Bono rocks, unlike that whingeing Morrissey

[Bluebirds]

Pointless Guardian CIF article

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/06/sarfraz-manzoor-bono-morrissey-aids-debt

Leave your diatribe. My favourites are:

I'm not a fan of either the Smiths or U2 but if I had to choose between Morrissey and the unsufferable wank that is Bono to have tea with, it would be Morrissey every single time.

The big difference for me between Morrissey and Bono is that The Smiths were brilliant and U2 are shite.

Morrissey is an arthouse
Bono is a multiplex.

 

[VacancyForABackscrubber]

"Only one way to decide:

Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!!!"

 

[Quiffaa]

Pointless Guardian CIF article

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/06/sarfraz-manzoor-bono-morrissey-aids-debt

Leave your diatribe. My favourites are:

I'm not a fan of either the Smiths or U2 but if I had to choose between Morrissey and the unsufferable wank that is Bono to have tea with, it would be Morrissey every single time.

The big difference for me between Morrissey and Bono is that The Smiths were brilliant and U2 are shite.

Morrissey is an arthouse
Bono is a multiplex.

what bluebirds said.

Why is the grauniad so anti-Mozzer?

 

[Anker Ignis Fatuus Von K.]

Bono always looks funny with his sunglasses.

 

[Raphael Lambach]

Bono always looks funny with his sunglasses.

The fist time I had paid attention on U2 was when they had released "Beautiful day" in 2000. I'm listening "I Still haven't found what I'm looking for". It's great.

 

[Fulham Road Lights]

U2 were good in the 80s...

 

[Jessikers]

I base my love of music and musicians on just that; the music. If I want to love a humanitarian, I might choose the Dalai Lama.

 

[iamnicola]

Um, Bono sucks.

 

[I am a Ghost]

Um, Bono sucks.

RTTF!!!

 

[iamnicola]

RTTF!!!

U2 only came out with two great songs... "One" and "Where The Streets Have No Name".

Bono is a fraud and I really don't like his whole "Red" business.

 

[CaliforniaMozGirl]

I find this whole article a ridiculous whiny waste of space. Please... Poor Bono?
You have got to be kidding me! And I am a U2 fan (not to the extent I love Mozzer of course) But I do enjoy them (up to 2000- listened to Atomic once... and never bought the latest album...) and recently saw the tour that came through LA in October. But to say no one criticizes Morrissey and Bono is always criticized is absolutely absurd! Perhaps I just don't follow Bono as closely so I don't see it, but all I ever hear is how wonderful Bono is. How does that writer sleep at night?

 

[Worm]

It's a dumb comparison. Unquestionably Bono has done more "direct" humanitarian work in the world than Morrissey, but, first of all, his record shames almost every other pop star's, so why pick on Morrissey? And, second, the writer wrongly assumes that the only good kind of influence a pop star can have is the kind measured in money or food or drugs given to poor people. Morrissey, like many pop stars, may have a tremendously positive influence on the world which simply escapes measurement. If we looked at their track record as if we were doing business accounting, Bono's good deeds would dwarf Morrissey's-- and also Dylan's, Lennon's, Marley's, et al. Third, the comparison makes a tacit, double assumption: that pop stars must be humanitarians, and that Morrissey himself claimed to be one. Not true.

What interests me is the guy's mention of the racist allegations. The article shows how damaging the NME has been. I can't prove this, since I don't know much about the writer, but I'll bet three glazed donuts this guy does think Morrissey is a racist-- or, perhaps worse, his comment shows that the charge of racism has stuck fast in a vague but tangible way in the background discussion about Morrissey, such that it frees him up to attack Morrissey on other grounds. "No, he isn't racist, he's just a silly man trapped in eternal adolescence". There's an insidious subtlety to the attack which, sadly, I think we'll see more and more of in this sort of article. It's a new strain of political correctness, where charges of "sexism", "racism", and so on are brought up and dismissed as lesser offenses than more basic crimes against taste, propriety. I just read a take-down of Nick Cave that basically did the same thing: Cave was damned as a misogynist but his "real crime" was seeking and obtaining bourgeois respectability. Writers are finding ways to toss out accusations as if they were non-accusations, and it's a shame.

 

[I am a Ghost]

I just read a take-down of Nick Cave that basically did the same thing: Cave was damned as a misogynist but his "real crime" was seeking and obtaining bourgeois respectability. Writers are finding ways to toss out accusations as if they were non-accusations, and it's a shame.

I'm really tired of hearing that lazy nonsense being thrown at Cave all the time. I was at a reading/gig he gave recently where he invited questions from the audience. One Australian woman asked him why he was a misogynist and when NC asked for examples, she couldn't give him any!

 

[Anaesthesine]

Nick Cave will have "misogynist" follow him to the grave and beyond. Morrissey, tragically, will have "racist" follow him as well.

It's just like T.S. Eliot, who will always carry the taint of anti-Semitism.

It's just a part of the narrative that sticks. We all know what Morrissey has done invoke such nonsense. Nick Cave has never been too pc either, and Eliot certainly dug his own grave in that regard.

Cave was damned as a misogynist but his "real crime" was seeking and obtaining bourgeois respectability.

The ultimate crime!

 

[Worm]

I'm really tired of hearing that lazy nonsense being thrown at Cave all the time. I was at a reading/gig he gave recently where he invited questions from the audience. One Australian woman asked him why he was a misogynist and when NC asked for examples, she couldn't give him any!

The essay is here, if you'd like to read it. The writer does seem to have a valid point about misogyny in a few of his songs, even if they are only Cave's fictions and acceptable by "poetic license". But here are the key lines, to which I refer above:

"I can still listen to The Birthday Party and find Cave’s sordid fantasies of woman-pie, kewpie dolls and six-inch gold blades stuck ‘in the head of a girl’ exhilarating and disturbing in equal measure.

...

It’s his transformation into an antipodean Elvis Costello – growing old, mild and respectably bourgeois along with his audience – that really makes me mad."​

It reminds me of the hilarious scene in Woody Allen's "Bananas", where Fielding Mellish (Allen) is asking his ex-girlfriend why she dumped him.

Fielding: Can you say what is missing from me?

Nancy: No. Maybe if you could guess a few things, l could try.

- What do you mean? Can you tell me?
- l don't know what's missing.
- ls it personality or looks?
- Well, no.
- Am l not smart enough?
- No.
- Because l'm not...
- No.
- lt has nothing to do with height?
- lt has nothing to do with the fact you're short or the fact that you're not bright enough. Nothing to do with the fact that your teeth are in bad shape.
- So what, then? l don't understand. Has it got to do with...it's not my personality. Do you have fun when you're with me?
- No... But it's not that. lt's not that l don't have fun with you...
- We have fun when we laugh. Don't tell me that we haven't laughed.
- lt's not that we haven't laughed.
- Certainly l laugh a lot. Sometimes you don't laugh and...
- l can't put my finger on it. Something's missing.
- What? Can you be specific?
- The relationship isn't going anywhere.

 

[PUNKturedBIKE]

Bono is gash and Morrissey God, that's about it really.

 

[I am a Ghost]

The essay is here, if you'd like to read it. The writer does seem to have a valid point about misogyny in a few of his songs, even if they are only Cave's fictions and acceptable by "poetic license". But here are the key lines, to which I refer above:

"I can still listen to The Birthday Party and find Cave’s sordid fantasies of woman-pie, kewpie dolls and six-inch gold blades stuck ‘in the head of a girl’ exhilarating and disturbing in equal measure.

...

It’s his transformation into an antipodean Elvis Costello – growing old, mild and respectably bourgeois along with his audience – that really makes me mad."

Thanks for the link. A quick skim reveals this line...


"Not because I believe that Cave has sold out or betrayed his musical talent – he had precious little to begin with".

So, no talent and misogynism. Move along so, Anwyn, I'm sure your time would be better spent elsewhere.

 

[joe frady]

As it happens Manzoor did stick up for Morrissey around the time of the NME furore (reprise), siding with him against Jonze and that skidmark of an editor whose name escapes me momentarily. I think he is genuine when he says he doesn't believe he's of a racist bent, but I agree that it's a sly and shitty tactic to bring it up in this way.
In the British music press now, such as it is, Morrissey is box-office poison. I think I prefer it this way. I never trusted all that 'Quarry' glory and Mozfather guff. I knew those muppets would turn away. Morrissey's too much of an awkward old bugger to remain in fashion for long. The only reason it would concern me is in relation to him finding a record company to take him on...

 

[Danny_]

As soon as Morrissey opened his stupid gob up about immigration he basically kissed goodbye to any good press or reviews from The Guardian and other similar mainstream media organisations. It really is the most heinous crime in their book. The sad thing is I don't think it is an issue he really is that bothered about, he just got caught at the wrong time spouting his mouth off about something he hadn't really thought very much about.

 

[PUNKturedBIKE]

As soon as Morrissey opened his stupid gob up about immigration he basically kissed goodbye to any good press or reviews from The Guardian and other similar mainstream media organisations. It really is the most heinous crime in their book. The sad thing is I don't think it is an issue he really is that bothered about, he just got caught at the wrong time spouting his mouth off about something he hadn't really thought very much about.

Not thought much about it? He's been 'spouting off' since at least '88.