THAT SELECT (July 2000) INTERVIEW IN FULL

How central do you consider Morrissey's frequently alluded-to homosexuality to his art?

MS: Hmm. It’s ironic: now that sexuality and gender have turned out to be as uncertain as Morrissey kept telling us they were in songs such as ‘Sheila Take a Bow’ and ‘Pretty Girls Make Graves’ (I’m not the man you think I am), everyone seems to want definite sexual categories, even from artists - who are, after all, supposed to be 'fucked up'. It’s as if after Mr Michael’s arrest in that lavatory and his transformation into a hirsute Elton John, everyone thought: right, that was fun, now Mozzer please. So, O.K., here it is: yeah, Morrissey is the biggest homo in town... but only in the sense of homosexuality as a kind of homelessness. ‘Bisexual’ might describe him if it didn’t suggest twice the opportunity instead of merely twice the frustration. One thing is certain though: he isn’t straight - his ‘outside’ desire is the basis of his work. But that doesn’t mean that he’s gay either: what’s one thing isn’t always t’other. Of course, there’s no question that Morrissey has always been interested in rough boys. But then, isn’t everyone?

Which songs from the '88-'91 period would you say proved this point?(Hairdresser On Fire? Piccadilly Palare?
If you want to play that game, just about every song Morrissey’s written could be cited as evidence of his ‘homosexuality’. But I think this is to miss the point. Morrissey’s sexuality is everyone’s sexuality; in some of its details it’s specific to him – but his alarming/hilarious experience of it is universal. Piccadilly Palare, for example, is a song about rent boys, which means I suppose it’s a song about bumming'– but it’s much more about his interest in working class boys who rebel, play truant from their dreary destiny and ‘throw life’s instructions away.’ Rather like pop stars used to do.

How does he use this material? It's clearly not for an exclusively gay audience. Could it be said he's akin to Graham Norton or Dale Winton, giving a straight audience thrills?
Morrissey’s audience is almost exclusively ‘heterosexual’, for what it's worth . Most gays have no interest in Morrissey whatsoever; their eyes glaze over at the merest mention of his name. The small number that do like him have to huddle together to avoid being crushed by stampeding disco dollies. Morrissey doesn't titillate a straight audience, I he implicates them. And while openly gay Norton and Winton come across as eunuchs; Morrissey the famous ambiguous ‘celibate’, is decidedly sexual and sexy. Mind, the most crucial difference, between Morrissey and campy comics like Norton is that Morrissey is funny.

Would you hazard a guess at the typical Morrissey fan?
Anyone who has ever felt despair.... Seriously, there is no typical Morrissey fan, just typical preconceptions about them.

What are Morrissey's crimes? (Ouija Board, Ouija Board?)
Yes, ‘Ouija Board, Ouija Board’ has been indicted in the Hague for Crimes Against Humanity. But Morrissey’s greatest crime is perverting a generation of young people into believing that pop music matters.

And what are his great achievements?

Perverting a generation of young people into believing that pop music matters.

Saint Morrissey is published by SAF, Winter 2003 details

www.marksimpson.com