Möten med Morrissey

by Len Brown, Björn Lundqvist (Translator)

Morrissey is amongst the most provocative and controversial performers in popular music. From the formation of his Manchester band The Smiths in 1982 through to the release of his acclaimed 2006 solo album Ringleader of The Tormenters, his career has spanned 50 UK top 40 singles and 20 UK Top 10 albums.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

364 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Mariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Can you squeeze me into an empty page of your diary and psychologically save me? I've got faith in you."

The five stars up top are for Morrissey. Len Brown's Meetings with Morrissey is truly a four that I am calling a five to maybe give it more lustre (like a gold lame shirt) in the great library in the sky of books about Morrissey and The Smiths. I liked it a lot. Okay, I had some complaints. But this is a curve scale! Not many Morrisey books are any good. I also just like reading about those Morrissey days like they are still happening (aren't they?). It's hard to get again that first time high of when you heard that voice that would make it all seem worth it. It's like some dead seas of gray brain mass parting to let in the way. (I feel bad for those Morrissey fans who don't get that from anyone else, though. Well I wonder what about them made them stop hearing more.)

Other reviewers have already mentioned that Len Brown was a journalist for Britain's NME music magazine. Noooo, how can he be one of them?! He's not the "Morrissey is a racist because he didn't say that he wasn't when we said he was [to sell papers?] and we must take him down even if that means publishing fake interviews with doctored soundbites as often as it takes to keep the bogus venom in the public eye for those who don't really give a shit but believe anything they'll only half pay attention to!" (Pretty much what those Ron Paul haters are banking on, is my guess. Remember that douche who wrote that Stephin Merritt was a racist because he didn't like a Beyonce song? Ludicrous. Stephin Merritt's heart is pure! I sob into the night alone listening to my many albums.) I used to think that Morrissey snubbed some NME twat at a party (probably a former fan coughs) and that was behind all of that. Rejection, you know, is cruel. He's finally taking them to court over that shit and good for him. Why does an artist who writes songs that anyone who actually listens to would know isn't racist expected to throw "Hey! I'm not a racist!" flash bulb parades? It's stupid (it's the same thing they want of him for the gay rumors). So Len Brown isn't one of those guys but he kind of is anyway (the other reviews didn't say this so I'm gonna). He really, really wanted Morrissey to have that Not a Racist ball. He seems to have a stake in the success of Morrissey's career as NME wanted to take him down and sell "Where are they now?" issues in the fallout (that doesn't stop them from selling celebratory issues that still bring up their agendas. Grumbles). There are definite undertones of success bias in Brown's book. Is that all there is?

Does it matter if Morrissey is relevant? I still loved him before the big comeback of 2004. I wasn't getting any cool points on the streets for listening to him in his bad reputation days of the late 1990s (grumbles). The Morrissey book of my dreams doesn't give two pints of light ale please if anyone else likes him or his current status. This year hasn't been a good year for the Mozfather. Moz feuding with a fansite (Morrissey-solo.com is a depressing state of affairs for more reasons than one) and those old racism flare ups. He always canceled shows and always had difficulties staying on a record label. So what else is new? Sure, those last tracks are not going to make it on my ipod playlists any time soon (no matter how many times Brown claims that 'Christian Dior' is the best thing ever). Is it necessary to pretend that 'Throwing my arms around (Paris)' is so great to have an excuse to love on Morrissey? Of course not! What gives, Len Brown?

Brown is a rock journalist. I've written on goodreads many times before my opinion of the rock journalist style. You know how journalists are taught to write for the reading level of third graders? Well, to my mind, rock journalists write for the emotional level of something they assume is some average point that will hit the largest number of people (to say, not to leave anyone out). Cliches about the (had to be painful) brother's suicide making music mean more (that doesn't mean it will), and you know how it is, and we all felt the same old song when listening to these songs. Morrissey is great to me because he doesn't just talk about the you know how it is longing. I listen to him and I feel how it is for him, not how he assumes it is for me. It's not some accepted auto tune machine thing. I don't want to grind out the edges to meet the same note. I really, really don't like the rock journalist style about this. Fortunately, these parts of Meetings with Morrissey are, for the most part, easily skipped over (one is an entire chapter). I don't mean to be unfair. I've read way, way worse interviews with Morrissey. Brown's "I hope they didn't think I was gay 'cause I was going to a hotel room with Morrissey" was barely background noise to a room where I only heard Morrissey (I'm mentioning it now!). Desperate interviewers wanting their idol to feel the same about them and the whole thing becomes about them. Brown reads like the guy trying to set the scene of relevance again when he doesn't need to. I don't mind that too much. Brown is alright with me 'cause he showed up to a (canceled) Morrissey show in a You're the one for me, fatty t-shirt. At least he's looking for the bright star in the sky, right? Why did they campaign against him and want to take him down (besides there seems to be a culture of that)? Is it because he is different, as Brown says? I think it is because he doesn't give them what they want on a ready to print quote (Such as: "I'm gay!"). All they had to do was listen...


My favorite parts were the Morrissey influences part. I know that other reviewers complained about that but I am not other reviewers (I am the goodreader who created the Morrissey reading list book shelf that is my single great contribution to this website). Not that he IS his influences. Okay, this is a part early on in one of the first Oscar Wilde chapters (there are several, at least) that meant a lot to me.

Morrissey said (it was in one of their early interviews): "To hear Wilde's voice is really quite moving. It makes him seem much more of a real person, so much more tangible. Interestingly, the voice sounded very much like John Hurt in The Elephant Man. Do you remember how he spoke? Very soft voice. I think it was modelled on theatre voices of the time because John Merrick was very interested in the theatre. And that's the way Wilde spoke."

To hear something like that then hear it somewhere else and imagine the Elephant Man listening to these theatre actors and making a part of himself (his voice) reach someone else by tuning it to them in that way... That he thought about John Hurt noticing that and putting it in the performance... This is the kind of thing that knocks me over if I'm paying attention enough to catch it. I love that Morrissey said that so much. It might not have been a real recording of Wilde at all (there's debate). But still! Wilde's voice like their theatre voices that had to have been collective tuning into whatever voice of someone else they wanted to get across to other people (their audience). That's why Morrissey's influences mean something to me. Morrissey reading guys like Jean Genet and watching Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.
Isn't it going into the pages of their diary and trying to be psychologically saved? There's a scene in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (damn, I've referenced this before on goodreads too) when Clementine gives her big speech to Joel that she's just a fucked up girl looking for her own peace of mind and can't save him. Joel says that he secretly hoped that she would. Isn't that it? The hope that they will?

What is relevance but that someone is going to notice that desire? Maybe there are all kinds of deliberate patterns in Morrissey's life with his hero Oscar Wilde (it did occur to me that he drops so many of his friends because he fears abandonment like what happened to Wilde in his last tragic years). Maybe the patterns matter less than the ability to see the story in the shit you see? You could keep your eye on them like Moz being the bright star in the sky and there's some cowboys telling stories about it all under that light. I want to see the stars so I can hear those stories. I KNOW I've said that the hole wasn't responsible for Paul McCartney writing Fixing a Hole. So why can't people cut the shit and appreciate what those influences mean without taking away meaning?

Brown says Morrissey appeal is a strange attraction that is sexual. I can't describe it any better than he did. I forget what Morrissey called it. The dictionary would call it attraction turned towards yourself because you can't get it from the one you wanted. It started with an a and it ended with sexual but it wasn't asexual. (Some review, Mariel.) It's not sexual attraction with sex as the goal, I think. It's not a fantasy to live out in your head and store away in some bank for future use either. (Hot? Colder? Marco and Polo?) It's like the part of you that feels desire. Morrissey's songs capture a space of longing that could stretch out (and wait). Where do you see the longing and which voices do you pick up in a beautiful totally not auto-tuning away (and definitely not rock journalist style).

Okay, so Brown irritated me suggesting shit about Moz's personal life staying this longing to create his art. I think he read too much into the Christian Dior song (god, he overrates that, in my opinion). Dior "sacrificed" to live for his art. If you are as receptive as Morrissey you can pick it up anywhere. The point is that he is able and willing to.

"I really, really did love those people. I gave them my life, my youth. Beyond the perimeters of pop music there was a drop at the edge of the world."

He knows even if I don't.

The Morrissey book of my dreams doesn't want anything more than that from Morrissey. Maybe Brown feels the careerist slant because of his own careerist slant. I did enjoy reading this a lot, even if I complain a lot in my review. Oh yeah, there's your typical biography and why the Smiths broke up stuff. It's interesting to see how Morrissey was afraid to be without the band in his early solo days and then eager to be rid of its shadow creating light. I still say the point is the songs and not the career. At least for me. But it's not my job.

"So can you squeeze me into an empty page of your diary and supernaturally change me?" (the Morrissey books of my dreams.)

Kristen says that lists are my thing so I am going to do some for Morrissey now. Favorite songs. I know, so obvious but I've not done one here yet. When is it going to be my turn?! (Soon is now.)

My favorite Morrissey solo tunes:
1. Seasick, yet still docked
2. Sing your Life
3. Speedway
4. Jack the ripper
5. Tomorrow
6. My Love Life
7. Why don't you find out for yourself?
8. You're the one for me, fatty
9. Hairdresser on Fire
10. Let me kiss you

The Smiths top ten that is really almost all of them:
1. There is a light that never goes out
2. I know it's over
3. Hand in Glove
4. I Won't share you
5. Back to the Old House
6. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
7. Rusholme Ruffians
8. Well I Wonder
9. Bigmouth Strikes Again
10. Half a person

There are so many Morrissey lists I could do! (One day I want to just talk about Morrissey's tastes in photographs. Come on! This man has a soulful eye.) I have too many favorites. The temptation to edit this list is great... That's probably why I never did one even in my crazy listmaking goodreads days. (I should have made a list for Ian to love Johnny Marr. How come Johnny Marr is not compelling? He's not, though... Morrissey isn't the only singular wordsmith with tongue in cheek (slightly bleeding from the sharp tongue) that's either pouting or puckering up for a kiss or something (could be anything). Maybe it's what Morrissey said about Oscar Wilde being special because he was funny and simple and anyone could read him (aw, it's what I already said about the not auto-tuning it. Shut up, Mariel). Anyone could listen to Morrissey and he sings about and listens for what anyone often doesn't. I'm going to stop writing this review before I start blathering again about what makes a pop idol (it could get bad. I could start analyzing pop music). I'm sure that rock journalists would say it is scandal and Morrissey behaving badly and not in the generic car wreck/drunken way that Marr does it. Please don't let it be that. (I hope it's the asking to be cared about.)

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Len Brown doesn't mind flying his fanboy flag. He will remind you several times that he defended Morrissey even when most of the NME staff had turned on him. This doesn't really taint the book; in fact, it means that he had access to Morrissey even at times when Morrissey was quite unfriendly to most of the media. What did bother me, however, was the author's sometimes desperate attempts at digging up literary and film connections to Morrissey's song titles and lyrics. At times, it is noteworthy, such as when he finds that some Morrissey lyrics may have been lifted from a letter from Lord Alfred Douglas. At other times, it's really a stretch explained only by the author's need to fill space in the absence of Mozz's word on the subject (which, of course, he won't give) or, perhaps, the author's desire to impress us with his exhaustive research (which made me wonder how many times he simply ran a search of certain Morrissey phrases through electronic texts).

At any rate, if you're debating whether or not to read this book, consider this: Regardless of what period of his career is the focus, the book keeps coming back to Morrissey's primary influences, mostly Oscar Wilde, James Dean, Coronation Street, various classic film stars, the New York Dolls, and 60s British girl pop. They are even cataloged in the back of the book. I found this fascinating, especially in light of Morrissey's fondness for the quip "talent borrows, genius steals." This only got distracting when, as I mentioned previously, the author was getting in the way. If you find this fascinating too, pick up this book. If you're hungry for more details about Mozz's personal life and childhood, keep looking ... and, good luck!

[Brian Wilde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meetings with Morrissey is an account of a series of interviews with Morrissey over a 25 year period conducted by former NME man Len Brown. Not alone, Brown spent the early eighties frustrated and depressed by the state of the country and the music it was producing. That was until September 1983 when he first saw The Smiths and his despair at the re-election of Mrs Thatcher and the accompanying celebration of all things crass had a soundtrack, and a voice. Consequently, this book is more social history than biography. There are other books which focus in on the split between Morrissey and Marr and the endless (and pointless) speculation on Morrisey's sexuality and it is to this books credit that it does neither. Instead, it offers an analysis of not just why The Smiths were a great band but from whence came that searing critique which lifts The Smiths work out of the annals of pop music and places it alongside other great works of art. That critique was Morrissey's. While everybody else seemed to be saying `this is brilliant', Morrissey expressed an emotional language that I didn't have to say what I really thought and felt, `this is awful'. By revisiting the interviews he conducted with Morrissey, Brown is able to shed light on the key influences upon Morrissey. The chapter on Oscar Wilde is brilliant and gets closer than anything else to explaining the sense of sexual alienation and tragedy which underpin Morrissey's best work. However, this is just one aspect of the many and interconnected cultural stimulus that is explored to great effect. From soap opera characters to French cinema Brown creates a work that is insightful on a much deeper level than simply 'what happened where'.

Whilst an illuminating insight of itself, it is the personal and socio-political context of the period through which Brown weaves his insights into Morrissey's life and art which make this book such a tender and worthwhile exposition. Brown gives as much of himself as he does of Morrissey and in doing so brings the reader into intimate contact with something of themselves. Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, somehow, it really did say something about my life.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amongst the genre of 'poptastic' biography there is a vast amount of turgid retrospection within a tired over worn format. Kid 'A' plonks on guitar. Forms a band with his mates. Gigs to a record contract. Hits the charts with a bullet. Nationwide tour. Records the album in the studio. World tour. Drinks/drugs. Management hassles. Band split.
Len Brown's 'Meetings with Morrissey' manages to avoid the contemporary pop biog formula and has produced a very intelligent and insightful account of the career of this singer/songwriter covering 25 years as The Smiths frontman, and on into his solo work. The copyright is dated 2009.
Brown has a wealth of interview material from his days as a journalist on The New Musical Express and has also kept in touch with his subject via work at Granada Television in Manchester. The result is an in depth exploration of the man and his music, as well as the many influences behind the song lyrics. Committed fans or casual readers may well find in this account a refreshingly unique examination of a modern artist.

[minnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Morrissey books go this one was quite good, the author Len Brown is obviously a fan.I liked the 'Morrisseys People' chapter at the end listing all his influences such as, Pat Phoenix,James Dean,Sandie Shaw, Alan Bennett etc. but Danny Le Rue? The best parts were the interviews, especially the one where Morrissey talks about his love of 60's british girl groups.Len Brown has now put these interviews on You tube, here they are.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_S_2g...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEutfu...

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think this might be the best overall book about morrissey as a person. there are other books, most notably johnny rogan's 'the severed alliance' that give you the broader biography about his childhood, his folks, the chronology of the smiths, what bands johnny marr was in, etc. but to get down to how the guy talks to people, thinks about life, and draws inspiration from, 'meetings with moz' was great. brown was an NME writer in the early 80s who ends up being almost a friend to morrissey over the years. well written, funny, and pretty essential if you are as big of a nerd as i am.

[Brian Pineda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gran libro si te interesa saber un poco sobre la vida de Morrissey y como es encontrartelo en una libreria o saber a quien va dedicado "we hate it when our friends become successful".

[Klara Thorstensson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ett långt försvarstal av en fan boy, fascinerande i sig men it grows old. Riktigt referenstung.

[Jakob Vahtera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intressant och välskriven biografi om 80-tals bandet ”The Smiths” och framförallt inriktad på frontmannen Steve Patrick Morrissey. Ett ständigt skimmer av Oscar Wilde genomsyrade Morrissey såväl som boken. Cadogan Hotel, 1895…

[Niklas Pivic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is, in my limited mind, the best partner to Morrissey's "Autobiography". I have read Johnny Rogan's "Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance" but it is nowhere near its main subject as this book is.

Brown is, in my mind, a brilliant researcher whose careful writing and restrained fandom - for make no mistake, he is an ardent Morrissey fan - makes this book essential for everybody who are into Moz.

Where Morrissey's "Autobiography" delves far deeper into Morrissey's internal workings where The Smiths and his solo work is concerned (not to mention everything else that Moz writes of), Brown's second person view is required and at times questions Morrissey and his thoughts.

This book is from the start of The Smiths and ends with Morrissey's "Ringleader Of The Tormentors", and as such, it covers a lot of areas, and also manages to focus on a few subjects, e.g. the human sexuality, vegetarianism, Oscar Wilde and female artists from the 1950s.

Essential to fans, and highly recommendable to anybody who wants to read a very human account of a very accounted human; Morrissey remains the funniest star in music, ever.

[Blair Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit heavy on the Oscar Wilde links ... We get it Len, he likes him a lot ... But a really good read. The Smiths are head and shoulders above any other 80s British band (I loved the dismissal of The Cure as 'soft Goth') and 20% of Morrisseys solo stuff is nearly as good. When you're dancing and laughing and finally living ... Hear my voice in your head and think of me kindly. Smiths indeed!

[Mary Ann Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice Moments Through History

A good book about Len Brown's meetings and conversations with Morrissey. I liked the author's reviews of gigs and Morrissey's music. It was nice to read a book about the man that seemed to be by a genuine fan. It was also nice to read about Len and Morrissey aging together. Good read! Very insightful.

[Melusina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful and magical - one of the best Morrissey biographies I have read!

[Nisá · Rating 5 out of 5]

wilde-overdosed. great read!

[Heather Lynn Powderly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best Morissey biography I've read. It doesn't show a different side of Moz, but elaborates on his childhood and his relationship with the media. Very interesting.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh you look so tired, mouth slack and wide, ill-housed and ill-advised, your face is as mean as your life has been...

[Stefan Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

... read it in German.... in 2 days.... easy to read.... ! 5 stars, what else ?... it´s Moz-tastic