The Guardian: "Matt Berninger webchat: your questions answered on Morrissey, Taylor Swift and infinite creativity" (October 13, 2020)

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The Guardian - October 13, 2020.
Laura Snapes.

Matt Berninger webchat: your questions answered on Morrissey, Taylor Swift and infinite creativity.

"I want my daughter to listen to the Smiths.
I don't want her to pay attention to what Morrissey says now.


djdazz asks:

Hi Matt, we are about the same age, with many of the same formative influences. The reception of all art changes over time, but I’m wondering how you reconcile your love of the Smiths with Morrissey’s recent political dalliances. Of course, I want to trust the art rather than artist, but sometimes it’s not easy. Your thoughts on the issue would be greatly appreciated!

Matt:

I'm really glad somebody asked me. I brought up Morrissey and the Smiths so many times to journalists over the past few years because I'm interested to talk about that, and so often it never makes it into the interview because it's just such tricky territory, right? Because Morrissey was one of the voices, writers, performers that made me - maybe more than almost any, at this phase in my life when I was 15, 16, 17. When you just feel like a misfit. But I was a misfit with a lot of confidence. I had a lot of chips on my shoulders, small chips. And then to hear this other person from a place that I'd never heard of, didn't know anything about Manchester, didn't know anything about England, really, and then here was this band and this singer singing about all these emotional, hugely dramatic grievances - the Boy With the Thorn in His Side, Please Please Please let me get what I want, these raw pleas to the universe to be understood. And so funny. Morrissey, the thing that's hardest to square now, is how a person with such empathy for himself and for the misfits and those around him, writing so beautifully about that, now seeming to have very little empathy for other perspectives. It's a hard thing. I listen to the Smiths a lot still, and I listen to Morrissey a lot, and then I do pay attention to the things that he says and it's heartbreaking. I feel like fear and the anxiety of the world has maybe kinda overtaken him a little bit, and I guess it makes me try to keep my mind open and keep listening to everyone. At some point, the older you get, you can close your brain off. I feel like Morrissey became very frustrated because he wanted the world to be a very specific way. When festivals have to change their rules because he's there, I understand that when he's making sure the entire festival is vegan because he believes in that. But I think at a certain point you can't control everything, you get bitter and angry and that's happened to a lot of people. The world is chaotic and out of control and people retreat to a very small corner when they feel they cannot control the world, and I feel he's retreated to a very small corner that doesn't have the empathy that he used to have. I think about it a lot. I wish I had a better answer. But the Smiths still provides me a lot of comfort and inspiration and empathy. I still listen to the Boy With the Thorn in His Side and feel less alone in the world. The Smiths really helped me out of some emotional, dark tangles and they still do. Morrissey's body of work, so much of it provides me really healthy, positive answers, still. I won't give up that. I won't put those records in a box and bury 'em. I want my daughter to listen to the Smiths. I don't want her to pay attention to what Morrissey says now. She listens to them now in fact, she loves them. Frankly Mr Shankly - how can you not love that song? Girlfriend in a Coma, it's great."


Regards,
FWD.


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Very wise and nice words, the total opposite of most comments and replies. Have you people actually read what he said?? If you did and still criticise the guy then either you or I have trouble understanding the written word.
 
The biggest mistake seems to be Moz aligning himself with For Britain. Not because of their policies but because the whole notion of Morrissey advocating any political party seems so, well, un-Morrissey.
You're wrong there. It is exactly because of their policies. The Smiths were all about compassion, empathy, broadmindedness, tolerance etc.. Far-right politics is all about the complete opposite.
Had he expressed his support for the Liberals or the Greens (for example), there would have been no problem whatsoever.
 
It certainly wasn't in the old days, but I'm afraid it really is now.

Anony that's not true.

Moz has said nothing that lacks in empathy - he hasn't attacked any minority groups - he has said nothing mean in the face of being repeatedly denounced for things he hasn't said.
 
Scruffy character, needs a good wash & shave and some clean clothes, shoulda at least learned that from Moz, always immaculate.
 
Anony that's not true.

Moz has said nothing that lacks in empathy - he hasn't attacked any minority groups - he has said nothing mean in the face of being repeatedly denounced for things he hasn't said.
Ignoring every well-documented thing he’s said, including the unedited garbage that‘s beeb recorded - dribbling from his own slack-jaw - you might be onto something here.

Fak Arf, Karen.
 
AAAANNND we're off - someone else says that Morrissey is not worth of attention and the detractors are quick out of the blocks to slag them off. I mean, the ONLY possible reason is that THEY are rubbish - amirite, folks?

You seriously do not see the irony of the bollocks you post?
YOU are usually one of the first people to post on ANY opinion piece about Morrissey.
If the author hates Morrissey as much as you claim to, you trip over yourself to rim them. However, woe betide someone express a pro-Morrissey opinion - the Big Boys Thesaurus of Insults gets dusted off and you go ape-shit.
I’ve never seen someone so easily triggered.
 
You seriously do not see the irony of the bollocks you post?
YOU are usually one of the first people to post on ANY opinion piece about Morrissey.
If the author hates Morrissey as much as you claim to, you trip over yourself to rim them. However, woe betide someone express a pro-Morrissey opinion - the Big Boys Thesaurus of Insults gets dusted off and you go ape-shit.
I’ve never seen someone so easily triggered.
trgr.JPG
 
I know that age is irrelevant in terms of maturity but when your mentality finally catches up with your biology (sorry) you do often tend to see the world differently, objectively and truthfully.

I know little of the ‘National’ music-wise but they, i.e. Matt must realise our generation (Moz’s generation) grew up in the harsh Thatcherite world and ‘We’ thought we could change the world with music, art, theatre etc etc but ‘We’ didn’t, we failed,and the world just got worse and sank into newer depths of despair.
So then, we became disillusioned. I truly believe that, that is what has happened.
We became disillusioned critical in our thinking and polarised in our outlook on life in general.
Nothing really was achieved, we are worse off now than ever, under the ‘establishment’ when all we wanted to do was break free and change the world.
People are so quick to judge based on media representation.
They can never understand the sentiments or the essence of living during that period of history, with it’s constant threat of nuclear war, the whole pervasive atmosphere of the 80’s with its underlying oppression.
I remember reading poetry, loving art and listening to music, with an innocence and love that I had never experienced before.
I have Morrissey in part to thank for that. (Thank you).
And as so many of my contemporaries would agree that sense of innocence and the realisation of youth culture at that time was not to be endorsed by the secular authorities who deemed the youth of that time, as being ‘out of hand’.
Unless you were there and went through that time, it would be very hard to understand.
 
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I know that age is irrelevant in terms of maturity but when your mentality finally catches up with your biology (sorry) you do often tend to see the world differently, objectively and truthfully.

I know little of the ‘National’ music-wise but they, i.e. Matt must realise our generation (Moz’s generation) grew up in the harsh Thatcherite world and ‘We’ thought we could change the world with music, art, theatre etc etc but ‘We’ didn’t, we failed,and the world just got worse and sank into newer depths of despair.
So then, we became disillusioned. I truly believe that, that is what has happened.
We became disillusioned critical in our thinking and polarised in our outlook on life in general.
Nothing really was achieved, we are worse off now than ever, under the ‘establishment’ when all we wanted to do was break free and change the world.
People are so quick to judge based on media representation.
They can never understand the sentiments or the essence of living during that period of history, with it’s constant threat of nuclear war, the whole pervasive atmosphere of the 80’s with its underlying oppression.
I remember reading poetry, loving art and listening to music, with an innocence and love that I had never experienced before.
I have Morrissey in part to thank for that. (Thank you).
And as so many of my contemporaries would agree that sense of innocence and the realisation of youth culture at that time was not to be endorsed by the secular authorities who deemed the youth of that time, as being ‘out of hand’.
Unless you were there and went through that time, it would be very hard to understand.
A lot of good points Mz U.👍
 
Ignoring every well-documented thing he’s said, including the unedited garbage that‘s beeb recorded - dribbling from his own slack-jaw - you might be onto something here.

Fak Arf, Karen.

You are ignoring everything he's said.
 
Apologies Matt, you are Gen X like me 1961-1979 so you hopefully might concur with some of those points.
Ignorance is sometimes bliss.
 
The usual people keep on thinking Moz defecates little gold nuggets, refusing to acknowledge that he is human like the rest of us.

I think this piece is pretty accurate:

"The world is chaotic and out of control and people retreat to a very small corner when they feel they cannot control the world, and I feel he's retreated to a very small corner that doesn't have the empathy that he used to have."

However I think it is lazy to disregard everything Moz says because it goes against your opinion. Moz does make valid points amidst less helpful comments. If I was a millionaire with a legion of die hard fans I'd like to think I'd be relatively happy. At least I could indulge my vinyl needle addiction without consequence.
 
I don’t think he is happy with or without the legions.
He’s disillusioned and critical, polarised and disappointed, and so say all of us that wanted something better than what we have in 2020.
 
"I want my daughter to listen to the Smiths. I don't want her to pay attention to what Morrissey says now."

Oppressive thought control of your daughter is obviously the right way to go. If she is guilty of wrong-think, make sure to report her to the Orwellian thought police, and they will sort her out. :ahhh: :whip:
 
"I feel like Morrissey became very frustrated because he wanted the world to be a very specific way."
I feel like Matt has much confusement cause he wants Moz to be a certain specific way.
 
Same old rote, woke rhetoric from an 'artist' who, judged on what he says, would have a seizure if he ever had an original, independent thought. It's the 'herd' mentality of these characters that is so depressing. "now seeming to have very little empathy for other perspectives". Oh, the irony!
 
We all ‘want’ the world to be a specific way. I do. Don’t you?
I can’t see that there is anything wrong with that.
Don’t get me wrong please I’m not arguing WT I would love to eradicate poverty,sickness,inequality,hatred, death and every oppressive hateful obstacle that prevents mankind from being all it can be.
Yes too much confusement
Ball of confusion...more tunage should thus follow 🌎
 
Clearly some people do need it seeing as their albums and live shows are very popular.

Well we all know that bands and singers that sell lots of music and tickets are the best. Quality and sales go hand in hand. I do regret my earlier post as I didn’t mean to slur The The.
 

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