidence of damage to this fine instrument in his performance at the Royal Albert Hall.

I don't just admire Morrissey, I truly, truly love him. 

That love is strong enough to ride the waves of controversy and episodes of what might be deemed poor judgement on his part. On the occasions when I momentarily wish he'd keep his mouth closed, I then recall that his outspokenness is one of the main reasons I hold him in such high esteem.

Many years ago, a good friend was asked to describe me and the first word that popped into her head was 'loyal'.

Loyalty is something I value very highly, and it's my gift to Morrissey. I'm in it for the long haul.

Until next time,
- Maree  xo