Morrissey, "Interesting Drug"

I hated it so bad when it was new, it was like "shut up you insufferable cock" but I came around about ten years later

this is my relationship with all of bona drag?

Is Bona Drag considered a proper album or not? I know it's just made up of singles and a couple new (at the time) songs. Anyway, it's my favorite Moz release (or maybe second favorite...go back and forth between it and Vauxhall).

All that just to say that, yes, "Interesting Drug" is damn fine.

Seconded, although from that album, I'll still opt for "Last of the Famous International Playboys" over it.

"Picadilly Palare-Interesting Drug-November Spawned a Monster" is one helluva a one-two-three.

I don't know why, but the thought of this song makes me laugh now. "Tell the truth/it really helped you..." It's kindof corny in a way.

"Can you blame us, Can you blame us"

It's very quotable

ENOUGH IS TOO MUCH

and the lyric is one of the last 'left-wing' Morrissey lyrics?

A GOVERNMENT SCHEME DESIGNED TO KILL YOUR DREAM

and the video saying (on a blackboard?)

BAD PEOPLE ON THE RIGHT

Okay that's it. You guys are making me play this song now. I had truly forgotten how ridiculous the lyrics are to this.

And if I recall correctly, the video was pretty ridiculous as well.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm enough of a Morrissey fan, but...

why are they ridiculous?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwEXsFbuF2E

Also that NME cover where he had the washing up liquid - I was gonna vote for that in the NME cover poll recently but it wasn't one of the options. Why does he pretend to swallow washing up liquid in this video?

I didn't mean the video; I'm familiar with that. I suppose I agree that it's silly, but still entertaining at times. I meant: how are the lyrics ridiculous, or any more so than any other Morrissey lyrics?

I don't know...they just are! I would SO rather hear the likes of "Hairdresser On Fire" right now, for example.

I mean 90% of Viva Hate eats this song for breakfast. Alex was on the right track with "Last Of The Famous International Playboys", though.

I don't particularly agree, though I like parts of Viva Hate a lot. I think this is a nice, jaunty, agreeable pop number with "Interesting" words. In a way it is even one of my favourite M. solo 45s.

He still plays 'Hairdresser on Fire' live, and perhaps not 'Interesting Drug'.

Someone said, perhaps back in 1989, something like: 'this song tells more of the truth about Manchester than the Happy Mondays' entire career'. Well, maybe it was later than 1989, then. The point was, they thought M. was being quite serious and thoughtful about Drugs.

I prefer Piccadilly Palare to this one but the Interesting Drug 12" with the etched Oscar Wilde picture is my favorite Morrissey vinyl after my Kill Uncle LP.

I hated it so bad when it was new, it was like "shut up you insufferable cock" but I came around about ten years later

-- J0hn D., Sunday, March 23, 2008 6:26 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Yeah, this is similar to my Morrissey and even Smiths listening habits, but maybe make it 15 years? Never "got" the Smiths when I was in high school, barring "Stop Me"...and I have a vivid memory of being on a weird family vacation to LA and hearing "Everyday is Like Sunday" for the first time on KROQ, which at the time did nothing for me. However, a few years later I could find no fault with "Suedehead" and a bunch of the Smiths catalog. I still think he's way overrated as a lyricist, but hey, there's no accounting for taste

Bimble hating it just makes the song that much better.

This is one of my favorite Morrissey solo tracks -- I've actually been listening, lately, to a cover of it by some random Spanish (I think) rock band, just to get around the familiarity. The lyrics really are terrific, especially in the context of his interviews about trying ecstasy -- what's that over-the-top silly Morrissey quote, where he says he tried it and looked in the mirror and it was the only time he's ever really liked his reflection?

It's as good of a song I know at making a social/"political" argument in a way that still has ... ambiguity, and interest. Or rather, it doesn't make an argument, but it seems to wind its way around some details and then come to a conclusion, and kind of a great, funny one: life's a little bleak around here, of course we enjoy drugs!

RE: Bona Drag - "Interesting Drug," Picadilly Palare," "..Playboys," "November..," sure. But secretly, it's really all about "Lucky Lisp."

You know the other thing about this? Odd thing that Marr understood and not all of Morrissey's collaborators have: you can give him a song that's shoots straight through at the same level of energy, not a lot of dynamics or ebb and flow, and he'll script a vocal that suits it fine and keeps it interesting (like this one, or maybe "Suedehead"). Whereas I feel like later on, people have written more songs for him that almost have too much structure to them, bridges and breakdowns and rises and falls that wind up tripping up whatever arc he's singing through. A pretty high percentage of his best songs are just, like, hardly more than a few interchangeable sections repeating throughout -- a flat surface to work on top of. (You'd think that'd be a thing you'd get from the solo career and "background" sessiony guys, but no, Marr would often just do a flat unchanging jangle and let Morrissey provide all the movement.)

Maybe it's less about "structure" and more about "dynamics" -- I'm thinking of stuff like "Cemetery Gates," which has clear sections and a couple quiet bits, but just feels like it's rolling comfortably along, without much sticking out of the backing.

Haha I'm glad Pillbox said it, because it's true

Nabisco, that is a fascinating observation.

Here are some examples to support your case:

The Queen Is Dead (best thing M ever did)

Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (Marr supposedly irritated at what M did with it)

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (an extreme example - but actually perhaps doesn't make the case, as it's not that great, and it's very very early anyway)

possibly Suffer Little Children, by the same token (I think this fits your case re. lack of 'dynamics' perfectly)

I don't know, though - any number of Marr compositions do have clear sections: Reel Around The Fountain, There Is A Light, Frankly Mr Shankly, Headmaster Ritual, Still Ill. And take Rusholme Ruffians: an example of what you're talking about, but actually quite weak in a way, too bereft of dynamics?

As for solo collaborators: can you give any examples of over-elaborated structures? I think one could still point to some under-structured pieces: maybe I Will See You In Far-Off Places, I'm Not Sorry ... hm.

Also, Morrissey took Stephen Street's rumble, sang all over the bits Street thought were the bridges and made it into the the great Disappointed.

I don't know how Morrissey collaborates these days. Perhaps he sometimes gives them the words to make accompaniment to, rather than the other way around? I don't know.

the drum fill in this song gives me such a boner

the disappointed (live) on viva hate is also one of my favorite things in the world simply because of:

moz: "this is the last song i'll ever sing" audience: "NO!!!"
the fan at the end who grabs the mic and yells MORRISSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Nabisco super-OTM in re: dynamics. Mozz likes to be responsible for the dynamics of the song, and if the song obliges by remaining dynamically steady, he rises to the occasion and gives a more nuanced performance. I think that's one thing about "Interesting Drug" that really gets me - the vocal sits atop the arrangement in a very 40s-pop way: the band is killing it quietly, everybody's playing well but not showing off - it's like a Nashville number in that respect.

Can you give some examples of dynamically unsteady songs in which, because of the dynamic unsteadiness, M gives a less nuanced performance?

and what about the instances I just listed: 'The Headmaster Ritual' for instance - that is a very complex piece of music, but presumably all M fans (like me) like what M does with it.

"Last of the Famous International Playboys" to me, for one - I dig the jam and all OK, but Mozz seems to be responding to the arrangement by being stagier, and is also following the development of the song (the instruments lying out for the first verse, etc) in a way that's always dragged for me - I think his vocal, for him in that era especially, is pretty weak - he sounds overburdened to me.

In defense of Mozz's ability to work with song development though I think "Disappointed" does a great swell and Mozz rises to the occasion

"jam" = ?

maybe you're right about the vocal, hard to say - I don't know, I've always liked 'every man with a job to do!'

I do actually think that too many of his collaborators have settled on tedious sort of Am-F-[big emphasis on the final sinister / camp]-*E7* type sequences that are kind of excruciatingly stereotyping for him ('You Have Killed Me' an example I suppose, but that's relatively OK; it's worse on slower songs).

'I'm Not Sorry' is an interesting case of a late collaboration working well, and (like I said) probably supporting Nabisco's theory.

But then, 'Irish Blood English Heart' has loads of 'dynamics' and is one of the best late M records, je crois.

I just say jam to mean song these days

at any rate I'm not saying he's bad in one setting and good in another, only that to my ear some of his best vocal deliveries accompany arrangements that are (relatively) static

I guess the big counterexample would be "How Soon Is Now?" which, played to death or not, is a super-dramatic song where he completely sells the climax in a way that was effective for me even when I was a Smiths-hating goth in '86

i just looked this up on youtube cuz a lot of ppl i respect in this thread are repping for it and man i do not like morrissey/the smiths at all

"Girl Least Likely To" and "Hairdresser on Fire" just KILL.

yeah I wouldn't think this song would sell someone open but inclined to skepticism about Morrissey into fandom...

I think it's a good song, pretty goofy vocal (the "la la la la...") as the verse transitions to chorus, but the (female?) backing vocal on the chorus makes up for it. I think it's one of the best (only?) "fun" songs of Morrissey's.

xpost agree on "Hairdresser on Fire"; that one's close to goofy and fun too, but doesn't cross the line; gorgeous vocal though on the chorus

This thread makes me sad because you all are having so much fun talking about this song I really really really really really fucking hate like someone who hates something a hell of a lot.

re "Hairdresser" – He hasn't yet lapsed into Kill Uncle-isms: he's insouciant without sounding languid.

(xpost)

TS: "Interesting Drug" vs "Domino Dancing"

okay no longer sad and envious

this is a pretty obvious song to reference, but i love the sparse, controlled nature of the guitar work in 'i know it's over'. even when the drums get louder and more forceful, and moz's vocal delivery reaches the peak of its intensity, you still have that stirring, restrained guitar line holding the whole thing together. magic

I wish I could explain what happened when Morrissey clicked for me, because from the first Smiths 7" all the way 'til 1995 I just hated his guts. People would try to explain it to me and I would go "yeah whatever, this shit is awful." Then I got this idea to cover the entire first Smiths album just for laughs (because a lot of the people who were into my stuff were certain I'd just automatically love the Smiths like everybody else), and somewhere in the middle of learning how to sing "What Difference Does It Make?" I was like "oh holy shit this is incredible songwriting/singing/oh fuck I really missed it, didn't I?"

Oh yeah that song rocks balls.

i always used to find it amusing that the smiths had that '16 year old poofy-haired bedroom loner' stigma, because when i was 16 and tried to listen to them, i couldn't even come close to detecting the subtleties and songwriting intricacies that i've sense grown to acknowledge and love. i definitely grew into them rather than out of them.

The Smiths I love almost without reservation.

Outside of about five songs, solo Morrissey can go fuck off.

I don't really know why I feel this way but I have since about 1990.

well that sort of makes sense, since the smiths are one of the greatest bands in history, while morrissey (solo) is generally adequate with moments of greatness, but certainly not in the same league.

(Well actually I do know why: Solo Morrissey continued in the vein of Strangeways... an album I liked primarily because it was the first Smiths album I heard but was so roundly outclassed by every other Smiths recording I heard that I came to view it as a musical betrayal rather than musical evolution; listening to more music in that vein was not at all what I wanted to do and it irrittated me profoundly that someone who was involved in things I found so engaging and awesome was wallowing in self-indulgent bullshit hackery with severely unpleasant racial overtones that essentially screamed "I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH FANS LIKE YOU" to me.)

For me, "Interesting drug" was the point just before I got off the Mozz train, it was good but not that good, and nothing particularly special. I bought the two early 89 singles as cassingles during a particularly grim part of my life and after getting through that stage I never really wanted to hear them again. Then "Ouija board" came out and I totally got off the train because it was plainly crap. I still love the Smiths, and "Viva Hate" because the songwriting is very good and it's got Vini Reilly on it, but after that it was clearly diminishing returns. I doubt anything he could do could persuade me back.

"You Have Killed Me, Rob M v2"

I'm very fond of "Our Frank," though.

Oh God that song is almost literally the end of the world.

Now I'm getting a medley/collaboration between Morrissey, U2, the Pet Shop Boys and Nick Cave in my head. And I'm not sure what to think about that.

i can't comprehend DPs moz hatred :/

umm I thought he explained it pretty clearly

cannot

It's difficult for me to be the fan of a white guy who writes songs talking about how minorities/immigrants don't belong in his country.

well, life is hard enough when you belong here.

it's the "can you blame us?" part that really gets me in this song, which is great.

is that kristy macoll on backing vox??

Yup.

Yes. She appears on many things Langer/Winstanley.

But never on a Lloyd Cole record, though they produced Easy Pieces (1985).

There is a discussion to be had about L & W and their sound and what they meant for pop. Perhaps it's been held.

There is another discussion to be had about Kirsty MacColl and her role as '7th Smith' or whatever, or her general omnipresence in independent-type pop record backgrounds, a lot like Emmylou Harris in country.

On the underrated-Smiths-song thread, I listed "Golden Lights," mostly because MacColl sounds fantastic on it.

i'd like to turn nabisco's observation from up-thread upside down. i prefer those songs of the smiths and morrissey which evolve. songs where there is a tension, where there is an interesting melody, where marr's guitar is usually up-front, where there are intricate harmonies ("i know it's over" is a great example). because in those songs morrissey's mannerisms and extravagances fit into place, are counterbalanced by the subtlety of the music. whereas in musically flat songs like this one - which i had to yootoob too as i didn't know it before - i find his over the top singing rather annoying, it has some vain l'art pour l'art quality i cannot stand. i think i don't like when he is the star, i prefer him to be part of a band, with mutual stimulations and frictions.

after the second listen i can somehow see the appeal of the song, basically the groove and the sound with marr's jangly guitar, but in the end all it does is remind me of the greatness of the smiths without bearing any interest in itself (this song i mean).

Marr isn't on this track, if you mean 'interesting drug'.

I really don't think 'golden lights' is an underrated record.

what intricate harmonies are you thinking of in 'I Know It's Over'? I think that song is marked by its restraint and minimalism (and its ability then to rise and surge), but it's not very complicated. And I don't think one could say Marr's guitar is up-front in 'I Know It's Over' either, unlike a 'Hand In Glove' or 'Still Ill'.

Strictly speaking, nothing the Smiths did was based off of minimalism. The chord structure of their songs is far too active to be considered minimalist.

I do not mean 'minimalism' in some kind of avant-garde sense. I'm just saying that song is good at being quiet.

I don't know what counts as 'active' (this sounds like a case for Adrian Chiles) but all the sequences in that song are very simple and none of it is terribly fast; any amateur could strum it.

Pinefox, I actually think of "The Headmaster Ritual" as being exactly the kind of static thing I'm talking about! It has structure and sections, yes, but it's all such a tangle of arpeggios that it creates a pretty smooth surface. In fact, it's partly the complexity that makes it feel smooth: it's built out of a bunch of small, interchangeable sections, none of which feels that more like a chorus or bridge than any other.

The later-Morrissey stuff where that vanishes starts with the Your Arsenal band, and it's not a problem at first ("Glamorous Glue"); there are even times when the dynamics really serve him ("Now My Heart Is Full"). But then all the crappy ones -- "The Boy Racer" has all these extra changes that completely kill the momentum/arc of the vocals, because Morrissey has to catch his footing over what might as well be key changes. And then on "Dagenham Dave," he has to hit accented notes in the verses, and does it fine, but then gets left at a total loss afterward and just stays quiet half the time! All compared to something like "Why Don't You Find Out for Yourself," which is just Smiths-style smooth sailing throughout -- changes, yes, but flat ones that just jangle steadily -- and you get kinda classic Good Morrissey Vocal out of it.

That is a sophisticated and informed analysis. Especially of the endlessly instrumental (though very short) 'Dagenham Dave'.

As noted on other thread, I think 'Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference' is a prime example of your rule at work: fussy complexity, complex structure, poor song.

'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore': now, *that* has 'dynamics'! It starts in one place and ends in another.

Something Nabisco has just pointed up: how many M records M is quiet on for long stretches - especially where instrumentals are just detached from the rest of the song. 'Bigmouth' has sections like that (it's Smiths as well as solo, this rule, I think) but the solo records have lots of bad / irritating / pointless key-change instrumentals too. If I were listening to them they would be jumping out at me and I would be listing them.

Aww, I mostly like "Such a Little Thing," but yeah, a lot of the changes and the arch little interlude just feel like ... interruptions. The thing that really gets to bothering me is how the recent band is always trying so hard to seem "muscular," which often means a pointless sense of presence. The guy sounds good with a good band that's back behind a screen. I mean, he's an old style of singer (40s-60s), and the mode that goes with that calls for the instrumentation to be somewhat receded and smooth in the back; you wouldn't want to hear Cilla Black with "muscular," "present" instrumentation, either!

xpost - Ha, yeah, this is the hilarious thing -- if you write in a section that the guy doesn't have a good vocal for, he'll just shut up until you're done! But if you keep it relatively flat and smooth and don't startle him, he'll work up some steam and do something great.

"The Boy Racer" has all these extra changes that completely kill the momentum/arc of the vocals, because Morrissey has to catch his footing over what might as well be key changes. And then on "Dagenham Dave," he has to hit accented notes in the verses, and does it fine, but then gets left at a total loss afterward and just stays quiet half the time!

I have never liked these songs and have never had a proper explanation for it other than "these aren't very good" but I think this gets to the heart of why they aren't very good.

I agree. Great job, nabisco.

The guy sounds good with a good band that's back behind a screen. I mean, he's an old style of singer (40s-60s), and the mode that goes with that calls for the instrumentation to be somewhat receded and smooth in the back; you wouldn't want to hear Cilla Black with "muscular," "present" instrumentation, either!

This is why I prefer the Viva Hate-Bona Drag-era Moz; the arrangements seem more programmed than played.

It's difficult for me to be the fan of a white guy who writes songs talking about how minorities/immigrants don't belong in his country.

I understand this, but... wasn't that a recent thing? "Bengali in Platforms" is within the last couple years, right? So what was he doing that was so offensive in the intervening years between "Strangeways..." and "Bengali in Platforms"...? Cuz I'm not really aware of any unpleasant racial overtones in his stuff up until that point.

personally I love all the Smiths and solo Morrissey stuff up through "Vauxhall and I". After that - meh. He's still quite interesting as a pop icon/media figure, but I don't really care to hear any of his new stuff.

"Bengali..." was released in 1988.

!! well shut my mouth

endless discussion:
Was/Is Morrissey Racist?

You know, I don't think I want to hear Cilla Black with emaciated, absent instrumentation neither.

Life is hard enough when you belong here.

(I'm going to quote that lyric all day)

Idea of Morrissey as 'old style of singer' I like, but wonder if it's reliant on Late Morrissey, in Elvis Comeback sort of mode (and surrounded by anonymous, though 'muscular' people). Morrissey on stage 1984-1986 probably didn't seem much like a 1940s-1960s singer - more like a sort of post-Punk eccentric, flamboyant romantic, indie icon etc etc. (Notwithstanding his & Marr's long interest in 1960s pop, which is indeed relevant.)

If I understood nabisco correctly, pinefox, he's calling attention to how the latest editions of Morrissey's bands (from '92 onwards) are such flash gits, compared to the several layers of studio gloss that Stephen Street put between Moz, Andy Rourke, Vini Reilly, and the rest.

I just stuck on my tape of Bona Drag, and waited a second, and ... 'Interesting Drug' bustled on.

I like the toms that rattle along the bottom at the end of the chorus.

I always remember the strangled way he sings the final 'enough is too much'.

Marr isn't on this track, if you mean 'interesting drug'.
you are right, sorry i confused his face with mike joyce's who is in the video but there is a jangly guitar esp. in the first minute.

what intricate harmonies are you thinking of in 'I Know It's Over'? I think that song is marked by its restraint and minimalism (and its ability then to rise and surge), but it's not very complicated. And I don't think one could say Marr's guitar is up-front in 'I Know It's Over' either
sorry but i think the guitar is all over the song. the guitar play is rather restrained and not very explosive indeed. but it is the instrument i hear foremost in that song. to me marr is playing with harmonies here. if they are simple or subtle is not for me to judge. maybe both. in any case, an astounding song where the instruments and the singing are totally symbiotic.

well, the guitar is the instrument one hears foremost in just about every Smiths song save ... Asleep / A Rush & A Push / Oscillate Wildly?

Single most underrated Morrissey song: "Skin Storm"

Skin Storm is, in my opinion, the only good cover Morrissey has done. Really great song, and it's interesting to look at the small changes to the lyrics he made.

Another good sort-of-cover is The Smiths doing a verse from Elvis's Marie's The Name (His Latest Flame) as a lead in to Rusholme Ruffians on Rank. It's extra awesome because Marr basically wrote Rusholme Ruffians based on a variation of the riff from the Elvis song.

the only good cover Morrissey has done

Nope. Although the studio version is crap, Moz's live version of That's Entertainment is a pretty great cover. Unfortunately youtube took down the best version of it live from Dallas (where Boz smashes his guitar at the end), but this one does the trick...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY21TLo622w

Other then that though, most of Moz's covers are pretty dismal...

that's something i never thought i would see.

The title was off a quote from Princess Margaret about Cocaine.

Alright, best boxer-related track: Boxers or Sunny?

I vote Boxers.

By the way, both of those singles have some of the best b-sides of Morrissey's career.

Isn't the song about/to Natalie Merchant on that one? Ugh.