Morrissey autobiography newsletters

Alternative rock in the 1980s was defined by a handful of great bands, all moody collectives who took the negative energy of punk and fashioned a freshly beautiful noise. While U2 were busy conquering the world, R.E.M.

This Not-So-Charming Man: GQ Reviews the Morrissey Autobiography

led the alt-rock surge in the U.S. But in Britain, The Smiths ruled, all too briefly, from 1982 to their breakup in 1987. At their height, they were nearly the alt-Beatles, and by the time they split, they were a cult passion everywhere.

In the course of four brilliant albums, the quartet voiced the disillusion and lovelorn confusion of Britain's youth.

More precisely, lead singer Morrissey voiced it in a mournful, angelic baritone that often rose to a ghostly falsetto, and with lyrics that seemed to take all the blame while stewing a bleak poetry of loss and no expectation ("Oh mother, I can feel, the soil falling over my head…").

Morrissey and his songwriting partner, a guitar genius named Johnny Marr, were Morrissey’s ‘Autobiography’ - The New York Times XUKU