Part of Full Fathom Five
I can still remember what it felt like to hear "Panic" by the Smiths
for the first time. I was home from school, watching MuchMusic when
the video for "Panic" came on. There was this frantic opening bit and then a
voice unlike any I had ever heard. By the time the bit where
Morrissey's voice drops singing "I wonder to myyyy self..." I was
hooked. Then, out of nowhere came this line: "burn down the disco,
hang the blessed DJ. Because the music they constantly play, It says
nothing to me about my life."
That was it. Somehow it
seemed to encapsulate everything I was feeling at that time.
But before I could even recover a bizarre chant began: "Hang the
DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ!" it went over and over as a chorus of
children joined in. The only other song that had come close to
blowing me away the way "Panic" did was "A Day in The Life" by the
Beatles and even that paled in comparison. The rest of the day
I tore round the house singing "Hang the DJ" at the top of my lungs.
It's strange to say what Morrissey means to me because I've only
known his work through his records. I was 8 or 9 when the Smiths broke
up and I live in a small city where only the most mainstream of
mainstream acts is heard on the commercial radio stations.
When I discovered Morrissey it was like a breath of fresh air. I
had never heard songs with such wit, intelligence, and passion.
And the most amazing thing was that when I started listening to the
Smiths in 1994 their music still sounded light years ahead of the
then current musical crop. Sure Nirvana and Pearl Jam had the
depression bit down pat but they had no style, no wit; In
short, no Morrissey.
"I've always maintained that I'm very rarely interviewed, but persistantly cross-examined. Most pop personalities are literally so plain and dull, that anyone who appears to have a vaguely working brain comes across as conniving. Therefore I'm drilled." - Rage magazine 1991
"I don't feel anti-American, just reasonably intelligent." - Q magazine April 1994
[Do you listen to]Jungle?
"Jungle! I don't know what that is!"
It's someone shouting incomprehensibly over mechanical rhythms
"But I thought that was the Jesus and Mary Chain."- Q Magazine Sept. 1995
But you're a human being.
"You've got no evidence of that. Artists aren't really people. And I'm actually 40% papier mache." - Melody Maker 1997
"Suede tried to take my audience and they actually succeeded...but it's all right. They can have all those girls named Lisa that live in Essex and spell my name with one 's'." - POP magazine 1997
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Full Fathom Five (Mrs. Peel's Music Page).
