Tag Archive: morrissey


ANTONIONI’S CRY

Filed under: Gender, Italy, Movies — Leave a comment
January 3, 2013

IL GRIDO (The Cry) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (Italy, 1957)

ilgridoIn real life, Steve Cochran was a notorious womanizer. Joan Crawford, Mae West and Jayne Mansfield were among his impressive list of conquests. His rough and ready good looks make him look like a younger Mel Gibson, the type of strong silent hunk that makes women who should know better swoon.

Steven Patrick Morrissey was apparently named this actor who was best known for supporting roles as gangsters or boxers and for appearances in a string of B-Movies.

In Il Grido (The Cry), Antononioni uses Cochran’s chick magnet potential with a degree of irony by casting him as a one woman man named Aldo. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Read More & Comment

I’M NOT A ROYALIST BUT…

Filed under: Music, Television — Leave a comment
March 11, 2012

What's wrong with this picture?

I’m not a royalist but there’s something wrong with this picture of Morrissey on stage in Argentina.

For a start, he’s roped his band into wearing these provocative T-shirts without donning one himself.

But the main thing that looks so sad is how forced and stagey it looks.

I wonder if he would have make the same tacky gesture at a UK gig. It looks too much as though he’s playing up to the self appointed image of eccentric big mouth to please a foreign audience. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , ,
Read More & Comment

A DEMENTED THATCHER

Filed under: Movies, Music, Politics — Leave a comment
February 9, 2012

THE IRON LADY directed by Phyllida Lloyd (UK, 2011)

The Iron Lady  is a film about one of the most significant (and hated) political figures of the 20th century but is practically devoid on any political content.  It tells you more about the state of dementia than it does about the state of Britain in the 1990s.

That the movie should end up as little more than a vehicle for Meryl Streep is perhaps only fitting since , for Margaret Thatcher, character is all.

Thatcher stands as the epitome of conviction politics but there is no excuse for ignoring the human consequences of her regime as though they were incidental details.  We see scenes of the coalminers’ strike, the Falklands war, the hunger strikers in Northern Ireland and finally the poll tax riots but you never get any understanding of what really drove her  to stick so unwavering to her cynical beliefs on any of these issues. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Read More & Comment

MANCUNIAN MADNESS

Filed under: Music — Leave a comment
October 18, 2011

Today was a day for Mancunians who, in the immortal words of Vic Reeves, “wouldn’t let it lie”.

First there was the announcement of The Stone Roses’ third coming with the announcement of gigs and a ‘possible’ new album.

The ‘Madchester’ days are long gone and to reform now may please retromaniacs but I can’t summon up any enthusiasm for the prospect of the hype and hyperbole that will undoubtedly surround these shows.

Morrissey is another who should learn to let bygones be bygones. His decision to renew his feud with the NME over accusations of racism looks to be a PR gaff of the first order.

Hasn’t he got any mates who could advise him against this course of action?

I don’t believe that he harbours strong racist views but when his ‘big mouth strikes again’ words are printed in black and white (excuse the pun) it is not surprising that he is portrayed in these terms. Also how does he realistically intend to prove that he is not? Quotable lines can also be thrown at him from songs like Bengali In Platforms, Asian Rut and National Front Disco and I can’t think of one track where he offers a positive view on immigration.

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

BACKTRACKING #27 : THE SMITHS’ CHARMING MAN

Filed under: Music — 1 Comment
July 23, 2011

Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

THE SMITHS – This Charming Man b/w Jeane (Rough Trade, 1983)

This Charming Man

The record sleeve of This Charming Man which uses a still frame of Jean Marais from Jean Cocteau's 1949 film Orphée.

I first heard This Charming Man playing on the radio in an Indian grocer’s shop in Tottenham. It was one of those epiphanic moments that I will probably  recall on my death bed. The freshness and sheer beauty of this most perfect of pop songs struck me immediately.

As John Peel once said, with most bands you know exactly what they have been listening to but The Smiths just seemed to materialise out of nowhere. There was nothing like them before and there has been nothing like them since.

Journalists still write articles wondering why Morrissey still has such adoring fans, which means they either weren’t around to be smitten by these early singles or simply have no taste.

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment