Icon: Morrissey

Almost exactly one year ago I ventured to a thrift shop in the rain. There I found a goldmine of cassettes. There were alot of names that I'd heard but never listened to and a song here or there that I knew. With a 50c price tag I took home an arm full of the outdated musical format. The Cure "Standing on a Beach", Echo and the Bunneymen, U2 "Achtung Baby"among others came home with me. Today I write about the magic of my Smiths tape. It is a mix tape with a hand written sleeve. "Meat is Murder" is the album. Morrissey's lyrics span serious and ordinary topics and with a sense of humor here and there. I am partial to his despairingly romantic tales and songs where he mentions England. I was enchanted by Morrissey's warm, romanitc tone and music that can be discribed as atmospheric with great bass lines with at times rather delicate guitars. Elsewhere the guitars are intense. An entire year later I've returned to this tape to fall into surreal magic of autumn.

I was rummaging through Hot Topic yesterday and I found a fanstasic book that chronicled the Smiths in photographs. It reminded me of a Smiths concert on TV last spring. I noted the simplicity of Morrissey's look: jeans, a (half buttoned) button up shirt, great hair and that romantic element of a slew of beaded neclaces with a bouquet of flowers in hand. The whole group kept it simple because of the over the top theme of the 80s, but to me it speaks volumes. They knew that they had something more to say than a pop star who looked like a highlighter pen. It is a timeless image of some one who's full of ideas. That simple look most certainly suits the man who bellowed "I am the sun and the air/of a shyness that is crimanally vulgar" and I will be inspired by it til death.

How Soon Is Now

What She Said

I Don't Owe You Anything

Nowhere Fast

Well I Wonder