MM
blouse unbuttoned to reveal a painfully thin
torso. He had beads around his neck and was
waving a large bunch of gladioli above his head
and he moved in a strange, completely fantastic
way. Later appearances would see him wearing
NHS specs and a hearing aid. My dad, of course,
was appalled – which should be the point of
all pop music – and I was totally hooked. The
record itself was like nothing else I had ever
heard – a jangly guitar riff, driving bass and drum
combination and the most wonderful lyrics sung
in a northern accent about pampered lives and
not being able to go out because there was
nothing to wear.
This image was carefully cultivated, but was
certainly not the work of some record company
executive. Morrissey was by this time in his
early twenties and for some time had been
unemployed by choice, writing impassioned
letters to the then influential music press and
pursing his many obsessions such as the actor
James Dean, and the writer Oscar Wilde. He was
also a huge fan of 1960s female singers such
as Sandie Shaw and 1960s British social realist
films such as Billy Liar, Saturday Night and
Sunday Morning and A Taste of Honey. All of
these interests would surface in Morrissey’s lyrics;
however it was Johnny Marr’s music that would
bring them to life.
Marr was a teenager when he first met
Morrissey in 1982, but already a veteran of a
number of bands. He was also an extremely
talented musician with a vast knowledge of the
rock music’s lineage; in his dress and general
appearance he was very much a ready-made
rock star. Marr was also extremely outgoing
and popular, quite different to the shy, quiet,
bookish Morrissey. But something just clicked
between them – perhaps it was their shared
Irish background (in common with bass player
Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce) or that
sense that they could do something different and
something that would last a very long time.
Sex and controversy
Celibacy and the rejection of physical sex
is not something readily associated with pop
and rock music. Switch on any music television
channel in the 21st century and you will see
an array of scantily-clad people coupled with
20 MediaMagazine | February 2008 | english and media centre
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