Murray Chalmers (Morrissey's ex-manager) posts image on Instagram from "Another time, another place"

Link from an anonymous person:



murraychalmers: Another time, another place. I’ve found so many cards and notes from him including some great ones where we were trying to get in touch with Charles Hawtrey. I eventually phoned Charles Hawtrey and Mr H wasn’t at all happy.Didn’t know i had kept all this stuff!

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The ultimate quiff remains the Jonathan Ross performance of "I've Changed My Plea to Guilty" in 1990. It borders on the supernatural.

Top 3 Moz quiffs for me:

1. TOTP appearance for "Heaven Knows..."., absolutely perfect. Even filmed from an angle which accentuates it!



2. Pop Jury clip (interview)


3. Guilty video you've posted above.
 
If we're being nostalgic and talking favourite quiffs I want to throw in 2006 Rome Moz.
Gorgeous quiff, he looked just overall fantastic. My favourite era, style-wise, along with early Smiths and early solo years.

98e04a58-ce32-466f-9c71-d97fe6856b84.jpg

70e86c4b-5a47-4128-95d0-195afdbd3f18.jpg
 
The ultimate quiff remains the Jonathan Ross performance of "I've Changed My Plea to Guilty" in 1990. It borders on the supernatural.

Moz Plea 1990.jpg


Quiff Ne Plus Ultra

An untouchable amalgam of imperiousness & insouciance

"...enormous, the way you'd think of God's as big"

:yum:

.
 
It's all acutely personal & subjective, and perhaps tied in to when you were first drawn in by the music, but í feel His Quiff was alway somewhat...amateur?...during The Smiths. í mean it was lovely and nice and everything, but by the time he went solo it was beginning to go...full pro; in a way that most mortals could never hope to emulate (í have a hundred concert crowds as reference).

The key elevation for me was the introduction of the sideburns, which was an embellishment that seemed to complete the look to perfection. Don't ask me why. Please.
As the sideys elongated across 1989 the Quiff seemed to grow in stature and majesty, so that by the year's end when Anton Corbijn was shooting him for 'The Face', he may have been "walking backwards into the 90s" but at least he was doing so with damnably exquisite hair...

Morrissey 'The Face' March 1990 pg3.jpg


For me, 1990~1991 were the twin annus mirabilis of SPM Quiffage. The barnet went from strength to strength, even out in the wilds of KROQ in February, on TOTP in May, and for Juergen Teller on the streets of Battersea the same month...

Morrissey KROQ Los Angeles (iv) February 9th 1990.jpg


Morrissey Spawned TOTP 3rd May 1990.jpg


Morrissey JuergenTeller 1990 raro.jpg


And, nearing peak Pomp, captured by Gino Sprio at Hook End in October '90...

Morrissey ~ Gino Sprio, Hook End French Windows colour, October 1990.jpg


And ending that year with the previously worshipped epileptic splendour of the Jonathan Ross TV outing.

And in 1991 í don't think í ever saw one duff picture of His Quiff. It was an immaculate confection all year long, and whatever one may think of his music that year, recorded or live, in my estimation, his Pompadour was at its zenith. Who knows why? Debbie Dannell, í assume had a hand, or two, in it. Perhaps Th'Lads helped him up his game follically, as well as musically?

You know it could never last, and by 1992 things up top had started to ever so slightly topple. Maybe those twin glory years of product had started to take their toll. There is always a price to pay for perfection. And the mise-en-scène was headed in a slightly more Greaser direction. The Pomp was tilting where once it had stood erect. It still looked suave, but just not thunderously so. 1994 was smart in an Anthony Steel kind of way, but nothing to make you pester your barber with 8x10s.

Since then it's been swings & roundabouts, while still all perfectly acceptable. Nothing to scare the horses.
Quarry was a definite Quiff comeback {agnostic as to work done} and í would heartily agree with GirlAfraidWillNeverLearn in that 2006 was even more of a comeback. í don't know how the hell that was achieved; La Dolce Vita? Gelato? :brows:

Morrissey Perou Roma 2006.jpg


Morrissey Fabio Lovino Red Setter.jpg


Unlike most others, seemingly, í am oddly fascinated by where the Moz barnet is currently heading. í had always wondered what a long-haired Morrissey would look like, and for a pop star, or indeed anybody, to have had the same basic hairstyle for the last 40 years is quite astounding. So the idea of a hippy Moz in his 60s, like some Gorton Gandalf, is...intriguing? He can always blame it on the plague.

ps ~ í would be most keen to see GirlAfraidWillNeverLearn's degree course work ;)

.
 
Apologies for getting the thread slightly back on track ~ 'Sylvia', scarily, has managed to, within hours of Murray's upload, find a snap from the same day? But still no closer to what actual date that day was ~

Morrissey 1995.png




.
 
It's all acutely personal & subjective, and perhaps tied in to when you were first drawn in by the music, but í feel His Quiff was alway somewhat...amateur?...during The Smiths. í mean it was lovely and nice and everything, but by the time he went solo it was beginning to go...full pro; in a way that most mortals could never hope to emulate (í have a hundred concert crowds as reference).

The key elevation for me was the introduction of the sideburns, which was an embellishment that seemed to complete the look to perfection. Don't ask me why. Please.
As the sideys elongated across 1989 the Quiff seemed to grow in stature and majesty, so that by the year's end when Anton Corbijn was shooting him for 'The Face', he may have been "walking backwards into the 90s" but at least he was doing so with damnably exquisite hair...

View attachment 56731

For me, 1990~1991 were the twin annus mirabilis of SPM Quiffage. The barnet went from strength to strength, even out in the wilds of KROQ in February, on TOTP in May, and for Juergen Teller on the streets of Battersea the same month...

View attachment 56732

View attachment 56733

View attachment 56734

And, nearing peak Pomp, captured by Gino Sprio at Hook End in October '90...

View attachment 56735

And ending that year with the previously worshipped epileptic splendour of the Jonathan Ross TV outing.

And in 1991 í don't think í ever saw one duff picture of His Quiff. It was an immaculate confection all year long, and whatever one may think of his music that year, recorded or live, in my estimation, his Pompadour was at its zenith. Who knows why? Debbie Dannell, í assume had a hand, or two, in it. Perhaps Th'Lads helped him up his game follically, as well as musically?

You know it could never last, and by 1992 things up top had started to ever so slightly topple. Maybe those twin glory years of product had started to take their toll. There is always a price to pay for perfection. And the mise-en-scène was headed in a slightly more Greaser direction. The Pomp was tilting where once it had stood erect. It still looked suave, but just not thunderously so. 1994 was smart in an Anthony Steel kind of way, but nothing to make you pester your barber with 8x10s.

Since then it's been swings & roundabouts, while still all perfectly acceptable. Nothing to scare the horses.
Quarry was a definite Quiff comeback {agnostic as to work done} and í would heartily agree with GirlAfraidWillNeverLearn in that 2006 was even more of a comeback. í don't know how the hell that was achieved; La Dolce Vita? Gelato? :brows:

View attachment 56736

View attachment 56737

Unlike most others, seemingly, í am oddly fascinated by where the Moz barnet is currently heading. í had always wondered what a long-haired Morrissey would look like, and for a pop star, or indeed anybody, to have had the same basic hairstyle for the last 40 years is quite astounding. So the idea of a hippy Moz in his 60s, like some Gorton Gandalf, is...intriguing? He can always blame it on the plague.

ps ~ í would be most keen to see GirlAfraidWillNeverLearn's degree course work ;)

.

I agree with everything except the hippie hair.
 
I agree with everything except the hippie hair.

Understood.

í admit that the Hale trails weren't the finest {whose hair is these days?}, but are you not just a teensy bit curious as to what could emerge from beneath the Marfa...?
A change is as good as a holiday, they say.

.
 
Understood.

í admit that the Hale trails weren't the finest {whose hair is these days?}, but are you not just a teensy bit curious as to what could emerge from beneath the Marfa...?
A change is as good as a holiday, they say.

.

No!!!! I associate it with him looking increasingly distressed on last year's American Tour.

I'll take neat hair as a sign he's sorting out his public persona & his artistic direction.
 
While @joefrady did a work of love (again), I've never been surer, that Chalmer's pic dates from 1995. The "full" suit look he's wearing on the second pic was first introduced on the Outisders tour in autumn of that year (Wembley f.e.) and then again in court at the end of 1996.

P.S.

That foto outside KROQ is so georgous. That's the magic of Moz caught on camera. Wilde in the wilds.
 
It's all acutely personal & subjective, and perhaps tied in to when you were first drawn in by the music, but í feel His Quiff was alway somewhat...amateur?...during The Smiths. í mean it was lovely and nice and everything, but by the time he went solo it was beginning to go...full pro; in a way that most mortals could never hope to emulate (í have a hundred concert crowds as reference).

Love the photos, love the quiff. Ageless really; what other hairstyle still looks as modern all those years later? Can't agree on the sideburns though - I don't like long sideburns at all , I have a ridiculous aversion to them. And his current mullet thing has got to go...:LOL:
 
It's all acutely personal & subjective, and perhaps tied in to when you were first drawn in by the music, but í feel His Quiff was alway somewhat...amateur?...during The Smiths. í mean it was lovely and nice and everything, but by the time he went solo it was beginning to go...full pro; in a way that most mortals could never hope to emulate (í have a hundred concert crowds as reference).

The key elevation for me was the introduction of the sideburns, which was an embellishment that seemed to complete the look to perfection. Don't ask me why. Please.
As the sideys elongated across 1989 the Quiff seemed to grow in stature and majesty, so that by the year's end when Anton Corbijn was shooting him for 'The Face', he may have been "walking backwards into the 90s" but at least he was doing so with damnably exquisite hair...

View attachment 56731

For me, 1990~1991 were the twin annus mirabilis of SPM Quiffage. The barnet went from strength to strength, even out in the wilds of KROQ in February, on TOTP in May, and for Juergen Teller on the streets of Battersea the same month...

View attachment 56732

View attachment 56733

View attachment 56734

And, nearing peak Pomp, captured by Gino Sprio at Hook End in October '90...

View attachment 56735

And ending that year with the previously worshipped epileptic splendour of the Jonathan Ross TV outing.

And in 1991 í don't think í ever saw one duff picture of His Quiff. It was an immaculate confection all year long, and whatever one may think of his music that year, recorded or live, in my estimation, his Pompadour was at its zenith. Who knows why? Debbie Dannell, í assume had a hand, or two, in it. Perhaps Th'Lads helped him up his game follically, as well as musically?

You know it could never last, and by 1992 things up top had started to ever so slightly topple. Maybe those twin glory years of product had started to take their toll. There is always a price to pay for perfection. And the mise-en-scène was headed in a slightly more Greaser direction. The Pomp was tilting where once it had stood erect. It still looked suave, but just not thunderously so. 1994 was smart in an Anthony Steel kind of way, but nothing to make you pester your barber with 8x10s.

Since then it's been swings & roundabouts, while still all perfectly acceptable. Nothing to scare the horses.
Quarry was a definite Quiff comeback {agnostic as to work done} and í would heartily agree with GirlAfraidWillNeverLearn in that 2006 was even more of a comeback. í don't know how the hell that was achieved; La Dolce Vita? Gelato? :brows:

View attachment 56736

View attachment 56737

Unlike most others, seemingly, í am oddly fascinated by where the Moz barnet is currently heading. í had always wondered what a long-haired Morrissey would look like, and for a pop star, or indeed anybody, to have had the same basic hairstyle for the last 40 years is quite astounding. So the idea of a hippy Moz in his 60s, like some Gorton Gandalf, is...intriguing? He can always blame it on the plague.

ps ~ í would be most keen to see GirlAfraidWillNeverLearn's degree course work ;)

.

Excellent summary of The History Of The Quiff ™.

While I agree that his hair during The Smiths never was as perfect as it was during those early solo years, which you so accurately summarised, I have a huge soft spot for his style 1983-1985, not only regarding his hair but also the hot mess of clothes he wore around that time. After that it went downhill with the cropped, shorter, sort of spikey hair and the ugly oversized suit jackets. 1986 was a bad style year for him overall.

1985 is prime Smiths Moz to me. The quiff is messy and I agree that it looked "amateur" compared to later years but that was all part of the overall look that was and still is so unique and immediately recognisable.



Regarding early solo years 1989-1991 I have nothing to add to your most eloquent remarks except that I can't believe that nobody has brought up the Ouija Board, Ouija Board video yet, which features one of the most impeccable incarnations of the quiff and in addition to that beautiful make-up and in the opening shot a wallpaper that accentuates his striking blue eyes in the most flattering way. Hook End seems to have had a magnificent influence on him.



Last but not least I want to stress that I'm also very fascinated by what is going on with his hair currently. I remember thinking in 2018 (I think?) that I didn't like the way it was cut all short at the sides because for some reason it made his head look even bigger than it already is.
So when it grew gradually longer in 2019, I applauded that and when he made his return to the stage after the summer in Columbia I was amused and intrigued but the miraculous mullet. The expression "hippy Moz" was used in this context more than once.

The most recent pictures made it look like it's currently longer than it has been since the 70s when he was rocking this Patti inspired barnet.
84309050_207728793752013_9072383681334607872_n.jpg


It's unlikely to ever make my list of favourite Morrissey looks but I kind of love the fact that he doesn't seem to be bothered by what anyone thinks of it and who cares anyway during lockdown?
I'm ready for new pictures of him going grocery shopping just to see when his silver locks will reach his shoulders.


PS: @joe frady definitely qualified for a degree in Mozziquiffology with his heartfelt, elaborate contribution. The work I did to acquire mine mostly consisted of collecting and subsequently staring at every picture of Morrissey I could find and discussing it with a good friend of mine, who's an expert on the subject matter of hairstyling.

Btw, we attributed the glorious quiff comeback of 2006 to pasta and ... gelato. :grin:
 
I have a soft spot for the 1984/85 quiff. And his clothes were never a hot mess!

quiff 2.jpg
quiff 3.jpg
 
Oh god, how he looks at Johnny!

I used to think that too but someone pointed out that he's actually looking at his own reflection in Johnny's shades. Look closely - it's true. :LOL:
 
Yeah, but the quiff had got soooo limp by 1995 - look at his appearance on Jools Holland:



Yet somehow it was bouncy and fulsome for his 'comeback years.' Some sort of intervention, chemical or surgical, surely?

Yeah, but the quiff had got soooo limp by 1995 - look at his appearance on Jools Holland:



Yet somehow it was bouncy and fulsome for his 'comeback years.' Some sort of intervention, chemical or surgical, surely?

The interview hair still looked better then anything he had from 1997 to 2004. No implants he just started combing his hair in the opposite direction where early on in his career the quiff would fall to the left and then later on he would comb it to the right.
 
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Regarding early solo years 1989-1991 I have nothing to add to your most eloquent remarks except that I can't believe that nobody has brought up the Ouija Board, Ouija Board video yet, which features one of the most impeccable incarnations of the quiff and in addition to that beautiful make-up and in the opening shot a wallpaper that accentuates his striking blue eyes in the most flattering way. Hook End seems to have had a magnificent influence on him.



Quite.

Hook End Romper Room to-day {or 3 years ago}...

Hook End decrepit.jpg


If sadism is your bag, then enjoy this video...




Agreed, "Ouija Board, Ouija Board " was a nigh perfect capture of The Quiff, although, if í am being brutally frank, the opening incarnation is a shade too...DA/Mark Lamarr, for my liking.
But once the golden urchins are dragging him through the woods, it's all fine and dandy again.

The next Broad carry on ~ "November Spawned A Monster" ~ is, IMHO, the never-bested, ultimate rendering of Le Quiff on film. Perhaps due to the barren parched setting, the Pompadour is all one has to focus on. That, and his blouse. í wore that tape clean, it was so filthy...

One other point though about The Smiths years; it does always help, í think, if you position yourself as much as possible alongside a useful friend who, guitar-god-genius though he is, has barely had an acceptable hairdo for longer than a fortnight his entire adult life...? :tiphat:

.
 
Quite.

Hook End Romper Room to-day {or 3 years ago}...

View attachment 56753

If sadism is your bag, then enjoy this video...




Agreed, "Ouija Board, Ouija Board " was a nigh perfect capture of The Quiff, although, if í am being brutally frank, the opening incarnation is a shade too...DA/Mark Lamarr, for my liking.
But once the golden urchins are dragging him through the woods, it's all fine and dandy again.

The next Broad carry on ~ "November Spawned A Monster" ~ is, IMHO, the never-bested, ultimate rendering of Le Quiff on film. Perhaps due to the barren parched setting, the Pompadour is all one has to focus on. That, and his blouse. í wore that tape clean, it was so filthy...

One other point though about The Smiths years; it does always help, í think, if you position yourself as much as possible alongside a useful friend who, guitar-god-genius though he is, has barely had an acceptable hairdo for longer than a fortnight his entire adult life...? :tiphat:

.



The subject of his quiff would make a great book! timeline, photos, interviews with past hairdressers.

come on get to it ! :)



btw the November video is a work of art. But you know that.
 

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