Which has been the best decade for Morrissey songs?

[Happy Maudlin]

I chose the eighties. But I feel that Morrissey did put out very strong material in the 1990s onwards. I personally feel that "You are the Quarry" and 'Vauxhall' could easily rival with the material in the 1980's (p.s. his solo material in the eighties). Even Ringleader was exceptional.

 

[DAVIE]

The Smiths beat Morrissey because Johnny Marr rocks and Morrissey is younger!

 

[Billtwasreallynowt]

Seriously people....get over YATQ already.

Let Me Kiss You is a fine fine record, amongst his best, but much of the rest is pantish. It doesn't compare lyrically or musically to Morrissey 90s or Morrissey 80s.

 

[Saxy]

Seriously people....get over YATQ already.

Let Me Kiss You is a fine fine record, amongst his best, but much of the rest is pantish. It doesn't compare lyrically or musically to Morrissey 90s or Morrissey 80s.

A lot of people (possibly not members of this forum) would disagree with you. A friend of mine recently suggested that YATQ was better than any album the Smiths had produced, and my first instinct was to disagree. But it's hard to escape from the fact that YATQ moves me more than pretty much anything I have ever listened to, even if it doesn't contain the musical flair of The Smiths. Maybe it is as ridiculous to compare them as it is to compare, say, The Beatles with The Sex Pistols. It's a different type of music that appeals to a different generation.

 

[Anaesthesine]

Early this morning I was talking to a business associate at a market. I've known him for 15 years, and I can count on one hand the number of conversations we've had. He's older than I am, and is a lifelong music fanatic who survived the New York club scene in the '70s (As a matter of fact, he hung out with the New York Dolls). This guy's heard it all.

Anyway, he walked up to me singing this morning, and mentioned that he's been listening to The Smiths lately. "F**k," he said "I'd forgotten how great they were. I'll never forget the first time I heard them, I thought 'there's no way I'm hearing this, there's no way that something this beautiful can exist in this filthy, rotten world.'" He then went on to quote some of his favorite lines, and talk about how Morrissey was the greatest lyricist on the planet, how Moz and J. Marr were magical and how, even though he continued to listen to Morrissey after The Smiths broke up it was never quite the same. There were almost tears in his eyes.

It reminded me of how incandescent The Smiths seemed, of how that first listen was such a punch in the gut, because no one had heard anything like it before. It reminded me of how Morrissey just seemed to spring, fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus.

I have to agree with my old acquaintance: despite the brilliance of his solo stuff, Morrissey and Marr were just that much better. There was a creative bond between them that produced the kind of music that only happens a few times in a generation.

Many of those who think Morrissey's best decade was the eighties with the Smiths, think so because it's just a habit. I'm not so fond of the Smiths even though I own every record they made. But I'm a huge fan of Morrissey solo work, that really, really changed my life. Please, try to be more objective, and you'll find that even the last records are GREAT records. I love them all in different ways, actually, maybe not just Kill Uncle, that I really consider having great songs but badly produced. There are many songs by The Smiths I really can't stand listening to or don't manage to rate well. Just my opinion.