The iconic lyrics of Morrissey still resonate as strongly with many people as they did when The Smiths burst onto the scene in the 1980s.
Despite the group’s break up in 1987 the quiffed singer has forged a solo career and made a name for himself with his penchant for outlandish and sometimes controversial comments.
Morrissey won a public apology from the NME over an interview it published in 2007 which suggested he was racist but the singer still shows no signs of keeping his opinions to himself.
With the publication of his 547-page autobiography last month MM decided to take a look at his top five outlandish outbursts.
5. Hatful Hollow
After band mate and legendary guitarist Johnny Marr forbade Prime Minister David Cameron from liking The Smiths in 2010, Morrissey waded into the debate.
He published an online 1,224 word essay against the Prime Minister and his support of foxhunting.
He wrote: “However, with fitting grimness I must report that David Cameron hunts and shoots and kills stags – apparently for pleasure.
“It was not for such people that either Meat is Murder or The Queen is Dead were recorded; in fact they were made as a reaction against such violence.”
The animal rights activist has made a number of comments relating animal welfare and when he was on tour in America earlier this year the singer blamed the near extinction of Rhinos on ‘Beyoncé’s handbags’.
4. Rank
In his stint as a guest reviewer for magazine Smash Hits in 1984 Morrissey was snarky, witty and just plain offensive.
Morrissey called Prince ‘a romping travesty’ before turning his attention to German band Alphaville’s single Forever Young.
“Alphaville embody the frustrated egos of the massively untalented. Should have been drowned at birth,” He said
Ouch.
Despite this the single from the synthpop group went on to be a top five success in several European countries. Forever Young has gone onto be used in several North American TV series as well as an advert for an Argentinean pension retirement fund.
3. The Queen is Dead
Over the years Morrissey has made some fairly outrageous statements about the Royal family including this about the current heir to the thrown in 1994.
“I wish that Prince Charles had been shot. I think it would have made the world a more interesting place,” he said.
More recently Morrissey and his band also wore T-shirts on stage in 2012 that read ‘We Hate William and Kate’ and described the arrogance of the Royal family as ‘staggering’.
2. Margaret on the Guillotine
Shortly after coming to prominence with The Smiths in 1984 Morrissey made his opinions clear on then Prime Minister Margret Thatcher and said: “The sorrow of the IRA Brighton bombing is that Thatcher escaped unscathed.”
In his autobiography Morrissey reveals that he was questioned by Scotland Yard in 1988 over the controversial song which included the lyrics ‘When will you die?’ and ‘Make the dream real’.
1. Meat is Murder
The notoriously belligerent vegetarian had this to say in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on Norway.
“We all live in a murderous world, as the events of Norway have shown, with 97 [sic] dead. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried S**t every day.”
The comments were made in Warsaw while he was on tour in Poland and were reported in the Daily Mirror.
Image courtesy of nrkp3 via Flickr, with thanks.
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