Buble versus Morrissey
Who wins this crooner cage match? No contest.
Right. So the Junos are history and Michael Buble is Canada's Artist of the Year. I can't believe it. When I first saw his face postered about town several years ago, I was sure and hopeful it would soon disappear. It represented such blandness; the face of conservative youth, favoured by the Mulroneys and anointed by the likes of saccharine dreckmeister David Foster. Now, he is Vancouver's great hope for the world's Sinatra-aping hipsters. He's ubiquitous and in full flush of broad commercial success. Surely the times demand better than this?
Different generations and times breed a multitude of tastes and needs when it comes to music. Buble's success seems like a triumphant proclamation of blandness as a virtue. His music seeks to provide comfort in the glossiest, least threatening songs of the past and the polished and empty lifestyles of the present. After all, airport lounges need soundtracks for consumption at their martini bars. But in my view, if there's going to be a conquering hero of the music charts, one really worth our attention, then he or she should be the one that speaks with anger and passion wrapped in poetry and originality. In short, one who makes great art out of popular song form. Michael Buble offers none of these things.
So, with the rise and market dominance of Michael Buble, I am forced to look further for the real thing, a voice for a generation and a time. And I have found it. It was there all along: Steven Patrick Morrissey - ex lead singer of 80s British bedsit miserablists The Smiths. Literate and poetically blunt, he recently made a triumphant "comeback" DVD titled (with delicious irony) "Who put the 'M' in Manchester?" and another CD is upon us this month titled "Ringleader of the Tormentors".
Cruel wit
In the DVD, Morrissey appears very much the conquering hometown hero with his name in tall red letters at the rear stage in clear and hysterical reference to Elvis. And the new album furthers the notion that Morrissey is THE crooner of the noughties; cruel, ironic, witty and full of life…and original songs. Meanwhile, Buble makes me ashamed that he is our "contender". Everything says shallow. Cynical. Product.
Both men bear some resemblance to 1950's crooners. But Buble comes straight from the stylists trailer on a Hollywood B-Movie lot…or a Vancouver side street. Morrissey's claim to the territory comes naturally, steeped in the post-war northern British malaise that produced Coronation Street, Teddy Boys and suchlike. It is an identity that has been consistent and honest for over two decades of living and singing, of highs and lows. He sings of nationalism, class, betrayal, pettiness, disappointment, twisted passions, the kitchen sink melodrama that life can be. Yet, he's often very precisely singing about our times and, lately, he's been singing about other singers...
From "The World is Full of Crashing Bores":
Lock-jawed pop stars thicker than pigshit / nothing to convey So scared to show intelligence It might smear their lovely career
Ouch! Bang-on, Steve. But we'd never say it out loud here in the colonies. As always, we wait for those better, and from elsewhere, to say what needs to be said, often in song form. Perhaps there's a good case to be made for a midnight cage match between these two clearly opposite claimants to the "Supreme Noughtie Crooner" title!
Sinatra updated
It may be unfair to compare. After all, Morrissey comes by his muse honestly, through a childhood in a bleak industrial English town. He sings of the hopes, shames, disappointments and cruelties endured (and dished out) all glazed with a rare form of touching irony. And his audience is unusually diverse, a sign that his lyrical concerns are universal on some level. He doesn't pander to a demographic. His comeback feels triumphant, coming as it does after a litany of personal setbacks, not least of which was being pilloried by his home country's media during much of the nineties. A high court judge once called him "truculent and devious." Well, aren't most true artists? Aren't most people? But still, he is the creator of a music that reflects inwards and outwards simultaneously. It is "affordable" and it appears there are enough kindred spirits in the world to reinvigorate his career. And the British music industry and press are willing to play ball with him.
Morrissey has recently opened his concerts with a personalized take on a classic that Buble will surely recognise:
Regrets, I've had a few but then again…too many to mention!
Then, post concert, the exit music is the full, unadulterated Sinatra version of "My Way." A cheesy and cheeky reference, but it resonates. It has stood the test of time. So will the best of Morrissey, I'll bet.
Buble, by way of contrast, is merely a stylist, a copyist in every sense. He's a marketing success borne of a culture where things come too easily, where authenticity is seen only in branding terms. He is careering. If only he had more regrets, he might be interesting. And maybe he does. And maybe he will. But I'm not holding my breath.
Voice of Vancouver?
Morrissey once sang "Sing your Life" and if Michael Buble is singing his, well then, he is - to borrow from our man Steven - a crashing bore. Even his choice of covers betrays a taste for the obvious. "Come Fly with Me", for example, was made famous by the "Chairman of the Board" and it is, not surprisingly, a tune oft mimicked and readymade for commercial exploitation. But at least Sinatra did his stint as a true outsider and whipping boy when tastes changed. He walked through his valleys and sung about them on occasion. Buble, however, is sticking to the peaks, the happy songs, uncut with any sort of depth or self-reflection. I could hardly get through half a CD without nodding off. And it all seems very American, which is fine as far as it goes. Morrissey is very British. But then where is the Canadian equivalent?
Even the most cynical marketers at record companies know that the real thing, music which is wrenched from the soul, is a rare commodity. A glance at the CD box sets and reissues on music store shelves (and in exclusive displays at Starbucks, where Buble is marketed heavily) tells us we value people who've created art in the crucible of suffering and observation. Billie Holliday, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, etc. But while they are here on earth, in real time, they are often forced to eat dirt until one is occasionally anointed through sheer attrition in the maw of one of the nastiest businesses on the planet.
But who could blame a modern singer for not wanting to suffer for their art? It's the old catch-22. You risk merely creating aural wallpaper for the mannered lifestyles of the wannabe rich and famous. And it is worrying to see so many young people falling for it. And depressing that Vancouver is the place of origin of this conspicuous example. For if ever there was a time to be vigilant, cutting, passionate and devastating in song, it is now. We need a talent and a voice that will put the "V" in Vancouver, a strong, proud and free singer of unique gifts. Buble's still young. But from what I've seen and heard so far, my suspicion is that he's more likely to put the "V" in Vegas. And that leaves us here in the colonies still reliant on an import from the motherland. Oh well, if you're looking for a real pop crooner, the "voice of a generation", at least Morrissey's tried and true.
Mark Mushet is a Vancouver-based photographer and writer, and the Photo / Art Editor of Vancouver Review.
Got a nomination for 'voice for a generation?' Post a comment. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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massromantic
5 years ago
Comments on "Buble versus Morrissey"
the title scared me a bit, i braced myself for a showdown to the death between the genuine, the man who sings about a life he knows all too well, or the young upstart, who just rekindles everyone else's flames.
i'm glad i wasn't let down.
morrissey is, and always will be, one of the most amazing crooners of this generation.
he pulls off the hairstyle a lot better too.
[although it's really too bad he's boycotting canada over this seal clubbing business. honestly i was hugely disappointed over that. i think he'd make more of an impression if he came and did his shows here in canada, while alotting time in each performance to explain why he's against the clubbing. just plain cancelling out isn't going to politically change anything, really. on the grand scheme of things, who, besides his fans, really cares if he cancels his shows? however if he takes that opportunity and tries to explain his standpoint, and possibility get people to start thinking about it, wouldn't that get his point across clearer? you puzzle me, steven morrissey]
allan
5 years ago
The author makes some good points but, then Buble wasn't given an award for being the best crooner in the world.
Rather he was honoured for being the best Canadian at the game at the present time.
Perhaps if Morrissey took out Canadian citizenship and produced some of his work on this side of the pond he too could be in the running for a Junno.
haraldkann
5 years ago
Christ,another Morrisey sychophant,spreading cybercrap on the internet highway for the masses to drive through.
Putting Buble,who sings pop/jazz/schmaltz against a pop icon like Morrisey is really an empty exercise.
Morrisey,is,one of the great voices and lyricists around today and my vinyl collection contains all the Smiths albums and his later solo CD's,AND, i am no neophyte when it comes to brit rock.
Maybe,if we were talking about VOICES ALONE we could talk about how fantastic Morrisey uses his and how bland Buble really is ,the real lack of vocal gymnastics.
Then again,when i want a real VOICE ,to communicate through the ether...I AM OLD SCHOOL...GIMMEE NICK DRAKE ,ANYDAY,THEN AGAIN,SHAWN PHILLIPS ALWAYS HAD A WAY OF GETTING MY ATTENTION...
NOW,these two are real ETHEREAL CROONERS with KILLER LYRICS...
to bad,they were not played on the POP SCHLOK AIRWAVES DURING DRIVETIME.
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Nick Drake? Beautiful songs. Sadly, the idea of public performance seemed to be a big problem for him. I guess it would disqualify him for the crooner title...
Buble's a worldwide success. Not just a Canadian footnote.
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Morrissey's take on the environment might have some cred if he didn't make a point of forcing fans to buy multiple versions of his music. First the regular AND Ltd. edition CDs. Then the CD EPs with DVD clips THEN a package that collects it all together. How much petroleum does that take, Steve?
wstander
5 years ago
So this author believes that "great art" requires one to speak with "anger". How one dimensional- and sad.
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Huh? Where'd you get that? "anger and passion wrapped in poetry and originality" might easily describe the best music of Dylan, or Springsteen or any number of others who write popular or protest songs in response to the world's worst turns. The resulting "great art" is a positive thing.
guanolad
5 years ago
The Canadian Morrissey/ Sinatra:
Carl Newman?
Mary Margaret O'Hara?
Neko Case?
Burton Cummings? (just kidding)
deeby
5 years ago
We've had one for years. His name is Joe Keithley, though he's gone by other monikers in the past ;-)
Unfortunately, he never sold his ass out to the Canadian record industry, so few have heard of him in the mass media.
haraldkann
5 years ago
deeby ! never thought of joey sh!thead as a crooner...
art bergman , would definetly get my vote though .
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Joey Shithead isn't half the songwriter Art was. Remember Los Popularos, the band with Buck Cherry, Art, and vocalist Bill Shirt? They were great...when they managed to show up for a gig. Bill had crooner potential.
Mary Margaret O'Hara's great too, but I think the title "Quirky mannered torch singer" would be better for her.
haraldkann
5 years ago
mary margret o'hara has long been a fave along with the maggarigle sisters and sara maclauglin . for pure bliss...
you can add loreena mckinnit after a glass of merlot.We have a wealth of song birds and crooners here in Canada.
loenard cohen,gordon lightfoot are two of Canada's most respected crooners...suzanne still raises the hair on the back of my neck .
Hell you could end up doing the Canadian top ten singers real easy after a beer or two..
course it would take a year to agree on ,as is typically canadian as well,CAUSE WE JUST GOT SO MANY
damn i haven't even mentioned joni mitchell,see,it just goes on and on...
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Well, I guess the key would be to define them as both "contemporary" and molded, at least roughly, in the traditional style.
Hey, I saw Bobby Darin do "Mack the Knife" at the CBC on West Georgia just before he died. Scary!
haraldkann
5 years ago
Darin's signature tune,live ? WOW
Closest i can come to bragging is watching Ozzie puke his guts out ,purging himself,then seeing the boys do Iron Man ,in Dortmound,just before Black Sabbaths first American tour.
and that still comes up short of Darin's Mack the Knife...oh,well
hey,i once punched Jean Chretien in the mouth when he was stumping outside the Copper Cliff Smelter where i worked...naw...still don't match up to your story...
OK YOU WIN !
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Nope. Ozzie vomit trumps crooner watering down Brecht/Weill!
thomas49
5 years ago
Crooner,is defined by names like ,Sinatra,Perry Como,Bing Crosby ,who were the OLD GUARD and by todays Sting,Harry Connick Jr and Micheal Buble,who are the new BENCHMARKS in the performance of like materials.
While Morrisey is very talented he doesn't fit into the Crooner category.
as for Bobby Darin doing Mack the Knife,Skip Tracer,you are right about it being watered down .What do you expect from record companies selling to white middle America.Now.if you remember Louis Armstrongs verson,i am sure you would be grinning and tapping your toes and a punkabilly version was around on UK imports back in the eighties that really stomped,i remember that version quite well doing modelling portfolios for all the pretty ladies hanging aroung our studio in gastown.Some tunes just invite memories from the first note.
G West
5 years ago
Neil Young, Ian Tyson, and , how soon we forget -
Stan Rogers gotta be in any Canadian top 10 - Gordon Lightfoot too.
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
I checked the Canadian Oxford and it says:
Croon: hum or sing in a low subdued voice esp. in a sentimental manner. n. such singing.
Its origin is from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German kronen which is "groan" or "lament". Based on that, I'd have to say Morrissey is truer to the word's origin than all of them.
thomas49
5 years ago
Groaning and Lamenting is a Morrissey trademark ,but if you go way back to der bingles youth,you will find Crosby was overtly political and during the depression he was one of the voices of the American people,his version of Jimmy Rodgers,Brother can you loan me a dime,is still a historical landmark in music history...BING CROSBY WAS AND IS CONSIDERED,THE, CROONER.
Bing Crosby is often sold short,but he did things long ago that were considered unwise,like using black musicians like Louis Armstrong and in those days,YOU DID NOT DO THAT.
Alcibiades
5 years ago
thomas49
Yea to that Thomas. Did you know Crosby's forebears emmigrated from Ireland to Nova Scotia before his immediate ancestors left for the States?
He and Louis were very HOT.
thomas49
5 years ago
I have to apologize,i mispoke on the song from 1932,Brother can you spare a dime,was the title,written by tin pan alley lyricist/s(?)
i got that confused with Jimmy Rodgers Loan me a dime,which Boz Scaggs did a killer version.
Alcibiades,my eldest aunt was a music teacher and any musical/movie she could drag me and my cousins to were occupied by us in grand noisy fashion,often singing and playing instruments (ala bobby mcferrin)to the chagrin of other patrons.DER BINGLE was right there at the top and we saw High Society about six times,BECAUSE,we got thrown out 5 times...
Louis Armstrong is still one of my all time favourite musicians and singers,like Jimmy Durante,he knew how to use that voice,hell the man invented Scat when he forgot some lyrics,musta been the wacky weed he used daily to loosen up.
Alcibiades
5 years ago
nothing wrong with a bit of bobby mcferrin - to my way of thinking - at a musical....went to see
Neil Young: Heart of Gold a month ago and some idiot was talking on his cell phone during the movie....he should have been thrown out, once and for all!
Crass
5 years ago
Good article!
I would also have to nominate someone like Dan Bejar and Paul Pittman, both of Vancouver, as contempory Canadian crooners in the authentic Morrisey sense. Dan plays in a band called Destroyer and Paul plays in a band called Young and Sexy.
Bubbly..er...Buble is the embodiment of how Canadian big business ruins just about everything it gets its slimy paws into.
Also, it shows how the Canadian music business establishment has zero confidence in any Canadian artist until they get recognized elsewhere. Then they are all over them like flies on shit.
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
"Buble is the embodiment of how Canadian big business ruins just about everything it gets its slimy paws into."
What is there to ruin? He aspired to it from the start. That's why the quick rise.
thomas49
5 years ago
here are links to the definitions...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooner
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/crooner
read who populates the lists...Crooners !
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Les Paul? That's strange. I'm guessing Bryan Ferry and Morrissey will be on that list soon enough...
thomas49
5 years ago
the first Crooner ?
http://www.holeintheweb.com/drp/bhd/BingCrosby.htm
musicology is a real gas ain't it ?
thomas49
5 years ago
Now Micheal Buble may not be the best Crooner out there,but he fits the bill better than Morrissey.
And Morrissey is more pop myth icon than Crooner,so another one of those IFFY DEBATES.
Who is better ? depends on your tastes.
I like both,but in the real sense of Crosby and Sinatra,they both fall short.
thomas49
5 years ago
Hey Skip Tracer,Les Paul and his wife Mary Ford were very big late forties ,early fifties and his work in electic guitars and recording electronics is legendary.One reason was the soft voices and subtle guitar work that would have been missed in a big band.
And you only need to listen to Steve Miller to hear how Les Pauls vision was achieved...after all,Steve grew up at the feet of Les Paul and Mary Ford who were dear friends of the Miller family...there is another Crooner not on the list...Steve Miller !
BRYAN FERRY,WHO COULD DENY APPLAUDING THAT GORGEOUS VOICE AS BEING ,CROONER MATERIAL ?
One i just saw on the list i really love,LEON REDBONE.WOW,WHAT A VOICE !
and that magarrigle/wainright kid ,that i keep forgetting,there are some wicked tunes coming out of him...
gotta get back to the bbq,later...
massromantic
5 years ago
rufus wainwright?
yeah i have to agree, thomas.
thomas49
5 years ago
Rufus Wainwright,that's the dude.Unfortunately i thinkhe spends most of his time in the States and the Americans have gotten their branding irons out.
Another just popped into my mind,Daniel Lanois,his album Acadie was just awesome...
Robert Charlebois was/is another...
Did i mention Bruce Cockburm?,His Album,In The Falling Dark, the song ,Vagabondage,he manages to croon in both official languages.
Geez,a couple of beer and bratwurst on the BBQ,stereo pumping out Jim Morrison singing The End ,shows me crooning aint about to go away any time soon...
rockerbiff
5 years ago
Morrissey should be commended for boycotting Canada on his new tour, I would like to see him play, but if Canadian insist on denying the slaughter on the east coast, we deserve to miss the Mancunian marvel named Morrissey.
As for Buble, never heard him sing or any of his music, apparently I'm not missing anything.
blackhawks_down
5 years ago
Buble is boring.
I vote for Neko Case as Canada's best crooner, if we can extend the "crooner" category beyond lounge music...
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
A ridiculous, ineffectual gesture. I'd be more impressed if he boycotted the US for any number of reasons related to its hideous conduct in the world at present.
It'll force a few busloads of self-involved, cardigan wearing shoegazers to the nearest US bordertown. Some triumph.
"How can ye have yer pudding if ye don't eat yer meat?"
Phude
5 years ago
Whatever you think of Buble, it should be noted that as a voice teacher, I would rather be teaching students to sing like him first, so that they don't ruin their voices too early in life. Buble can sing very well in the jazz medium. He has the style down, but I do agree that he needs to find his own voice a little more. He does sound a little too much like Frank. The fact is, Michael sings with meaning and people all over the world are able to relate to his honest 'apple-pie' appeal. Call it conservative if you will, but that is a cop-out if you ask me.
David Foster's band that backs him is VERY tight and can swing with the best of them. Listen to the shots in 'Fever' - they could stop a weak heart at close range. Jazz music has long been for educated musicians more than for the general public. It was knocked off of the pop stage well back in the fifties. It was probably time after having a run of almost 30 years as the music people of all ages enjoyed tapping their toes and dancing to.
I have a several young voice students in the school that I teach at that listen to Buble and are inspired to learn how to sing. I most certainly do not discourage this. As a musician I know that his music is too California based in its' over-production, but the musicians are hot s*** none-the-less.
In all fairness I do spend a lot of time teaching kids about so-called crooners of the pop, folk, rock, funk and what have you genres. What makes a good performance is its honesty more than anything else. The mood of the music or the lyrics do not a singer make. One of my personal favourites is Tom Waits. He is proof that you don't have to be able to make pleasant sounds to be successful. Granted he does sing about the underbelly of the world a great deal, but he started out as a jazz singer singing standards believe it or not. Check out some of his old recordings on Asylum Records from the 70s.
Morrisey is great, and I too own many dust covered records that get played at least once a year when I have room to pull out my turn-table, but I would just as soon listed to the great Canadian 'crooner' David Clayton Thomas and BST any day of the week.
haraldkann
5 years ago
I remember seeing David Clayton Thomas,in some hot spot on Younge street way back when,he sure wasn't crooning,but he did learn with BS&T.
Tom Waits takes up space,with all his works,in my collection.Crooning,grunting,gasping,
lyrically playful,his genius is very apparent and his output is always awaited by the faithful.
KevinC
5 years ago
I'm sure Neko Case will appreciate all of the nominations. Unfortunately, however, she is an American (born in Virginia, raised in Tacoma) and therefore does not qualify. I'd like to add Chad VanGaalen to the list!
haraldkann
5 years ago
Brent Titcomb should be mentioned for his great voice.He has also had songs covered by Ann murray,Sing High Sing Low and I Just Wish The Very Best For You .And speaking of Ann Murray i would be remiss if i did not mention Gene McLellan who wrote Snowbird.
And getting comfy in front of the television with Tommy Hunter kept a lot of the old folks off the streets and out of trouble.That show alone FEATURED many Canadians that went on to greater things.
As a kid i remember seeing many SPECIALS aired on the CBC of the talent we were so blessed with up here in Canada...and also the Blacks that were denied Airtime in the USA...
And late night CBC Radio with David Wisdom introduced many of us to unknow erudite performers who just didn't seem to get into the mainstream with their awesome talent...hell i remember one kid from Cornwall,i think it was,who thought SCHOOL was more important .
Last I heard, Morrissey is living in California and has accepted the American Values System as his own.So much for his HOLIER THAN THOU attitude,he has proved to be no different than most overpaid prima donnas.
i would say Buble wins by DEFAULT,at least he isn't a pretender to the throne ,like Morrisey.
Phude
5 years ago
Ironically, Buble did his recordings in California with another Canadian who seems to have accepted the American value system - David Foster. In reality, he went there to make good money as an artist, which is respectable enough. Too many artists worry about 'selling out' by being a foreign musician on American soil. If it put bread on my table, I would do it in a heartbeat.
Phude
5 years ago
I think I figured out the quote thing. The instructions were too literal I think...
haraldkann
5 years ago
ironically, Buble did his recordings in California with another Canadian who seems to have accepted the American value system - David Foster.
Buble,is following in the CROONER moulding system built by the Americans(ala Bing Crosby,Sinatra) and being perfected by David Foster as we see.There are no posuers here,these gentlemen want the title of CROONER for Buble.
Morrissey on the other hand has hidden behind ideals that he manipulates when it is advantageous to himself and his marketing,he has always be a prima donnaand a posuer of the grandest scale.
So living stateside and then condemning others for what he thinks is wrong is really a great giggle for anyone with a little intelligence.
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Morrisey lives in Rome now. If you've ever spent five minutes to read an interview with him in the last two years he has been very upfront about his relocation to L.A. and his feelings about it.
As far as I know he has taken great pride in the fact that he's never profered a set of ideals to anyone. He also spent a decade where you simply *couldn't* market him. He couldn't even get a record deal for awhile. Hardly a grand manipulator. Self-defeating, more like.
Everybody condemns others for what they think is wrong. You're deluded if you believe otherwise.
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
From "America is not the World":
"America/your head's too big
America/your belly's too big
America/the land of the free they said,
and of opportunity...
but where the president is never black, female or gay
and until that day you've got nothing to say to me etc. etc. etc."
Yeah, that's gotta be a full yankee value system embrace if I've ever seen one! I think you need some more reliable sources!
Of course with President Condi in 2008 he might have to re-think!
haraldkann
5 years ago
In case you do not understand the english language i would suggest the dictionary and look up idealist(morrissey) ideals(lyrics) manipulator(morrisey) marketing(morrisey's ideals) .
The lyrics proffer his ideas/ideals and this from a self proclaimed welfare fraud artist,who went on the DOLE to WRITE...that's manipulation and we haven't even gotten to the brainwashed psychophants who blindly follow his every word.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrissey
haraldkann
5 years ago
geez.I forgot morrissey's complaint about not being able to live without leather shoes,SEEMS NO ONE MADE GOOD SHOES WITHOUT LEATHER IN THEM.
YEAH ...SURE !
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
You've already proven you're misinformed so feel free to continue spouting. I won't spend any more effort slam dunking your assertions. My points stand.
haraldkann
5 years ago
One need only GOOGLE to be informed and the wikipedia link is UP 2 DATE
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Well I guess, Mr. "Artist Formerly known as haraldkann" that UR2B commended on having failed to use said research tool to note the Mozzer's well publicized relocation to Rome and the explicit and oft repeated rejection of American values.
haraldkann
5 years ago
commentor: Skip Tracerposted: 3 Days AgoI checked the Canadian Oxford and it says:
Croon: hum or sing in a low subdued voice esp. in a sentimental manner. n. such singing.
Its origin is from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German kronen which is "groan" or "lament". Based on that, I'd have to say Morrissey is truer to the word's origin than all of them.
commentor: Skip Tracerposted: 1 Day AgoQuote:
Morrissey should be commended for boycotting Canada
A ridiculous, ineffectual gesture. I'd be more impressed if he boycotted the US for any number of reasons related to its hideous conduct in the world at present.
It'll force a few busloads of self-involved,
cardigan wearing shoegazers to the nearest US bordertown. Some triumph.
"How can ye have yer pudding if ye don't eat yer meat?"
AWWWW SKIPPY ! whadda ya smoking ? pass it round man , don't bogart that joint ma frend,geez...
One need only read your previous postings 2 see U jes wanna SCRAP , but i iz 2 bizee.
and really ! we iz they only intelligent life forms on this planet.I iz goin 2 see tila tequila and dew the one hand dance...see ya...
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Good lord. Your post above is a mess, much like your thinking. But I can see what you're getting at. I like his music. I respect his views on vegetarianism. I don't think a boycott is useful or smart. He's a one issue soapbox on that front (which does not make him an idealist BTW)
I don't like artists who re-issue and re-compile work to maximize profit. That's the label's doing mostly but Morrissey could step in and stop it. The British have marketed music that way for decades begining with the EP format.
And your take on him embracing American values is plainly wrong. That would apply to Buble as several here have noted.
Morrisey's fun to make fun of. He does it himself. Read some interviews. He's very entertaining. Google would be a good place to start...
haraldkann
5 years ago
Skippy ! wuz late 4 a very important date...
one of those Doctors appointments you just can't miss...sew.i messed up der bro.
YEAH ,i iz jes pokin fun , like you said and i concur ,he's talented and flawed like the rest of us,but,i have hung around a lot of artists in my life and the egomaniacs are the WORST..GOTTA BE SOME OF US OUT HERE TO BRING THE POPE OF MOPE DOWN TO EARTH AND GROUNDED...TO REALITY !
OTHERWISE,WE JUST MIGHT SEE HIS HEAD BLOW UP ...LIKE BONO'S !
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
Its too late. Doug Coupland did an interview (of sorts) with him for the Guardian and one of his first comments was that his head was - literally - huge. I'm imagining a line of Morrissey Baubleheads...or would that be Buble-heads?
Skip Tracer
5 years ago
BTW I only allow my peanut butter delivery woman to call me "Skippy". Respect, please!
haraldkann
5 years ago
YEAH,WELL ! when ya have a head of hair like that ,it makes your head look big...AND YES I AM JEALOUS...can't ya tell
i have to hide any photos when playing vinyl/CD's ,cause it reminds me of what i was like in my younger daze.
Buble heads ! i am still giggling on that...you should COPYRIGHT THAT IDEA ,TOUTE SUITE.
medications wearing off...LATER.