It's no secret to anyone who follows my @shoveitjack Twitter account that I am a huge fan of The Smiths. They are on my Mt. Rushmore of 80s music. (In case you were wondering, The Cure, Depeche Mode Joy Division/New Order, and Echo & The Bunnymen are the other ones. Yes, I have five on my Mt. Rushmore, not four. Because it's my Mt. Rushmore, LOL.)
While Johnny Marr of the Smiths is a pretty committed liberal, Steven Patrick Morrissey (a.k.a., Morrissey, or just 'Moz') is a little more difficult to pigeonhole. In The Smiths heyday, he had no love for Margaret Thatcher or the conservatives, though I think he hated the monarchy more than either side of the political aisle. As he wrote in his 2004 solo song, Irish Blood, English Heart, 'I've been dreaming of a time when / The English are sick to death of labor and Tories / And spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell / And denounce this royal line / That still salute him.'
More recently, however, the left has tried to cancel Morrissey because of his criticisms of leftism in Great Britain and worldwide. He has criticized #MeToo, he has defended Tommy Robinson, he has railed against London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and most notably has defended British nationalism.
But most people miss the point about Moz. He was never really left-wing, just as he is not right-wing now. Morrissey has always been a misanthrope and an iconoclast, but most importantly, he has always been anti-authoritarian (right down to the teachers he lays waste to in The Smiths song, The Headmaster Ritual). In the 80s, that meant Thatcher. Today, it means that his biggest enemies are on the left ... because they are the ones who are abusing authority in the 21st century.
Morrissey's most recent attack on the powers that be came at his concert at The House of Blues in Las Vegas on Friday night. Take a look:
Recommended
Wow. British pop star Morrissey targets Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates and Fauci in a new Las Vegas performance. The song is called “This World is Full of Crashing Bores” 🤣
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 28, 2024
pic.twitter.com/5GBMpk6riq
(OK, before I get started, never, ever call Morrissey a pop star. He is not that. If you listen to the lyrics of this song, it is an attack on pop stars, not to mention other authority figures.)
But I love that Moz showed pictures of three of the most unaccountable authoritarians in the world while performing this song: Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, and little Tony Fauci.
Let's take a look at a portion of the lyrics he was singing while highlighting these three evil men:
This world is full, oh,
So full of crashing bores.
And I must be one,
'Cause no one ever turns to me to say,
'Take me in your arms
Take me in your arms
and love me.'
You must be wondering how
The boy next door turned out.
Have a care and say a prayer,
Because he's still there,
Lamenting policewomen, policemen,
Silly women, taxmen, uniformed whores.
Educated criminals work within the law.
'Educated criminals work within the law.'
I don't think everything Schwab, Gates, and Fauci have done or are doing is technically 'within the law,' but it is legal enough for them to get away with it (so far). Later in the song, Morrissey laments, 'More lock-jawed pop-stars / Thicker than pig-sh*t / Nothing to convey / So scared to show intelligence / It might smear their lovely career.'
Watching the images of those men behind him as Morrissey sang these lyrics was intensely satisfying.
At its heart, like so many Morrissey songs, even the ones with a political bent, the song The World Is Full of Crashing Bores is a torch song. But Moz is such a talented songwriter, he can convey that message while also decrying that we are ruled by idiot tyrants.
I thought it impossible to love Morrissey more than I already do.
— Dragongirls22 (@Dragongirls22) July 28, 2024
“Take me in your arms and looooooove me!”
#Morrissey is not wrong 🥴 https://t.co/3kzpWZQ7Lo
— JunebugSun Ⓜ️ (@JunebugSunMusic) July 28, 2024
A reminder on why I am a Morrissey fan https://t.co/J413fUWNOD
— vondora jordan (@vondora) July 28, 2024
Exactly.
We've seen so many musicians kowtow to the establishment, it can get demoralizing for those of us who love music. Rage Against the Machine is now Rage for The Machine. The Foo Fighters, of all people, required people to be vaxxed and masked to attend any of their shows during COVID. The band Mumford & Sons actually tried to kick out a band member, Winston Marshall, for tweeting that journalist Andy Ngo was courageous in writing his book criticizing the far left, including Antifa (Marshall ended up leaving the band of his own accord).
Green Day ... well, Green Day was always establishment and never a punk band. Screw them.
But Morrissey does not compromise his beliefs. He was anti-authoritarian in the '80s, he is anti-authoritarian now. He was a nationalist in the '80s, he is a nationalist now.
The left has called him a racist for that (surprise, surprise) since he warned about the immigration explosion in Great Britain nearly 20 years ago. Still think he's wrong in 2024, Londoners?
Morrissey is a nationalist yes, but he is not a racist. He has often toured with a completely Latino band. And just go to Southern California or Mexico and try telling them that Moz is a racist. They will laugh at you. He loves Latinos and Latinos really love him. Even in the Muslim world, the United Arab Emirates had an exhibit in 2019 called 'To Morrissey, With Love.'
Racism has always been an easy accusation for the left to mindlessly fling at anyone who strays even a little bit, and Moz is no exception.
What he showed everyone in Las Vegas on Friday was that it was not about racism, it was about condemning leaders who are answerable to no one and who are destroying Western societies through their unaccountable influence.
What a LEGEND!!! https://t.co/CnZlrredUP
— Baste Records (@basterecords) July 28, 2024
That he is. And for good reason.
To all you boring elitist wankers that think the Paris "last supper" display was edgy or relevant, this is the way. https://t.co/Wy6KrwCuiB
— justburt (@anonymou5e_1) July 28, 2024
This what it will take. Fact, some people are incapable of thinking for themselves.
— Banana Republic 𝔹ℝ 🇺🇸 (@8ananaRepublic) July 28, 2024
There are a lot of people out there that rely on movie stars and musicians to tell them what they should think or believe. https://t.co/a43wYkhaVU
It's an important point to make as we enter the final stretch of the 2024 election season in America.
Who knew -- when I listened to The Smiths on my skateboard in the 80s, that Morrissey would steer his politics my way decades later. We have seen enough, have we not?
— I'm an O'Biden-Bama ..you know the thing, Fat. (@paddyknuckles) July 28, 2024
But that's the misconception. Morrissey has not 'steered' his politics, at least not severely. He didn't abandon the left, the left abandoned him. And we're seeing a lot of others like Morrissey these days who feel the same way.
Morrissey and Johnny Rotten...who woulda thought?
— ceee_deee _beee (@Ceee_Deee_Beee) July 28, 2024
John Lydon was always probably more conservative than Morrissey, even today, but he is another one who has called out the left for bending the knee to authority.
It's one of the best quotes from a musician ever.
BASED Morrissey
— Theybie (@Theybie1) July 28, 2024
Morrissey was red pilled? Wow!!
— Frank Gastlione (@gastlione) July 28, 2024
Based? Yes. Red-pilled? No. Don't make that mistake.
As I said, he has always been this way when it comes to authority. If conservatives abuse power, he'll call them out too.
I titled this article 'Bad People On the Rise.' That is the opening lyric from Morrissey's 2004 song, 'Interesting Drug.' They made a music video based on that song where someone writes on a chalkboard 'Bad people on the right.' The left seized on that video, but Morrissey never wrote that lyric, nor made the video. The bad people on the rise to whom he refers are those who are 'saving their own skins by ruining people's lives.' The 'interesting drug' those bad people took is called 'money.' The song also criticized 'government schemes designed to kill your dreams'
Can you think of a better way to describe Kalus Schwab, Bill Gates, and Tony Fauci? I can't.
I always liked that bloke pic.twitter.com/1p4gC3GBCm
— MBrant75 (@MBrant75) July 28, 2024
Me too.
In fact, I think I'll go listen to some Morrissey songs now.
(Just don't tell him I had a cheeseburger for dinner.)
