I posted this before on an old thread about this topic. Nothing's changed:
I remember on the day (a miserable Monday, 10th of December 1990) listening to 'Steve Wright in the afternoon' on Radio 1, and for some reason he announced that misery-guts-Morrissey was a very last minute addition to that evenings 'Tonight with Jonathan Ross' on Channel 4. Clearly, even though he hated Moz the news was big enough to warrant a mention as M. just never did that kind of thing in those days. The consensus among Steve's 'posse' was that it was a wind-up, he would never appear. Then, in the little live trail on C4 in the ads before the show, Ross was sat next to a man with a brown paper bag on his head, dropping all sorts of hints about who the 'mystery singer' was. I still thought it could be a 'hilarious' joke right up until the moment the spotlight hit him in that cross-fade close-up...
Best Morrissey television performance EVAH, bar none. It's all good; the hair (what would you even call that style ~ EpilepticQuiff ? PsychoElvis?) immaculate sideburns, CdG bomber jacket, glam silver shirt, the song, the singing, the way he places the microphone on the studio floor at the end, waves awkwardly and walks away to the screams of the crowd and Vic'n'Bob. It even shut Jonathan Ross up momentarily. At the time you truly didn't know if this would be the last time you saw Moz, such was the fragile state of his 'career' position.
I was watching and taping with my dad in the room and his only comments were 'Ha, just looks like bloody Elvis!' and 'what's with the plaster?' I still can't answer that...
All the reasons why I love Morrissey can be boiled down to the one moment in this footage at 3:13; that look in his eyes just before he shuts them tight and belts out the final flourish. Watching it back then on that magnificent Monday night I just knew that, for good or ill, I was hooked.
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