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Registered Historical Facts: The Grammy and the Guardian, Plus Harry Hill

Read More Morrissey Breaking news, Morrissey has Ebola... At least that was the reason he gave to a fan who asked him for an autograph. With 229 cancelled or postponed tour dates since 1991, Morrissey being sick is no surprise. ...

Read more The Smiths/Morrissey: Registered Historical Facts.

MORRISSEY
true-to-you.net

With the recent Grammy Awards, Rolling Stone compiled a list of artists who have never won a Grammy... Morrissey among Bjork, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Katy Perry.

From rollingstone.com:

25 Artists Who Have Never Won a Grammy
by Zara Golden | February 4, 2015

(excerpt)

Times nominated: 1

For all his legendary work with the Smiths, for all his sterling solo work, for each and every one of his diatribes (there is a Best Spoken Word Grammy category, after all) Stephen Patrick Morrissey's only nominated effort was his 1992 album Your Arsenal. Moz lost in the Best Alternative Music Performance category that year to Tom Waits' Bone Machine, an event that likely did little to lighten his legendarily dyspeptic mood.

The Smiths outside Salford Lads Club in 1985. Photograph: Stephen Wright (smithsphotos.com) Read More The Smiths Since Select Magazine went away in 2000, Uncut Magazine took over as my favorite music magazine. In their latest issue, which came out in the stores in the UK this week (January 27th), they featured the 30th Anniversary of Meat is Murder ...

THE GUARDIAN
theguardian.com

With the 30th Anniversary of The Smiths' Meat is Murder this year, 2015, The Guardian compare today's Manchester vs 1980s Manchester, and asks "Is Morrissey's city still recognisable?"

Excerpt from theguardian.com:

This charming Manchester: is Morrissey's city still recognisable?
by Alec Herron | Wednesday 4 February 2015 04.11 EST

Treading cautiously over puddles of January Manchester rain, a group of tourists from Mexico, Australia, France and Israel take turns to pose in front of Salford Lads Club, the unassuming community centre made famous by their Mancunian heroes, The Smiths.

The lyrics and imagery created by the band’s lead singer, Morrissey, are forever associated with the Manchester of mid-1980s post-industrial decay; entrenched with accounts of stabbings, domestic violence and back-alley encounters in a city struggling to find new purpose following the demise of its textile and other traditional industries.

Since then, the city has been bombed by the IRA and had its centre reconstructed; it has hosted a Commonwealth Games and witnessed three decades of rapid growth and regeneration. Along the way, iconic locations in The Smiths story have disappeared or morphed into a new guise: the infamous site of their second gig, the Hacienda nightclub, was torn down and a luxury apartment block raised in its place; Rafters, the underground club where the band played soon after, is now a Tesco Express.

But, 30 years on from the band’s only UK No 1 studio album, Meat is Murder, how does The Smiths’ vision of life in Manchester compare with life in the city today? Where else to begin but ...

Not miserable now: Harry as Morrissey in 1999 Photograph: Rex (mirror.co.uk) Read More The Smiths NME called this album "Greatest Albums of All Time", and I can't say I disagree. This is such a great album, because it is one of those albums that I know all the words to. There are no bad songs on this album …

HARRY HILL
itv.com

On this week's Harry Hill's Stars in Their Eyes, Jim Thompson, from Woodley, Stockport, appeared as Morrissey to perform some of The Smiths' biggest hits.

Unfortunately (spoiler alert), he lost to a John Legend impersonator.

Thompson confessed that, "I'm not a singer in anyway, I've only ever done it for a party trick."

What's funny is that medical doctor-turned-comedian Harry Hill is actually a big Smiths fan, as seen in this 1999 photo of Hill as Morrissey (complete with hearing aid!)

Photo of Jim Thompson and Harry Hill from manchestereveningnews.co.uk.

Jim Thompson as Morrissey with Stars In Their Eyes host Harry Hill ITV/Kieron McCarron

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Riot grrrl in the strangest places

It's weird, but lately I've come across articles on Bikini Kill and Riot Grrrl stuff in the strangest places! As we have previously mentioned, Bikini Kill celebrated their 20th anniversary last November with their re-issue of their debut EP. I want the re-release, even though I already own the CD of their first two records, but I actually could not figure out how to order from their website (perhaps it's sold out?).

Read More Riot Grrrls Vu and Emily cover early Riot Grrrl bands. This is by no means some definitive guide to Riot Grrrls..…

FRONT MAGAZINE
Gives new meaning to "girls to the front!"

FRONT MAGAZINE #177 is a men/boy's magazine about topless girls in trainers (sneakers). The magazine is like FHM (before they banned nipples), but not as "classy" as MAXIM. The magazine is more like Ralph (Australia) and Loaded (who is the primary rival in the UK). While most magazines have ceased printed editions, it seems that Front is going strong with its "lads' mags" reputation.

Strangely, they published a full article on the Riot Grrrl bands in last month's issue. The four-page article compiles the best-known Riot bands: Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsy, Sleater-Kinney, Bratmobile, L7, Babes in Toyland, and, of course, Pussy Riot. Personally, I would have added Le Tigre to the mix, considering they added Heavens to Betsy and L7!

Read the article below:

FRONT #177 Page 94 FRONT #177 Page 95 FRONT #177 Page 96 FRONT #177 Page 97

THE VERGE
Meanwhile, a technology news agency called The Verge recently published a Bikini Kill article called Bikini Kill is making things again (published February 1st).

The Verge started when editors at Engadget left because of upper management disputes from AOL. Now they are (bitter?) rivals, but between you and me, I still like Engadget because it's easier to read "blog style". Hey, I just want to load everything in one place without having to click on anything. That's just how I like to read.

Anyway, the Bikini Kill article focused on riot grrrl revolution in the age of Spotify and iTunes, so there is a tech-angle to the whole thing.

The article is best summed up here:

Still, her [Kathleen Hanna] punk rock sensibility doesn’t allow her to write off the open internet: “In one way, I like the idea of everything free and streaming because it seems cooler and more punk rock — but the reality is that then people in bands have to have day jobs to survive, and that might mean they make fewer records or break up altogether.” She also says that she doesn’t know how we could “put the genie back into the bottle,” now that music is simply out there, free to consume.

Photograph: Ebet Roberts/Redferns

THE GUARDIAN
This was published last month (January 2013), it's an article from The Guardian reflecting on the riot grrrl movement in Britain. The article is taken from Melody Maker (remember that music weekly paper?)

You can read it here: There's a riot grrrl going on

Remember, this was written in 1994, so a lot of reference is of its time (like Mecca Normal, k.d. lang, and Catcall).

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M