viva hate

Steven Patrick Morrissey bounced back from the breakup of the Smiths in only six months with the somber janglepop of his Smithsonian solo album.   The end of the band had occurred during the production of their final album, 'Strangeways, Here We Come'.   Morrissey reflects on his former band:    "The Smiths were almost like a painting - every month you'd add a little bit here and a little bit there... but it wasn't quite complete and it was whipped away. And I find it quite hard to adapt to that. Those people who patted me on the back and said, 'Oh! Smiths split! Very clever, very wise, very cunning'... I hadn't a clue what they were talking about...Even people who enjoyed the music thought the split was very timely; it's a very popular attitude that the split occurred at the right time. I get quite violent when people say that to me...Within The Smiths, the reason it worked so well was that everybody knew their place and their capabilities and each other's position.  It was such a tight unit, and nobody it seemed could penetrate The Smiths' little secret private world. On the occasion that somebody did break through the mould everything fell in 25 different directions ... 
It's quite different for me now - and this might sound absurd - but there really isn't anything to judge it against. Times are very different and my life has moved on, since The Smiths, in very specific ways, and 'Viva Hate' is in no way the follow-up to 'Strangeways'. So in a sense I do feel that it is the first record...Certainly in a personal way, it's entirely changed. All the people that surrounded me 12 months ago have entirely changed, whether it's the group, the people around The Smiths, or Rough Trade. Practically everybody that surrounds me now wasn't there a year ago. And, yes, I'm very pleased with what I find."

Originally, the album was going to be called 'Education in Reverse'.  The sessions included:  Morrissey as vocalist, lyricist, and sleeve artist; Stephen Street as bassist, guitarist, songwriter, and producer; Vini Reilly as guitarist, keyboardist, and songwriter; Andrew Paresi as drummer; Alan Winstanley as producer; with Richard Koster and Fenella Barton on violin; Rachel Maguire, Mark Davies, Robert Woolhard on cello; and John Metcalf on viola.  Morrissey considers:   "Working with Stephen as a producer is quite different from writing with him, and even his personality has changed dramatically, within this sphere; he's more relaxed, and more exciting...Johnny was very hard, as a musician: he played in a very interesting, aggressive way. Stephen does not. but the gentle side of Stephen is something I find totally precious."

'Viva Hate' went to number seventy-three in Australia, forty-eight in the US, thirty-two in Canada, twenty-seven in Sweden, Twenty in Norway, and number one in the UK.  Morrissey explains the title:    "Like many other titles, it simply suggested itself and had to be. It was absolutely how I felt post-Smiths and the way I continue to feel. That's just the way the world is. I find hate omnipresent, and love very difficult to find. Hate makes the world go round...I do find people quite hateful, naturally. I think people feel hate very easily, and they need it in their lives, they need to distrust and to criticise...Well, it's just there really. But then I always thought the human race was very very over-rated - by rock critics generally."







http://uk.mporium.org/


http://www.morrissey-solo.com/


http://true-to-you.net/




"Suedehead" was a revelation when it was released in February of 1988.  Morrissey claims that it has nothing to do with the novel of the same name:  "I did happen to read the book when it came out and I was quite interested in the whole Richard Allen cult. But really I just like the word 'suedehead'."  It went to number forty-five in Australia, thirty in the Netherlands, eight in New Zealand, five in the UK, and number two in Ireland.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bOlSReSPwM


Why do you come here ?
And why do you hang around ?
I'm so sorry
I'm so sorry
Why do you come here
When you know it makes things hard for me ?
When you know, oh
Why do you come ?
Why do you telephone ? (Hmm...)
And why send me silly notes ?
I'm so sorry
I'm so sorry
Why do you come here
When you know it makes things hard for me ?
When you know, oh
Why do you come ?
You had to sneak into my room
'just' to read my diary
"It was just to see, just to see"
(All the things you knew I'd written about you...)
Oh, so many illustrations
Oh, but
I'm so very sickened
Oh, I am so sickened now
Oh, it was a good lay, good lay
It was a good lay, good lay
It was a good lay, good lay
Oh
It was a good lay, good lay
It was a good lay, good lay
Oh, it was a good lay, good lay
Oh
Oh, it was a good lay
It was a good lay
Oh, a good lay
Oh, it was a good lay
Good lay, good lay
Oh
It was a good lay


Morrissey Suedehead (live on Later with Jools... by HansonReagan




"Everyday Is Like Sunday" went to number nine in the UK and three in Ireland.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmPKVvxFb1c


Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon - come Armageddon!
Come, Armageddon! come!
Everyday is like sunday
Everyday is silent and grey
Hide on the promenade
Etch a postcard :
How I dearly wish I was not here
In the seaside town
...that they forgot to bomb
Come, come, come - nuclear bomb
Everyday is like sunday
Everyday is silent and grey
Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
(and on your face...)
(on your face...)
(on your face...)
(on your face...)
Everyday is like sunday
Win yourself a cheap tray
Share some greased tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey





"Hairdresser on Fire" was the b-side of the 'Suedehead' single and was included on US versions of the album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwtIJOLCwAM





"Late Night, Maudlin Street"





"The Ordinary Boys"              

'Viva Hate' 
part one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLTdPIARrrI


1 alsatian cousin 0:00
2 angel,angel,down we go together 3:12
3 bengali in platforms 4:52
4 break up the family 8:50
5 little man,what now 12:45



'Viva Hate' 
part two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQEQVg9GBRw


6 dial a cliché 0:00
7 everyday is like sunday 2:33
8 i don't mind if you forget me 6:07
9 margaret on the guillotine 9:25




'Viva Hate' 
full album:




1. Alsatian Cousin 00:00 
2. Little Man, What Now? 3:13 
3. Everyday Is Like Sunday 5:00 
4. Bengali In Platforms 8:36 
5. Angel, Angel We Go Together 12:32 
6. Late Night, Maudlin Street 14:10 
7. Suedehead 21:54 
8. Break Up The Family 25:45 
9. Hairdresser On Fire 29:40 
10. The Ordinary Boys 33:31 
11. I Don't Mind If You Forget Me 36:42 
12. Dial-a-Cliché 39:56 
13. Margaret On The Guillotine 42:24

your arsenal

Morrissey revitalized himself while courting controversy with the caustic and clever social commentary of this glammed out rockabilly tour de force. In the months before recording 'Your Arsenal', he began rehearsing and writing songs with a new band. When it came time to go into the studio, he brought in glam rock guitar virtuoso Mick Ronson to produce. Morrissey says: "I chose him because he's a very strong musician, and I wanted to make a record which had a real sense of physicality and body to it." He adds: "I’ve always appreciated Ronson. He’s a very refined musician who was immensely huge in England in the early seventies when he played with David Bowie’s Spiders From Mars and who also made two partly brilliant solo records. He was very pleasant to work with. Which you can hear on the record, if I may say so. Mick is actually one of the nicest people I’ve ever met."

The result is one of the most consistent and confident records of his career. Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer create a twin guitar onslaught; with Gary Day on bass; and Spencer Cobrin on drums. Morrissey handles all of the vocals: "I didn't want to use a lyric sheet. I wanted to make as physical a record as I possibly could instead of constantly being curled up in a little ball at the foot of the bed." Most of the songs were co-written with Whyte.

The reference to the extremist National Front led to accusations of racism. Morrissey says: "I can't prevent people from raving. Since, in life, the great majority of people only believe their views don't matter much. I can't, all the same, go and talk face to face with every single person who'd decide to think certain things wrong or false about me. For instance, I don't make heavy metal and there will never be any ambiguity. In searching in every direction nobody would find any clue which could prove that heavy metal isn't reactionary, a simplistic music for morons. My case is different. It seems to me, whatever people think of me, that it's clear I'm not the last of the idiots, I'm a being endowed with a certain intelligence. And I defy any objective person to find in my lyrics or in my past the least indication in which I wish to harm any fellow being. I don't want to and I'd be truly incapable of it. What more can I say?"'Your Arsenal' went to number forty-two in Sweden, twenty-nine in Canada, twenty-one in the US, twelve in Australia, and number four in the UK. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.








http://www.morrissey-solo.com/


@Morrissey








'You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side' was co-written by Morrissey and Mark E. Nevin. 

Someone kindly told me 

That you'd wasted 

Eight of nine lives

Oh, give yourself a break 

Before you break down 

You're gonna need someone on your side 

'Glamorous Glue' features the line "we look to Los Angeles for the language we use, London is dead." Morrissey says: "What I mean by this is all television and radio broadcasters now speak with American accents. The English news is very interesting because it's totally focused on America. Everything that happens in America is constantly reported on the English news while in America, England is never referred to and British politics are completely meaningless. I mean the country could completely explode and disappear into outer space and America would not mention that on the daily news. That's a big failing in American culture, it's entirely self-obsessed. If it finally did realize that other countries do actually exist, this country might be a nicer place. British broadcasting is obsessed with L.A. and it's really upsetting and I think it's sad as well."







'We'll Let You Know' gives the album its title and gives voice to football hooliganism. Morrissey says: "I understand the level of patriotism, the level of frustration and the level of jubilance. I understand the overall character. I understand their aggression and I understand why it must be released...I'm not a football hooligan...but I understand the character. I just do. I've got a computer at home for such things...I can't fully explain. When I see reports on the television about hooliganism in Sweden or Denmark on somewhere, I'm actually amused. Is that a horrible thing to say? ... As long as people don't die, I am amused."

We're all smiles 

Then, honest, I swear, it's the turnstiles 

That make us hostile 

Oh

We will descend 

On anyone unable to defend 

Themselves 

Oh

'The National Front Disco' addresses the growing racial unrest in Britain. Moz says: "Well I like to feel, in some small way, that I'm not actually restricted in anything I wish to write about. Of course, within the exciting world of pop music, the reality is that we are restricted. Whether you chose to write about wheelchair-bound people, November Spawned A Monster, or the subject of racism, The National Front Disco, the context of the song is often overlooked. People look at the title and shudder and say, Whatever is in that song shouldn't exist because the subject, to millions of people, is so awful...I don't want to sound horrible or pessimistic but I don't really think, for instance, black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other. I don't really think they ever will. The French will never like the English. The English will never like the French. That tunnel will collapse."

David, the wind blows 

The wind blows

Bits of your life away 

Your friends all say

"Where is our boy? Oh, we've lost our boy" 

But they should know 

Where you've gone 

Because again and again you've explained that 

You're going to

Oh, you're going to

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah 

England for the English! 

'Certain People I Know' charted at thirty-five in the UK.

I'd hate to be like 

Certain people I know 

They break their necks 

And can't afford to

Get them fixed 

Ah, they'd sacrifice all 

Of their principles for 

Anything cashable 

I do believe it's terrible 

'We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful' was the first single. It went to fifty-five in Australia, seventeen in the UK, nine in Ireland, and peaked at number two on the US modern rock tracks chart.

We hate it when our friends become successful 

Oh, look at those clothes 

Now look at that face, it's so old 

And such a video ! 

Well, it's really laughable 

Ha, ha, ha

'You're the One for Me, Fatty' went to eighty-five in Australia, nineteen in the UK, and sixteen in Ireland.

You're the One for me, fatty 

You're the One I really, really love 

And I will stay 

Promise you'll say 

If I'm ever in your way

A-hey 

'I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday' was another composition by Morrissey and Nevin.  It was later covered by David Bowie.  

You say that the day just never arrives 

And it's never seemed so far away 

Still, I know it's gonna happen someday 

To you 

Please wait

Don't lose faith

'Tomorrow' went to number one on the US modern rock tracks chart.

Tomorrow 

Will it really come? 

And if it does come 

Will I still be human? 

All I ask of you is one thing that you never do 

Would you put your arms around me? 

I won't tell anyone

'Your Arsenal'
full album:

All lyrics written by Morrissey; all music composed by Alain Whyte, except as noted.

1. "You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side" Mark E. Nevin 3:38
2. "Glamorous Glue" 4:01
3. "We'll Let You Know" 5:17
4. "The National Front Disco" 4:23
5. "Certain People I Know" 3:11
6. "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" 2:29
7. "You're the One for Me, Fatty" 2:58
8. "Seasick, Yet Still Docked" 5:07
9. "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday" Nevin 4:20
10. "Tomorrow" 4:05