Your Verdict 2.0 - Week Three!

[The Curmudgeon]

Half way through this mini-cycle, and instead of a guy who once played a villain in Game of Thrones, we turn our eye to a singer who in some eyes is almost as much of an unlikable bastard as Ramsay Bolton, but in some other eyes is as beloved as Jon Snow.

Some clues? Well, he originally rose to fame in an iconic British group who did the rarest of things in splitting up and actually staying that way. He's also got a biopic out about him this year. It's Morrissey.



I've already got the back catalogue of the Smith's, (not incredibly difficult, four studio albums and a couple of compilation albums gathering up their singles and b-sides) so I decided to investigate the solo career of Morrissey himself, because even though his solo work doesn't have the rabid adoration of the Smith's, almost every album gets great reviews from most critics and magazines.

So one bargain buy 3 disc set consisting of a lengthy run of singles and their B-sides later and I'm well on my way, so I thought it only fitting everyone's favourite misery guts makes an appearance here.

And this is the song that's on pretty much constant repeat on my iPhone right now, "the Last of the International Playboys." It's typical Morrissey, dry, clever lyrics about the press and their obsession over murderers and career criminals (the Kray brothers get a double mention here), and some introspective musings that pretty much no-one else could fit into a three minute pop song ("I never wanted to kill, I am not naturally evil").

Let me know what you think.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk1wUKoXL20

[trashcanman]

God, I hate that guy. I wish I didn't because damn near everybody I respect loves him (although I received some satisfaction when Jello Biafra dissed him and his fans on one of his spoken word albums), but everything about the dude irks me. The hair, that picture with a cat on his head, the way he whips the mic cable around while he sings, his whining voice, his pretentious lyrics, his constant attention whoring (said he was sexually assaulted in high school because his gym teacher rubbed ointment on his hand when he sprained his wrist or something like that) and carrying on about his sexual orientation (or lack thereof), and the fans' obsessive adoration just compounds it all. That said, this song is pretty good. Extremely listenable and a pretty rocking sound. I'd give it another go.