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Thu, Dec 17 1998
The Swedish film Fucking Åmål

Check out the rave reviews this movie got. From Peter Birro:

There is a film in Sweden that is hugely successful this winter. It´s called Fucking Åmål and it´s about the lowlife in a small Swedish town called Åmål. It is a story about a girl, 16 years old, who is vegetarian and a big Morrissey fan. She realizes that she is in love with the toughest girl in her school and she has the courage to tell her that. It is a beautiful, charming, uplifting film about having the guts to live your life the way you want to.

Some people have got no pride
they do not understand
the urgency of life


In a couple of scenes we can see three lovely posters of Morrissey which, I am proud to say, belong to me! I have been working with the director, Lukas Moodysson, who is also a Moz fan, and he asked me if he could use three or four posters in the film! I want to spread the gospel of Moz, so I said yes, of course!

So far almost 500.000 people in Sweden have seen this film and it is also Sweden's nomination for the Oscars!

Comments / Notes (5)
The Edge (U2) mentions The Smiths (Guitar World, Jan. 99)

From Vijai Prabhudass:

For the rest of the interview go to
http://zoonation.com/webhtml/index2.html

GW: The Joshua Tree sold 15 million albums, making it your most successful album to date. At the time, the critics were divided about its merits. U2 fans would suggest that certain critics would rather champion young and struggling bands than stand behind hugely successful ones.

THE EDGE: We had to endure a certain kind of cynicism that pervaded the media in the U.K. It all started with the punk ethos, which itself had been created by the media. This ethos really influenced everyone's attitude to music, to the extent that, in Britain, if you were successful you were irrelevant immediately. I think our becoming successful in America was, in particular, deemed a cardinal sin by the media in Britain. We had sold out, and as such were beyond respect. That was the way it was. Since we've always perceived ourselves as outsiders, this business didn't bother us, but I think that attitude broke up a lot of really amazing English groups. The only time that they revised this concept was when Oasis came around. That's when the British rock and roll media stopped eating its young, which they had been doing since the late Seventies. The Clash broke up because of this, so did the Smiths, and so did many other talented groups that couldn't deal with the pressure created by the charge that they'd "sold out." It's this zealot mentality which promotes the idea that when something stops being exclusive and underground and starts being popular, it suddenly turns into the enemy. I think it's just bogus, really bogus, and I think many people have actually realized this.

Comments / Notes (14)
"Reel Around The Fountain" - #76 rarest record

From Beau:

...in the December issue of the Record Collector, they have the 100 Rarest Records Of All Time (UK pressing) and The Smiths are at no. 76 with "Reel Around The Fountain" booked at 600 UKP.

I'm very excited about this, as it adds some legitimacy to collecting the Smiths, as the '97 Record Collector Price Guide booked that record at a ridiculous 120 UKP.

The only other "alternative" or "indie" artists who ranked above The Smiths were Blondie, U2, Manic Street Preachers (although also 600 UKP) and Nirvana.

Comments / Notes (4)
Smiths reference in "Der Spiegel"

From Jens Wurche:

There is a Smiths reference in this week's issue of "Der Spiegel", one of Germany's biggest weekly political magazines. In an article on the new album of Swedish pop group The Cardigans, author Christoph Dallach states that drummer Lagerberg, keyboard player Johansson and singer Persson had initially formed the band "to play music in the vein of British melancholiacs like The Smiths and Nick Drake."

This is not the first mention of The Smiths in this magazine's music section this year. A few months ago, there was a little paragraph about The Smiths in a piece on Radiohead whose guitarist had praised them as his most favourite band ever.

Comments / Notes (3)
Music to listen to during sex

From Kevin Thompson:

The December issue of the New Zealand Cleo, contained an interesting article about what music to listen to during sex.

And as strange as it may seem for a mainstream female magazine, they decided that the music of The Smiths is perfect to have on during sex!

Comments / Notes (40)



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