Worst Morrissey Full Length Studio Album

voted years of refusal btw. something is SQUEEZING MY SSSOUUUUL indeed.

His career-spanning anthology should be called 'Years of Refuse'.

I would've included Bona Drag, despite it technically being a compilation, because it was kind of a wrap-up of a year's worth of singles/sides (not unlike Panda Bear's new album).

Since it's not here, though, I'll vote for Vauxhall.

Oh crap, this is a WORST poll. I should learn to read.

I was going to say, even if I did include it, it's not going to get any votes.

don't learn to read, it is a conspiracy, it will lead to nothing but trouble and confusion.

All of Morrissey's solo albs are better than the fucking Smiths btw

Years Of Refusal definitely worst. Then maybe Maladjusted or Ringleader. Then Quarry.

Southpaw Grammar is ACE.

This is going to be a mad fun thread, I can feel it.

Years of Refusal is EASILY the worst, followed by Maladjusted.

The only people who hate Southpaw Grammar are the Morrissey extremists because drum solos and 10-minute-long title tracks are an affront to their beliefs.

Haven't heard Years Of Refusal, but I hate Kill Uncle so deeply that it gets my vote. Like to love every other one.

YOR is the best of the comeback trilogy, knaves.

I loved Kill Uncle at the time -- all that echo and those elongated vowels, like Moz thinks he's Bryan Ferry. Now it sounds underwritten.

The only people who hate Southpaw Grammar are the Morrissey extremists because drum solos and 10-minute-long title tracks are an affront to their beliefs.

Me! Me!

^^me too. Southpaw gets my vote.

I will not hear a bad word about the song "Southpaw", guys.

KILL UNCLE is the answer.

Years Of Refusal is great.

hahaha I came on intending to post "the one that starts with a drum solo"

first four are all great. i was a big defender of southpaw at the time but that was a combo of denial and contrarianism that i quickly got over. and it's not just the big bookend tracks, the songs in between are mostly crappy. it has just been varying shades of pointless and terrible since then. i really tried with every one except years of refusal. of the rest, maladjusted was just so so horrible. definitely my least favourite.

^^^^

Maladjusted is awful.

maladjusted is so bad I don't remember anything about it. southpaw: actually I think this is alright, it's not great but it definitely doesn't reach the depths of his most shitty output. refusal = terrible. Tormenters, also very very bad. I think Quarry is good. Kll Uncle: hated it when it came out, then liked it, then was conditioned to think it was very very bad, now I think it sounds good, particularly compared to his last few albums.

I love "Reader Meets Author" and "Boy Racer," while Maladjusted has vague songs signifying little beyond petulance, not to mention anger at life as a balding man.

Oh c'mon it's Kill Uncle FFS.

have you actually listened to maladjusted and years of refusal?

bring back "I Hate Music" for polls like these they area a downer imo

Oh c'mon it's Kill Uncle FFS.

― Kent Burt, Monday, April 25, 2011 9:32 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

Two of my favorite Morrissey songs are on Kill Uncle so I can't hate.

kill uncle is great. i like kill uncle more than, say, viva hate. it is his most sad sack record, so i guess you have to be on board with that.

years of refusal

Man, so much hate for Years of Refusal. Bummin' me out. I rather like that record. :(

years of refusal. it's just awful.

yes, kill uncle is great.

ringleader isn't very good either

Love Kill Uncle!! Moody and indulgent and quirky and funny and fun, doesn't ever seem labored or contrived.

Haven't bothered to listen to the last 3 LPs, but I like that song "Life is a Pigsty"

All of Morrissey's solo albs are better than the fucking Smiths btw

so much RONG concentrated into one sentence

registered sockpuppets and voted for all of these

i think viva hate and bona drag are p on par with the smiths

i think both of them are better than Strangeways, actually.

Yeah, seriously. The only Smiths album as much fun as Bona Drag is....Louder Than Bombs (also a comp).

Viva Hate and Bona Drag are both better than The Smiths and Meat is Murder.

er, no

they sure are!

Viva Hate - too many great songs to be worst, too many shit songs to be best

Kill Uncle - good sound, arrangements, singing, but songs mostly about nothing - i.e. still pretty enjoyable

Your Arsenal - too many good songs to be worst, in fact only two bad songs (We Hate It..., Tomorrow). However, first album where he stopped doing funny bits with his voice. From here until Quarry he'd sound like he had a cold.

Vauxhall and I - Quite a few good songs here. His cold is worse than ever on Billy Budd.

Southpaw Grammar - Candidate for worst. Dagenham Dave, Southpaw, just shitty songs. Good songs are the one with the drum solo and the one about teachers.

Maladjusted - very tiring to listen to this junk.

You Are the Quarry - his cold's cleared up.

Ringleader of the Tormentors - You Have Killed Me is ace and sort of thematically links killing/maleness/stabbing/gay sex in quite a cool way & is followed by Youngest Was Most Loved which talks about a young guy who "turned into a killer" which on first listen sounds like more of Morrissey's usual gangster stuff (about as authentic as Michael Jackson's), except for the previous song hinting that for Morrissey killing=bumsex i.e. very very thrilling, so I always wish he had sung "he turned into a homo" instead of "he turned into a killer" - which in the context of the kids singing along and all that "no such thing as normal" stuff and the fact that for once it is actually a great tune would make it one of Morrissey's best ever songs no joke. But I wasn't there to tell him this so it just sounds like First of the Gang part 2 or whatever.

Years of Refusal - pretty bad, in fact the worst.

Nice analysis. I don't agree with most of it, but you're right about his voice becoming thick and ponderous after 1993.

in fact only two bad songs (We Hate It..., Tomorrow)

lol wut

i don't think that album really has any bad songs on it, but I don't like how most of the record actually sounds, too pumped up and too something. dunno. but the songwriting makes up for it. yes even national front disco.

In 1992 I couldn't admit to my loving YA for a long time -- months, really. The production was a betrayal or something. I really loved the reverb-drenched KU; every Moz album should emulate it, I thought. It also galled me that YA was his first big US seller as a solo artist and was extraordinarily well-received.

By the end of the year I realized I'd been playing "We'll Let You Know," "Glamorous Glue," and "Tomorrow" repeatedly since August, and cried uncle.

how could anybody not like "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful," that is a classic jam

Top five solo moments fer sure

Ah-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha!

It's a laughable lie

Wow, in my memory Years of Refusal seems ok. I know I listened to it at least 5 or 6 times when it came out. However, i just looked at the track list and realized I DON'T REMEMBER A SINGLE SONG! Years of Refusal, then.

It's more than ok. It's in my top 4 or 5 Moz solos.

All the Years Of Refusal hatred on here reads like utter madness

"We Hate It" is, precisely, the solo equivalent of "You Just Haven't Earned it Yet Baby". YJHEIYB (kind of annoying how you have to abbreviate 99% of Morrissey songs or die typing) although having nice guitar tune is among top 10 worst Smiths. Verse beginning "And if they're Northern, that makes it even worse..." is relatively early example of Moz making pretty tedious point over four lines and a much-too-long song title where once he'd do it in two words - an art he'd perfect in coming years. The melody is shit. "Ha ha ha ha". This was the first single off the record and was therefore the first song where he had the cold that would last for a decade.

When Your Arsenal came out, Select magazine had a bunch of indie celebs review it. I can't remember who it was, but somebody made the observation that if Morrissey had come up with "The Headmaster Ritual" then (1992), it would be called "Belligerent Ghouls Run Manchester Schools". This tendency would get much much worse, but at the time "We Hate It" was annoying for its clumsy, unambigious, try-hard literalism - and still is to me.

Someone should poll worst first singles from brilliant albums. "We Hate It..." would qualify.

Well then, I am going to listen again to Years of Refusal!

His voice sounds great on the energetic opener 'Something Is Squeezing My Skull.' now I remember the yucky alt-rock guitar sound ;-(

"We Hate It" has a camp, bitchy quality to it! (xp)

(track by track relisten of YOF, cont'd): Next, 'Mama Lay Softly On the Riverbed.' I like how he sings 'Mama' just like Freddie in Bohemian Rhapsody. The martial drumbeat is a turnoff. Does anybody have the vinyl version of this for sound quality comparison? The hideously overcompressed loud blare is exhausting!

Years of Refusal has such loud drums throughout, so compressed. Impossible to listen to on headphones all the way through I'd think.

(YOF cont'd) 3. Black Cloud. Has a nice, swirling, Siouxsie b-side quality. Thoughts drift off to how much I continue to be distressed and confused by the old Siouxsie/Morrisey collaboration 'Interlude.' Why didn't it work? Anyway, 'Black Cloud just ended abruptly.

I love the punchy rocky sound on YOF because it closely resembles his live show these days (which is waaaay rock 'n' roll).

(YOF cont'd) 4. I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris. Nice, lovely. A good title for a single but I don't remember it at all, even while I'm listening to it!

Years Of Refusal pisses on You Are The Quarry and godawful b-sides like 'The Never Played Symphonies' which every other living Morrissey fan seems to think is a classic

'Lost' is not that great either.

5. All You Need Is Me. This is catchy.

6. The Last Time I Saw Carol. I can't relate to this song on any level. Ah, I remember how I loved the mariachi horns on the remix of 'Close To Me' in 1985, how surprising and perfect they sounded!

7. That's How People Grow Up. THE VOCALS ON THIS ALBUM ARE WAY TOO FAR IN FRONT OF THE MIX! Look, I am really having a hard time focusing on this album. I think I am going to slouch off and listen to the new Gavin Friday. Very sorry.

Nice, lovely. A good title for a single but I don't remember it at all, even while I'm listening to it!

"I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" is probably the most old-school Morrissey single the man has released in 20 years, and you don't remember it at all? Do you even LIKE Morrissey?

it's a very poor song tbf

I like it a lot.

Not that I'm surprised at this late stage when I like something other people on ILM hate.

"That's How People Grow Up" and "...Paris" are the ones I remember.

When Your Arsenal came out, Select magazine had a bunch of indie celebs review it. I can't remember who it was, but somebody made the observation that if Morrissey had come up with "The Headmaster Ritual" then (1992), it would be called "Belligerent Ghouls Run Manchester Schools". This tendency would get much much worse, but at the time "We Hate It" was annoying for its clumsy, unambigious, try-hard literalism - and still is to me.

This kind of ignores that "Belligerent Ghouls Run Manchester Schools" would not be a good or funny name for a song. "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful," on the other hand, is a fucking hilarious song title.

Blah blah blah, confuse 'most recent' with 'worst ever'

"I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" is probably the most old-school Morrissey single the man has released in 20 years, and you don't remember it at all? Do you even LIKE Morrissey?

I genuinely and truly love Morrissey, and I want to love this album! For one thing, it has a tremendous cover. Also I have often been very very wrong about music I thought I didn't like. I do think his voice sounds especially strong throughout this album, the harsh overall sound might really be my obstacle.

We Hate It… was about James according to, uh, something I read somewhere. Moz addresses his crazy titles on the recent interview he did for BBC radio.

i'm throwing my arms around paris is ok, I'll give it that. at least he isn't braying and bellowing through the entire thing.

But:

"You're the one for me, Fatty"

Genius.

My vote goes for Maladjusted, i don't remember much about this album apart from I liked Alma Matters when it came out.

His first five albums range from good to great but with the last three I could just about make a decent ten track album between them.

I remember being really excited when he came back in 2004 and I still think Irish Blood and First Of The Gang to Die are great singles but I remember being so disappointed listening to the album when I got it. The rest of the album is let down by awful production and boring plodding tunes, it was possibly that years most overrated record. Ringleader is better but is quite forgettable although Life In A Pigsty is my favourite song he's done since Vauxhall & I. Years Of Refusal is my favourite of the three but still it's not a great album. I love Something Is Squeezing My Skull and I'm Throwing my Arms Around Paris has a lovely tune but is let down by the lyrics especially "In the absence of your smiling face, I travel all over the place" A lot of his recent lyrics seem so lazy. I think he's now at the stage where he has almost as many poor albums as good ones.

I'd rank his albums like this

1.Vauxhall & I (I like this more than any of The Smiths albums)
2.Your Aresnal
3.Viva Hate
4.Kill Uncle
5.Southpaw Grammer
6.Years of Refusal
7.Ringleader of the Tormentors
8.You are the Quarry
9.Maladjusted

Mine:

1. Your Arsenal
2. Bona Drag (I cheated. Fuck you)
3. Vauxhall
4. Viva Hate
5. Kill Uncle
6. Years of Refusal.
7. You Are the Quarry

YA
(BD)
KU
V&I
VH
etc

Maladjusted & Southpaw Grammar aren't great albums by any means, and his comeback-era stuff is generally just too generic for me (with a few exceptions here and there), but Kill Uncle really had terrible arrangements and terrible lyrics and terrible production, especially the effects on Morrissey's voice. "King Leer" and "Mute Witness" have no redeeming qualities, and most of the other tracks don't fare much better. You're all quite mad.

Vauxhall starts very strongly, but then the second half is mostly terrible ("Speedway" excepted). "Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning" is just wretched. That album is severely overrated.

Viva Hate and Your Arsenal are pretty much the only studio albums I can listen to all the way through, and even then I have to skip songs like "You're The One For Me, Fatty."

If Moz would only team up with some decent songwriters again I am sure he could still be awesome. The current crowd is very hit-and-miss.

You're right about Vauxhall -- the second side is a drag. He's never made a great solo album.

ANNND, "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" was a great song. I saw him do it live on that Amnesty 30 concert back in the day and was happy that he sounded like Morrissey again.

aww "King Leer" is GRATE xxp

I'll defend "Driving Your Girlfriend Around," which epitomized sophistication in high school -- and one of my first exposures to a gay sensibility in pop.

er * Home

He's never written a bad song title, though.

It Must Be One Of His Later Works, But I Have Not Heard Them All

After Our Friend Moved to West Hollywood

Are there any later songs where he drops some nonsense "oh yeah oh yeah" or "lalalalala" hooks or are they all just stentorian plods with nothing but complete sentences?

"First of the Gang To Die" qualifies, croup, which is in part why I love it ("stole all hearts a-WAY A-HAY A-HAY A-HAY").

I guess it does by default, but I can't get over the idea of it being Morrissey's "When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way!" pander to LA.

could you get over the idea of Moz pandering to Brit fetishism of the Krays?

what would it take for it to be an open expression of affection instead of a pander? srs q

xp in re: 'first of the gang'

The only one of these I dislike is Maladjusted, and Southpaw Grammar is my favorite Moz album.

Voted Maladjusted because I still remember how much it bummed me out when I heard it.

whatever the intent of the song were commercial or an "open expression of affection" he handed his new audience west side story corn that's particularly ironic coming from a guy who used to hand his immigrant fans "asian rut"

I meant "whether" not "whatever"

I don't see how it's a problem to point out that he finds Mexican boys cuter than Asian ones.

I'd like the song a lot more if he just said that

also he didn't write a song about how superawesome the krays were, he wrote a song about a guy who killed people so he could get fucked by the krays. Big diff.

also that song is awesome

he wrote a song who wants to get fucked by the glamorous Krays.

*about a guy

Hamfisted as Asian Rut is, only a true bonehead could misinterpret as snide or unsympathetic

sir, are you calling me a bonehead?

because I dare say, I do consider the song snide

"a guy"

Quantick so much to answerfore

"Asian Rut" has such a lugubrious arrangement and dull melody that I've only heard it once tbh.

He definitely pities the fool, but I don't think you have to be a "true bonehead" to find "tooled-up asian boy, what drugs are you on?" snide. It's not like Mozz is above talking shit on anyone for any reason.

I beg to parding

It's snide and affectionate. From what I remember, doesn't he drawl out "boy"? It's a very British thing: getting sentimental about the rough trade you're picking up.

actually, looking at "first of the gang to die" there's a bit more of the ol' Mozz winking mockery than I remembered

Yeah, I don't mean to align myself with those who would call him a hatemonger. But he's a look-down-the-nose-at-everybody "call a spade a spade" type, and if someone wants to say "hey fuck you" back I'm not going to say "oh but he LOVES the little people"

proof

oh you like Years Of Refusal, you'll eat anything

something is squeezing your skull!

alright, i'll admit I haven't heard years of refusal. But the end of this "skull" ditty tells me why he hasn't been offering the old lalalala nonsense hook action - ick.

sounds like a muppet running out of oxygen.

Viva Hate (1988) - Ok for five minutes back in the day
Kill Uncle (1991) - rubbish
Your Arsenal (1992) - Actually very good - great guitar sound, Moz playful and dangerous throughout.
Vauxhall and I (1994) - Never understood the love for this.
Southpaw Grammar (1995) - Not heard
Maladjusted (1997) - Not heard
You Are the Quarry (2004) Singles were OK. Production soulless and horrible rendering some possibly decent tunes unlistenable
Ringleader of the Tormentors (2006) As above, but singles were not OK
Years of Refusal (2009) - Not heard

man first of the gang is just a good song period

It's definitely one of the three on Quarry that I can even remember (that, the America You Can Has Cheeseburger song and "I Like You"), wouldn't deny its a highlight-by-default of his '00s work

Dr. C OTM about the production on Quarry

I'd probably rank the ones I know YA/SG/Vaux/Kill/Mal/Quarry with Viva disqualifed since I just listen to Bona (which would be right behind YA on my list)

just song for song i'd take bona drag over all of them

I've missed 21st-century Morrissey, so I'm catching up now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxr8ELV8p-Y

Viva Hate is fantastic, what are you on about

too many late nights on maudlin street on VH.

bona drag >>> everything else >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> kill uncle

I was never that big on rockabilly/skinhead fetish - era mozzer, tho I def get the love for Arsenal & Vauxhall. I like them too, but they aren't my favorites. I love some of his 00s-era singles and tracks (esp. First of the Gang to Die), but not any one of the albums front-to-back. YATQ comes close, tho.

for me, it will always come back around to the early singles. An embarrassment of riches almost on par w/ Smiths career highs. voted VH.

o shit. WORST mozzer.. lol, did not see that

gotta be Kill Uncle - the absolute dregs

I wish there had been more Vini Reilly on Viva Hate. His little touches of guitar on Late Night Maudlin Street are beautiful.

Reilly apparently hated what Stephen Street did to his guitars.

"Stop throwing paper aeroplanes at my guitars!"

Yeah, the feud between Reilly and Street is really interesting.

Any links to that story?

I read the Reilly interview in that booklength song by song overview.

there are interviews with both of them on youtube discussing it. i can't remember what clips though

Good timing, bros:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/22/morrissey-autobiography-finished

in other worlds..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/oct/12/smiths-covers-project-janice-whaley?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

this thread made me go back to 'kill uncle' and i kinda really like it. it's much better than the last one. and that 'viva hate' and 'vauxhall and i' received any votes is a travesty.

yes kill uncle did not deserve this when there are so many other shitty albums. but I think it won because more people have actually heard kill uncle and have an opinion on it.

I think it's probably because, for a lot of people, Kill Uncle was the "okay no, I'm off the train" moment

I happen to really like Kill Uncle.

I liked "Our Frank", found the rest hard to get into, & got rid of it pretty quickly. But "Pregnant For The Last Time" and (especially) "Our Love Life", also from 1991, were terrific singles.

"Our Frank" was the song that burned all of my lingering Smiths goodwill, lol

Pregnant For The Last Time + My Love Life are great. So is The Loop.

I don't actually hate all solo Morrissey, I realize; I had a mostly positive experience with Viva Hate due to "Late Night, Maudlin Street", "Hairdresser on Fire", "Alsatian Cousin", "Little Man, What Now?", "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me" and "Dial-A-Cliche" but the sinister-in-retrospect "Suedehead" and the outright gross "Bengali In Platforms" mean I'll never actually own the album.

I Don't Mind and Little Man, What Now are the unsung heroes of that album. Late Night, Maudlin Street has the most Vini Reilly sounding stuff on it, therefore it's great.

4 votes for Viva Hate and 0 votes for Ringleaders = proof this poll is fucked

"Our Frank" was the one that put me in mind of too many morrisseyettes singing along "oh give me a dwinnnk and make it quiiiick, or I wll be wiolentwy siiiick..."

"Preg" was silly, but good silly.

why is suedehead sinister?????

vini reilly is the shit

durutti gang

I have a bunch of Smiths 7"s but Our Frank is the only Moz 7" I have. Not sure where I got it but it's in my collection. Wish I had bought the etched Interesting Drug 12"

why is suedehead sinister?????

Take Moz's flirtation/fascination with the National Front from around this time period, think about what it looks like when a skinhead needs a haircut, then reread the lyrics.

Pregnant For The Last Time + My Love Life are great

They're not great, but they're the first NEW Moz singles I bought at the time after discovering the Smiths and thus played them to death; and I love "I've Changed My Plea to Guilty" and "Skin Storm."

I'm shocked YOR is second and Ringleader got 0 votes when I'm sure more people heard the latter.

My favorite tracks on VH besides the singles are "Break Up The Family" (lovely vocal, nice subtle drum programming) and "The Ordinary Boys."

Suedehead is about as sinister as King Leer played by the Mike Flowers' Pops

Yeah, I looked over the "Suedehead" lyrics just in case I'd missed something & no, I don't see anything sinister, unless fucking is sinister (which in Moz's case it might be!)

the kill uncle show that I saw was one of the worst nights in my life because he seemed so uninspired and there was phranc. but he turned it around dramatically on the next record so i am more forgiving of the record now 20 years on.

If Moz is singing as the titular suedehead, lines like "Why do you come here when you know it makes things hard for you?" take on a whole new meaning. If he's singing about the titular suedehead, it turns into a wistful sing about someone feeling sympathy for someone who has written in their diary about how detestable they find the narrator, which isn't as gross but still kind of eek in light of some of the shit Moz was saying around that time.

i absolutely never ever ever read those meanings into the opening lines. I suppose you could but nothing else in the song bears it out.

I thought it was about an 'inappropriate' teacher/pupil relationship.

I've got a lot of affection for poor old Kill Uncle. It's the one that really stands out on its own, nothing else quite sounds anything like it. It is very understated, and just kinda fades away towards the end, but it has some unique sounding pop songs on it. Ringleader of the Tormentors is also underrated.

I would have voted for either You Are The Quarry or Years of Refusal. They both just sound really ugly and overblown, and Morrissey's voice is stretched thin trying to shout above the din.

As for Maladusted, I think the title song is terrific, not up their with his best but not far off, while "Trouble Loves Me" and "Ammunition" aren't too bad either.

Looking forward to his book, and if it's anything like his liner notes for his Under the Influence compilation it'll be great. Just hoping it won't be peppered with too much "killing a stag is like killing a child" style tubthumping.

Gonna trip over myself to try and misinterpret every Morrissey song as well dodgy now, sounds like it's a laugh

If Moz is singing as the titular suedehead, lines like "Why do you come here when you know it makes things hard for you?" take on a whole new meaning.

it's "hard for me," fyi.

it's about a guy who doesn't like it when you come around, when you send him silly notes, when you telephone, and when you read his diary to see what he wrote about you. the name is pulled from UK skinhead subculture but trying to find anything in the lyrics beyond a guy complaining that you're all up in his grill romantically is pretty hard.

the 'come here' and 'hard for me' combo seem more like Ortoneque dbl entendres than anything else, really

And thanks to the video, I can't help but feel this song is about playing bongos in a cattle ranch.

3 new songs

http://www.nme.com/news/morrissey/57331

woah you must really hate them to tack them on this thread.

WE HAVE A NEW CONTENDER, FOLKS