Morrissey / Smiths in the media

http://www.music-news.com/showreview.asp?H=Dream-Academy&nReviewID=10500

Formed in Southgate in the early eighties, the band were Nick Laird-Clowes, Kate St.John and Gilbert Gabriel - and even from the names you can tell this was a band from the arty side of town. That manifests itself across the 24 tracks here, that include five previously unreleased recordings and one new song. Apart from the obvious [Life In A Northern Town], other tracks that might be familiar to eighties enthusiasts are The Edge of Forever and a delicate cover of The Smiths' Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want as both featured in the classic move Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
 
http://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/melted_toys_melted_toys/

The first song post-intro on Melted Toys' self-titled debut album, "Bummed Out," has a good chunk of instrumental which can pretty much be considered a peppy cover of The Smiths' "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before." This marks two things for the San Francisco-sprung group, which is following up its trio-led 2011 Washed and Dried EP with the now-foursome-run Melted Toys: one, it is a derivative band; two, it sounds close to a happy version of The Smiths. Psychedelic pop is the label the foursome is most tagged with, which would never be used in the context of The Smiths, and that is largely what distinguishes this band from that one...

Although half of Melted Toys was written in Taipei, Taiwan during principal songwriter Harkins' time there, California sunshine and positivity pervade on the album—a huge contrast to The Smiths' cloudy and dreary Northern England, but still a large influence on Melted Toys.
 
http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=199669

A Toronto chamber pop ensemble is cleaning out the closet’s music section.

On Sunday, the 12-piece Queer Songbook Orchestra will perform pop classics in the vein of the Great American Songbook with a focus on the material’s queer backstories.

The tunes fall into two categories: those written by closeted writers and songs with particular significance to closeted queers. QSO bandleader Shaun Brodie’s ultimate goal is to amass a library of music that has shaped LGBT experiences, both communal and personal.

The group’s inaugural performance was at Kensington Market gallery Videofag in March and featured new arrangements of Joe Meek’s Telstar, Cole Porter’s Love For Sale and Stevie Wonder’s Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer. The upcoming performance will mix songs from the first show with new additions including the Smiths’ Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want and...
 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...antasies-assassinating-Margaret-Thatcher.html

Author Hilary Mantel unrepentant as backlash grows over her fantasies about assassinating Margaret Thatcher

•Dame Hilary Mantel said Margaret Thatcher would have approved the piece
•She refused to apologise for the story which has provoked fury across the political spectrum
•The story depicts an affluent woman allowing an IRA killer into her flat, so he can shoot the Prime Minister from a window when she leaves hospital

Tim Bell, Baroness Thatcher’s friend and former adviser, told the Sunday Times: ‘If somebody admits they want to assassinate somebody, surely the police should investigate. This is in unquestionably bad taste.

Smiths singer Morrissey was quizzed by Scotland Yard over his 1980s song Margaret [sic], which described the leader’s death as a ‘wonderful dream’.
 
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2014/10/six_reasons_why_bands_break_up.php

4. Someone "Goes Solo"

Of course, this usually involves the aforementioned "creative differences." At some point, one of the band members, usually the least talented, becomes too aware of his unbridled genius and decides collaboration is for the birds. Without former bandmates around to dry up the wettest part of this sonic garbage, the solo artist is finally free to deliver divine rites unto the masses.

In some rare cases, the solo artist will actually squeeze out passable songs, but this serves only to feed an unabated arrogance, which typically leads to tyrannical treatment of his family, friends and fanbase (see also: Morrissey).
 
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