Johnny Rogan Dies (February 12, 2021)

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Johnny Rogan, leading music biographer, dies, aged 67 - The Irish Times

"London Irish writer was famous for his attention to detail and clash with Morrissey"

Excerpt:

"Johnny Rogan, the London Irish music writer best known for his biographies of the Byrds, Neil Young, the Smiths, Van Morrison and Ray Davies, has died at his London home. He was 67.

The author of more than 25 books on music, by far his most successful was Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance, a book about the Smiths published in 1992 five years after the band’s break-up which prompted Morrissey to say: “I hope Johnny Rogan ends his days very soon in an M3 pile-up.”"






Regards,
FWD.
 
He shouldn't worry about anything Rogan published. It's actually Simon Reynolds who accidentally caused all Morrissey's problems by setting up a binary opposition between Indie Pop (intellectual) & Black Pop (physical), that caused Frank Owen to ask that question about Indie being racist. From which all hyper-polcing flowed.

If Simon had researched a little deeper he would have found a lot of 80s black artists felt restricted by the record companies - Mariah & Whitney struggled to escape the ballads, Prince wanted to be punk-New Wave... etc.

And horribly the culture of binary oppositions ended up killing muso Mark Fisher - who ended up labelled a sexist transphobe & died by suicide.

I had my first big fight with 'progressives' (aka 'she of the vagina bread'*) because I thought it was disgusting that they mocked & denounced him when they found out he was dead.

*if you can't guess, I envy you.
 
I enjoyed some of Johnny Rogan's writing and it's sad to hear that he has passed.

When I re-read The Severed Alliance a while ago, it struck me that maybe his discussion of the financial split might have been one of the things that irked Morrissey and Johnny the most.

I think it's fair to say that Rogan did like plenty of the music, but he was also a professional writer. I've seen him discussing numerous other bands and singers on cheap rent-a-gob music shows, and his writing about The Smiths was as much work as it was pleasure.
 
He shouldn't worry about anything Rogan published. It's actually Simon Reynolds who accidentally caused all Morrissey's problems by setting up a binary opposition between Indie Pop (intellectual) & Black Pop (physical), that caused Frank Owen to ask that question about Indie being racist. From which all hyper-polcing flowed.

If Simon had researched a little deeper he would have found a lot of 80s black artists felt restricted by the record companies - Mariah & Whitney struggled to escape the ballads, Prince wanted to be punk-New Wave... etc.

And horribly the culture of binary oppositions ended up killing muso Mark Fisher - who ended up labelled a sexist transphobe & died by suicide.

I had my first big fight with 'progressives' (aka 'she of the vagina bread'*) because I thought it was disgusting that they mocked & denounced him when they found out he was dead.

*if you can't guess, I envy you.
Simon Reynolds had nothing to do with the Frank Owen piece.
Owen tried to stitch him up and failed - he tried to use his knowledge of late 70s early 80s Manchester to trap Morrissey but with no joy.
Reynolds is a massive fan and shows in his books.
The worst ever book was that by David Bret - absolute rubbish,
 
Simon Reynolds had nothing to do with the Frank Owen piece.
Owen tried to stitch him up and failed - he tried to use his knowledge of late 70s early 80s Manchester to trap Morrissey but with no joy.
Reynolds is a massive fan and shows in his books.
The worst ever book was that by David Bret - absolute rubbish,

Not directly! - but it was this bit that did Moz in:

“Pop has never been this divided,” wrote Simon Reynolds in his much-lauded, recent piece on the indie scene, referring to the chasm that now exists between indie-pop and black pop. The detestation that your average indie fan feels for black music can be gauged by the countless letters they write to the music press whenever a black act is featured on the front page.It’s a bit like the late Sixties all over again with a burgeoning Head culture insisting that theirs’ is the “real” radical music, an intelligent and subversive music that provides an alternative to the crude showbiz values of black pop.
Morrissey has further widened this divide with the recent single, Panic – where “Metal Guru” meets the most explicit denunciation yet of black pop. “Hang the DJ” urges Morrissey. So is the music of The Smiths and their ilk racist, as Green claims?

Frank ran away with it & decided Panic was part of this divide - as opposed to Moz just doing his thing. Which happens to be literary & not dancey.

I don't know exactly how the conversation went - someone will have to dig up the tape - but Morrissey isn't reported as saying anything about Panic - so I don't think he knew quite what he was being accused of & just chatters away about his likes & dislikes the way he usually does.

I've only read a bit of the Bret book - it does seem very lurid.
 
Not directly! - but it was this bit that did Moz in:


I've only read a bit of the Bret book - it does seem very lurid.
David Bret's book is just plain terrible. The guy sees Morrissey in line with the Franch chanson singers of the past and has zilch knowledge of pop/rock culture in general. It is at the very beginning of the book when he claims that Gary Numan is a member of OMD. The book is littered with mistakes like that and written in ghastly purple prose, painting a hagiographic picture of Morrissey and getting lost in Bret's thories without any new information or interesting insights. I'd even rather read a Morrissey book by Fiona Dodwell.
 
He didn’t pass in a hotel fire or a pile up on the M3 so Morrissey’s voodoo attempts failed
Same as his wearing rosary beads.
Total failing to portray himself in any way a decent person.
His soul and thoughts are horrible.
A no clothes emporer. Fake, fickle, clown.
 
Rogan was meticulously researched, but let his imagination run away with him. I recall in SA him describing an evenings television viewing by a young Morrissey, which was fine as this was before the age of video recordings or time shift tv. However he ruins it then by then telling us what he went onto to dream that night.

Shit like that is an abuse to the reader. Thankfully rare, but unforgivable all the same. A shame too, as the book was otherwise a fascinating read.

I recall that he used to flit homes every couple of months. Never staying in one place for lon.
 
There's been a posting on Central.

I'm yet again in M & S.
 
David Bret's book is just plain terrible. The guy sees Morrissey in line with the Franch chanson singers of the past and has zilch knowledge of pop/rock culture in general. It is at the very beginning of the book when he claims that Gary Numan is a member of OMD. The book is littered with mistakes like that and written in ghastly purple prose, painting a hagiographic picture of Morrissey and getting lost in Bret's thories without any new information or interesting insights. I'd even rather read a Morrissey book by Fiona Dodwell.
that last sentence just made me throw up a little bit in my mouth
 
David Bret's book is just plain terrible. The guy sees Morrissey in line with the Franch chanson singers of the past and has zilch knowledge of pop/rock culture in general. It is at the very beginning of the book when he claims that Gary Numan is a member of OMD. The book is littered with mistakes like that and written in ghastly purple prose, painting a hagiographic picture of Morrissey and getting lost in Bret's thories without any new information or interesting insights. I'd even rather read a Morrissey book by Fiona Dodwell.

I'd even rather read a Morrissey book by Fiona Dodwell.’

Thanks for planting the seed, the book is on its way !

:rock:

finally.. the TRUTH


:cool:
 
Sound, yes bit of a disappointment but half expected it, thought it may be just put back a bit.
Could have done with a Oliver Reed weekend 😉
I like a Guinness now and again have to be in the mood for it nice change though.
The Villa are on the box tomorrow so will get some auntie Stella in for that 👍
Off topic! 😂 🙄

Is Kewpie back?... 😎

*censorship trolls on a roll, eh?... Do one, 🤡 *
 

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I'm surprised to hear that he wasn't a fan after writing multiple books on the subject. Just curious what might have motivated him in that case?
cheddar, coin, bank, Benjamin's, bills, bucks, bones, brick, clams, dinero, dime, dough, greenbacks, G's, loot, moola, payola, quid, singles, smackers.....must I go on?
 
'The book clearly and comprehensively confirmed what many of us had long suspected, and which I’d heard around the gossipy fringes of the London set at the time: that Morrissey was an obsessive and abrasive character who, often giddied by money, had still to get over the wonder of himself.'

Burn!

Anyone who 😂 🙄 🤔 gazed in shock at Morrissey' s ridiculously fraught, distraught hissy fit Diva 'queen's speech' releasing 2020 with a 🎭 theatrical scolding saw that he has still to get over the car-crash of his artful dodgy curated facsimile of a life. One of the best wannabe Bowie clones of my generation but hoist by his own petard with retarded 'trolling as P. R' will be the most likely verdict of posterity. Some nifty riffs, great songs and good to iffy lyrics these past 34 years as his own karaoke 🎤 tribute act to himself as a young man. It's all good fun even if slightly sad to see an elderly man unironically fixated on a delusional quest for global stardom when everyone else sees a C List almost celebrity writhing in the pigshit of occasional tabloid notoriety. Sad.
 

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