Morrissey appeared this week on The Late, Late Show With James Corden, giving a bravura, if clap-happy, performance of his new single, a cover version of ‘Back On The Chain Gang’. Originally released in 1982 by The Pretenders, written and… Read More »Back On The Chain Gang
I wrote an essay for Rolling Stone celebrating the 30th anniversary of the demise of The Smiths, explaining why we’re really lucky that they split in 1987 There’s nothing quite like realizing that it’s three entire decades since the most perfectly beautiful,… Read More »The Smiths Are Dead – Long Live The Smiths!
‘Has any book in recent memory not actually about wizards provoked so much interest?’ Mark Simpson on the most eagerly-anticipated music biography ever. C4 News, 14 October, 2013 MORRISSEY HAS ALWAYS enjoyed the last laugh. His entire career has been based… Read More »Will Morrissey Have The Last Laugh – Again?
Morrissey is always going to disappoint those who want him to be some kind of ‘singing Stephen Fry with a quiff’, argues Mark Simpson Originally appeared on The Spectator Arts Blog Because the 80s is the decade that actually ended the 20th… Read More »Morrissey Hasn’t Changed – We Have
I shall never be able to play The Smiths again without thinking of Prime Minster David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague sharing a hotel room – and Cameron complaining about Hague’s disappointing endowment.