1,685.) Wed Jul. 14, 2021

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Snub Week

The Song of the Day is:

The Smiths – “How Soon is Now?”

From the album Meat is Murder (1985)

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

Johnny Marr – Morrissey

With this snub, I think we all know damn-well why The Smiths are not yet in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – former lead singer Morrissey regularly expresses deeply problematic rhetoric. I’m sure the prospect of even inviting Morrissey to their ceremony invokes panic for those who run the Hall. Nobody wants to give Morrissey a chance at the podium during a high profile event – he will make headlines for all the wrong reasons. Like South Park, Morrissey is an equal-opportunity offender, who has expressed a deep disdain for the way of life of almost everybody on the planet, for one reason or another (animal rights and meat consumption, as evidenced by the above album title, is Morrissey’s number one cause. The cause is noble, but his approach is bullish and off-putting – for example, he suggested that the people of China are a subspecies (of humans) for their animal rights record…deplorable). It seems that the only person infallible in Morrissey’s eyes is Morrissey. As much as the world doesn’t need a Morrissey induction speech, he probably does deserve the honor (preferably, and more likely, for his work with the Smiths, though he is also eligible as a solo artist). At least in this song, Morrissey does admit to being human after all, that’s a start I suppose. The Smiths weren’t just a mouthpiece for Morrissey though, they were a hugely influential post-punk band consisting of Johnny Marr on guitar, Andy Rourke on bass and Mike Joyce on drums. Outside of fans of the band, Rourke and Joyce aren’t too well known, but Marr is has had a long and varied career as a session guitarist and hired gun for bands such as Modest Mouse, Talking Heads, and the Pretenders. He seems to favor guitar textures and layering (as this “How Soon is Now” illustrates) more than riffing or soloing, but really he’s capable of it all. In a way, the Smiths are like a Bizzaro-world U2, with the fully capable rhythm section, the sound architect guitarist, and the front man who wants to save the world, albeit it in the Smiths case, Morrissey is much more Lex Luther than Superman. The group was a big influence on the emo genres, as many of Morrissey viewpoints expressed in song would mirror those of the average teenager. After four proper albums from 1984-1987, the group split when Marr left over frustrations with royalty disputes and arguments with Morrissey. The band more than deserves induction, though at this point, they’ve not even seen a nomination.

If you enjoy the blog, please consider helping me pay the dues paypal.me/MichaelSliwa.  

Thanks!