Are Morrissey's lyrics "better" because he didn't attend university

Are Morrissey's lyrics "better" because he didn't attend university?

  • Yes

    Votes: 13 38.2%
  • No

    Votes: 11 32.4%
  • It's a "what if?" question I can't answer...

    Votes: 10 29.4%

  • Total voters
    34
probably, but not because of the reasons you cited (grammatical straying, spelling...all matters addressed in elementary school and more than likely intentional "mistakes"

It is well known that Morrissey isn't the best speller and the mistakes were not intentional mistakes.

In terms of a mind for Uni the only Smith that would have got anywhere near it (remember this is England, pre 1990 where only 10 percent of the population went to Uni), would have been Marr he is a lot brighter than Morrissey in an academic sense.
Marr passed the 11 plus, Morrissey failed it. Marr was considered a bright student Morrissey wasn't. Even the judge at the royalties case mentioned Marrs intelligence and he seemed to find Morrissey silly.
There are also a number of people who think Morrissey lacks intelligence.
For years it was obvious Morrissey felt this to a degree also, which is why he felt the need to try and show off in an intellectual sense and bang on about intelligence so much.
These day he is a lot more at peace with himself and is first to admit his short comings
.
Now I am not having ago at Morrissey, I think Morrissey is intelligent, just not in an academic sense.


Do I think uni would have had an adverse effect on Morrisseys writing? Yes. Morrissey is who he is because he could never fit into that system. If he would have gotten into uni he would have dropped out.
If Morrissey was the type would could have completed uni..he would be a different person thus his writing would be different
 
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Did you really learn grammar in university? Personally, I learned it from kindergarten to Grade 13. And, sadly, I met people in university who were just as proud to be illiterate and not to have read a book they did not have to read as I met in elementary and high school. It's depressing when you want to talk economics with an Economics major and you discover he knows NOTHING about Marx or Luxemburg. :(

And as to coming from a working-class background, so did I. That's why I went to libraries a lot. Cheap access to knowledge. :)

Well said.
 
Yes, how can anyone possible say Morrissey could have improved his songs.
How stupid. I say they should become Muse fans.

To add to my list of none uni attendees
Bob Dylan
Mary Angelo
Albert Einstein
Robert Browning

and as I posted above I'm correct about Everyday been correct so there is no discussion about lack of education. I find it insulting as I know people who did indeed get their degrees and I'm afraid leave alot to be desired. for example, you can get a poor doctor, lawyer, teacher.......
Give me a self educated person anyday. I can't abide snobs.

Well, I'd say you have a fairly snobbish attitude yourself, with your impassioned and rather defensive belief that self-educated equals better.

The whole juxtaposition is just silly. Someone with the intellectual aptitude to educate him- or herself would in my opinion rather obviously probably benefit from spending years reading and discussing full-time in the company of other people similarly engaged and under the tutelage of people who make a living doing so. And someone who lacks the backbone to develop an independent intellectual character in the face of the university experience seems to me unlikely to be able to shape themselves if they just stayed at home reading. In the end, your intellectual development is up to you - whether you go to a university or not. But it's more than a little arrogant and ignorant to assume that no one at a university has anything of value to give you that you can't just as well give yourself. You don't know it all.

Morrissey of course thrives on being Morrissey. I don't really see the upside of adding a university education - but the situation is different from almost anybody else.
 
No, I never "learned" grammar at all except when I studied a 2nd language. I don't doubt there are many people who sail through university with terrible spelling and writing ability but nonetheless with all of the essays and theses those skills are put through their paces/under a microscope at a higher level. I just have a gut feeling Morrissey would've lost his unfettered lyrical sense, though he may have gone on to write great novels. On the flip side, some people (I'm not one of them) think that when Morrissey tries to talk politics or other "serious" issues that he betrays his lack of formal education.

If it wasn't clear before, I think whether someone goes to uni or not has little to do with being "educated". Morrissey is a hero of mine because he's very lucid in an often insane world. He's a true poet.

Did you really learn grammar in university? Personally, I learned it from kindergarten to Grade 13. And, sadly, I met people in university who were just as proud to be illiterate and not to have read a book they did not have to read as I met in elementary and high school. It's depressing when you want to talk economics with an Economics major and you discover he knows NOTHING about Marx or Luxemburg. :(

And as to coming from a working-class background, so did I. That's why I went to libraries a lot. Cheap access to knowledge. :)
 
Morrissey became a legend without Uni. Thank god there are people like him in this world....
 
University would not have detracted from Morrissey's skill as a songwriter. If anything, it may have expanded upon it. He has often stated that he can't listen to Smiths recordings nowadays because of the sense of longing he can hear in his voice. The desperation. Maybe Morrissey would have felt more comfortable around like-minded (to a certain degree) people? Either way, he is how he is. University is a lot different these days. Now people pay they have to be serious.
Watch me storm the media.
 
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