NME article hinting at the queasiness of being a modern-day Morrissey fan

Mike Rourke

Well-Known Member
So, you're ideologically opposed to your favourite pop star. What next? (nme.com)

It's not just about Morrissey but it mentions him and includes a photo.
Journalist, Mark Beaumont, is/was a big fan and wrote the largely positive NME review of Dog on a Chain.
Article mentions conflicting feelings when the new stuff is still pretty good.
It's interesting when he talks about the atmosphere at a recent live show...

"To convince yourself you’re not a bad person, you’ll find yourself scouring social media for posts supportive of your hero. Either you will recognise the total delusion in all the disbelieving apologists and set yourself on the road to ultimate recovery or, out of musical allegiance alone, start to entertain the excuses and begin to slip down the rabbit hole. Maybe he was misquoted, maybe there is a media plot against him, maybe we should burn democracy.

If you manage to survive your idol’s inevitable Twitter trending with any trace of fandom left, the denial stage will last until they release some new music. You’ll listen to it, it’ll be just as good as all the stuff you liked before, but now you’ll feel a little tainted, not least because there’ll be an undercurrent of victimhood in the lyrics of songs called ‘With Me Or Against Me’ and ‘Out Of Context Blues’. You’ll start to categorise their music into Before and After, trying to convince yourself that it’s okay to like their old albums, but their new material is no-go. You’ll try to go back and listen to their old albums, but they’ll feel tainted too. Bargaining and depression rolled into one.

Finally, crunch time. They do a gig. You go along, but the chat in the pub beforehand is all about The Conundrum, you keep your head down in case anyone from work sees you going in and the crowd feels different, divided. There’s a real us-vs-them mentality; the moshpit, now spattered with pushy, bald mod blokes in buttoned-down shirts that weren’t there before, is all the more fervid and devoted, while you and your liberal apologist mates all stand uncertainly at the side, too uncomfortable to get into it. The singer makes a flippant comment about the issue from the stage, half the crowd cheers and you leave before the end."
 
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