Morrissey In Conversation

Morrissey In Conversation
The Essential Interviews
Edited by Paul A. Woods
"Morrissey: In Conversation arrives to remind us of his past 25 years in the hands of the press, compiling 27 magazine interviews from The Smiths’ first footings in 1983 up to recent encounters in his newly adopted hometown in Rome in 2006. It’s proof, lest we forget, that in terms of great copy Morrissey has rarely been anything other than interview gold." - Q
“A man whom Will Self describes in this hugely enjoyable collection as always turning phrases like rotating signs outside petrol stations… This anthology travels through the whole of his career, beginning with a Star Hits Q&A (“I can get incredibly erotic about blotting paper”) and ending with a typically verbose encounter with Paul Morley in 2006 (“it’s too late to change now”)… never anything less than moreish… this book reminds us why he’s still someone to savour.” – The Word
As an interview subject, Steven Patrick Morrissey has made barbed observations about modern culture for more than two decades. As renowned for his elegantly waspish interviews as for his celebrated song lyrics, his wit and vitriol are finally brought together in a long overdue collection of interviews.
Chronologically touching all the major points of his career, Morrissey In Conversation: The Essential Interviews comprises the most famous statements of Britain’s unlikeliest (and greatest) modern rock ’n’ roll star. Collating classic music press and glossy magazine articles, Morrissey In Conversation tells the definitive story of how he bewitched the 1980s, piqued the 1990s, and inimitably returned in the new millennium.
The resurgence of Morrissey has demonstrated how transient fashion can never truly eclipse a great maverick. All is contained within these pages: the mould-breaking days of the Smiths; the early solo triumphs; the hurtful ostracism by the music press that once lionised him; his return after years in the commercial wilderness.
Morrissey In Conversation recounts the many facets of his unique career, including the way in which the Smiths single-handedly created 1980s indie rock and deftly recycled their 1960s influences, how a celibate introvert became the poet laureate of the lonely, Morrissey’s lifelong obsessions – from 1960s girl singers to the war against animal cruelty, his literary sensibility – from Oscar Wilde to Emlyn Williams, the break-up of the Smiths, Morrissey’s ostracism by the UK music press amid accusations of racism, his relocation to the US and ultimately triumphant return to prominence as the godfather of UK indie rock.
Included in Morrissey In Conversation: Neil McCormick on Morrissey’s depressive reputation and Catholic upbringing; Biba Kopf on the working-class origins of the Morrissey/Johnny Marr partnership; Simon Garfield on the young Morrissey’s contempt for the Royal Family; Max Bell on the influence of early 1970s glam rock; Mat Snow on the early solo recordings; Steven Daly on Morrissey’s changing pop-cultural status in the early 1990s; Stuart Maconie on his rockabilly-fuelled renaissance; Andrew Harrison on the macho ’90s Morrissey, and accusations of racism; Will Self on Morrissey’s self-constructed persona and love of soap opera; Lynn Barber on the ex-Smiths’ court battle, and exile in Los Angeles; Keith Cameron on Morrissey’s Irish blood/English heart, and return to recording; Andrew Male on his newfound worldliness and joie de vivre. And Paul Morley – as Grand Inquisitor to Morrissey’s reluctant interrogatee. All bear witness to this most singular talent, the modern pop song’s chronicler of loneliness, perversity and an English working-class sensibility, now lost.
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