November Spawned a Monster
Confession: I was a pretty big Morrissey fan in high school. Not nearly as big as my friend Brian LaRue, who introduced me to Moz. But pretty big. Still, I never saw this video for "November Spawned a Monster" -- in which Morrissey, decked out in a mesh shirt and dancing like a gay club kid who's had maybe one more interpretive dance class than he has cosmos, rolls around and gyrates and generally looks sad out in the middle of a desert. As we're coming into November's homestretch, I thought I might present this to you guys before taking a few days off:
Man, that's monstrously strange.
But I do still love the line: "Jesus made me/so Jesus save me/from pity, sympathy/and people discussing me.'
Truth be told I still love most of Moz's Smiths and solo stuff in a completely unironic way -- even the bits I know are ridiculous. But his videos have always been pretty awful. Check out this one for the terrific "Last of the Famous International Playboys":
His new stuff's pretty great -- I somehow feel he's grown into himself and makes a great cranky old guy. He's gotten rid of the mesh shirts and bought some great suits, for one thing. He's still not making great videos, though. Check out this pretty average clip for the pretty great song "Irish Blood/English Heart":
Still terrific live, though. Check out this concert montage built around one of my favorites,"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out":
Comments (1)
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Yeah, Morrissey's music videos have always been pretty boring, for the most part. As far as I'm concerned, the only really "great" vids of his career are for "November Spawned a Monster" (although, you're right, it's defiantly weird and probably quite off-putting to anyone who isn't already a fan) and for The Smiths' "Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before"/"I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" (which both use the same footage of Moz leading a bunch of male and female Morrissey lookalikes on a bicycle tour of rainy Manchester). Music video is most definitely an afterthought to Morrissey -- and furthermore, "November..." as a song itself is emblematic of a period when (it seems) even the consideration of an audience outside of people who were already familiar with his music was an afterthought. You don't slip a copy of "Bona Drag" to someone who's never heard Morrissey or The Smiths, unless you're certain they're already ripe for it. That disc is better "in context" -- and in the context of his entire career, it's some brilliant, fascinating music and words.
I agree that Morrissey has risen to his "elder statesman" role particularly well. His lyrical persona has become that of the weird uncle who, at holiday dinners, grinning almost to himself, quietly dispenses cryto-empathy and crypto-advice to the weirdo of the younger generation sitting across the table. He knows what it was like to be young and distraught -- and he knows it's probably not going to get substantially better with time. Yet at least he can make you feel a little less isolated.
Live is where Morrissey kills. I've seen him a half-dozen times since 1997, and as a performer he's only become warmer and more gracious over the yeas. His set lists have gotten more interesting too -- he sings a lot of "deep cuts" from all points in his career. His set lists read like the track list of a mix CD a dedicated Moz fan would make -- which is exactly what a performer of his age and stature should be doing at this point. And the energy level at those shows is off the hook. The audiences can be incredibly frenzied. If you're in the wrong place on the floor at a Morrissey show, it can feel more dangerous than a circle pit.
Posted on November 18, 2007 6:08 PM