(Still) Ill Conceived

I have been driving Rog (and probably James and Ange)to distraction for the past week playing Morrissey to death. I find him uplifting but I am continually snatching razor blades from everyone else's hands.

The concert last week prompted me to revisit some of his earlier work and to hunt down the album "Maladjusted" to listen to the track Trouble Loves Me, which was easily one of the highlights of the set.

Why hadn't I listened to "Malajusted" before? Well my fairy Moz-mother, Byon, had convinced me that, along with "Southpaw Grammar" and "Kill Uncle", it was next to unlistenable. I am glad I have finally given it a workout on my iPod. Byron is right, it is far from his best work but there are a few excellent cuts and Trouble Loves Me is definitely one them.

My adventures into Morrissey's back catalogue also reminded me of why I was so intrigued with the fellow. Listening to songs like Bengali In Platforms and National Front Disco blatantly begs the question: Is Mozza a great big gay vegetarian rascist?

Just when opinion was divided on the subject he decided to front up to a gig with Madness draped in a Union Jack. Such rampant nationalism (and lines in his songs like "England for the English" and "Forget your Western dreams/It's hard enough if you belong here.") resulted in an NME editorial/expose and shot Morrissey on an one way course to oblivion.

Sure he sang about popping down to the National Front and told the Bengali to go home but he also sang about murdering people, nobody is claiming that Morrissey is a murderer. Nobody thinks Nick Cave eats babies even though he sings about it often enough. If he hadn't wrapped himelf in the Union Jack there wouldn't have been much of a problem (and he wouldn't have been hit in the head by those bottles thrown by the gorgeous skinheads).

Tags: music, Morrissey