Saint Morrissey: A Portrait of This Charming Man by an Alarming Fan

By Mark Simpson

Book Overview

There is no other contemporary artist who is so famously difficult, so seemingly enigmatic, and so passionately loved by his fans as Morrissey. From the moment he caught the public's eye in the early 1980s as the iconic front man of the Smiths, and through his subsequent solo career, the patron saint of misfits has fascinated and baffled in equal measure.Yet, as Mark Simpson argues in this wickedly funny and deeply sacrilegious psycho-bio -- told through the lens of his own obsession as a lifelong fan -- Morrissey isn't quite so enigmatic as he might appear. To understand this most private (and sexually ambivalent) of stars, one need only uncover the countless clues to his personality in his startlingly candid song lyrics and his innumerable provocative interviews. Simpson deftly explores why Morrissey bewitched a generation -- and why he remains as intriguing as ever. In fact 2004 was Morrissey's best year to date, bringing his biggest-selling album, a sold-out tour, and the adulation of legions of new fans. Both an insightful look at the singer's career and a personal story of a boy's first love for his music idol, Saint Morrissey is, like its subject, shrewd, sharp-witted, charming, and utterly original.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743276906
• ISBN13: 9780743276900
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 257 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Mozturbation.

This is a great book. It provides a deep-dish psychological insight and fanalysis into Morrissey, and also more alliteration and word-bouncery than any sane human being could ever want. It's very well written, and any true Moz fanatic couldn't do any better than read this. I love The Smiths and I loved this. 'Nuff said.

My review

This book is a lot of fun. I read it while sitting infront of my computer to access youtube.com, dictionary.com, and wikipedia.com to learn about all the references. What can I say I was a business major. It made me laugh frequently. I especially loved the description of Morrissey's androgenous appearance as:"looking like a lesbian attempting a half-hearted gesture at femininity for her visiting parents". The author of course loves Morrissey as do I and it was nice to celebrate this great artist with someone.

Easy, breezy, pleased me.

Through the first twenty or so pages, Simpson's apparent attempt to appropriate and emulate Morrissey's wit/sense of humor sort of turned me off. But while I would've enjoyed a slightly less precious delivery, Simpson does turn out to have a reasonable amount of original observations on Morrissey's career. Promoted as a "psychobio," Saint Morrissey is more about the man than the music - you may be surprised how little Simpson has to say about the actual albums through 250 pages (though this may be down to the fact that Morrissey offers much more opportunity for intellectual tangents than the average artist). You might call it a Unified Theory of Morrisseyism: it's less about "he did this, then he recorded this, then this happened" (which is what a lot of otherwise fine bios, like Complicated Shadows, devolve into) than it is about what it all means. It's an emotional response instead of a historical exercise, and that really appealed to me. It's also less...invasive, I guess?...than, say, Heavier Than Heaven, which took disgusting license in trying to get into its subject's head. Saint Morrissey isn't about exposing its subject's secrets, because Simpson understands Morrissey's career well enough to realize that his secrets are a massive element of his appeal. That understanding and respect is the key appeal here. Of course, it's written by a fan, and an alarming one at that, so Saint Morrissey is never critical in any serious sense, but it never panders the way Landscapes of the Mind does, either. In the end, it's a quick, cute read designed for those who already know all the significant dates and chart placements and catalogue numbers. Why don't you find out for yourself?

A Morrissey book that made me want to be sociable!

Simpson takes as his source material only that which Morrissey has written in his lyrics or spoken in interview, and thus claims no special privilege to know him, any more than any other fan knows him - (i.e. intimately). As such, it may or may not bear any relationship to the truth as Morrissey himself sees it, for Simpson acknowledges the self-defeating nature of trying to interpret those enigmatic lyrics. But that's irrelevant. I have never read a book before like this: every page or two, I wanted to stop and talk about what Simpson had written with someone else - I wanted to discuss, argue, complain, gasp, share the experience. Mostly, I wanted to laugh. Considering that this is a book about a man whose isolation, morbidity and alienation is legendary, this book made me want to be sociable.