Originally posted 16/6/2012
Music and me and why The Smiths is NOT hanging music
The above title may seem odd and you may very well disagree
with it. It comes back to a drunken
argument I had with someone who described The Smiths as “hanging music”. I responded that anyone who hangs themselves
on the basis of being upset by a piece of music is probably best off out of it
and not necessarily a great loss to the world.
I was then rounded on and accused of suggesting the guy I was arguing
with should hang himself, which was never my point but I reluctantly
apologised, not being one for confrontation. But I stand by my point.
The person describing The Smiths as “hanging music” did not
like The Smiths or Morrissey and had therefore probably spent very little time
or effort in listening to their music. I
have the same opinion of Lady Goo-Goo, her music doesn't interest me (her
public image less so but that is another blog altogether) and thus I do not
feel qualified to criticise it. So why
pick out The Smiths rather than say Joy Division or The Cure? Firstly, Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy
Division, made it very difficult to defend them against accusations of making
hanging music by, er, hanging himself.
And, frankly, Joy Division’s oeuvre is entirely bleak and nihilistic,
without exception. The Cure actually
support The Smiths argument to an extent except that whilst making beautifully
sad songs their pop efforts are out and out pop songs and this is where they
differ from Moz et al.
There is, undeniably, a desolate quality to The Smith’s
entire canon, to deny this would be foolhardy but most of melancholy therein is
lyrical and vocal. In the most part,
listen to an awful lot of their catalogue whilst ignoring the voice and you
will hear the up-tempo rhythm section of Rourke and Joyce pumping out eminently
danceable lines over which Marr’s jangly, infectious melodies lift the
emotions. There are exceptions of
course, but on the whole there is nothing particularly “depressing” about the
music itself. Then, of course, there is
Morrissey. Without a doubt Moz was a
crotchety old man in 1982 when he formed the band and has grown more and more
comfortable in that role ever since. His
views on meat eating especially take no prisoners, not one for sitting on the
fence our Mozza. But unlike a lot of;
for example; gothic music, which delights in being as Poe faced (pun intended)
as possible Morrissey owes more to Wilde, Coward or Bennett with a definite air
of mischief and humour running through his works, often self-deprecating in the
manner that only someone who truly adores themselves can achieve (and I should
know). There is more Kenneth Williams than Kafka to The Smiths, an aspect which
sadly declined but did not totally disappear in Morrissey’s solo works.
Still, the “hanging music” is an easy epithet to throw at
many of the music acts I enjoy by those who actively dislike them or are just
uninterested. I can quite understand why people don’t want to listen to miserabalist
music, not everyone listens to music the way I do in the same way as not
everyone reads or watches movies like I do.
There does seem to be a different attitude to music by some however who
would happily sit through a film or endure a novel with a dark theme with a
morally ambiguous ending, they will say that the artistic merit of the work
deserves respect, irrespective of any lack of morally uplifting principle or
feel-good factor within. So, why not
hear music with the same critical sensibilities? Mozart’s Requiem Mass is an unspeakable
beautiful piece of music but man this guy was pissed off when he wrote it,
should we therefore deem it “too heavy” for general consumption (general
attitudes to “classical” music notwithstanding)? Some of the darker songs by
The Cure and most of what Joy Division put out have an innate beauty to them,
often dichotic. There is at times in the
music I listen to, sometimes deliberately but perhaps often entirely
coincidental, a juxtaposition of ugly sounds blended with an aching sadness
that touches one in whichever organ one deems responsible for emotion.
There is a chicken-egg dilemma to some, who generally should
have better things to think about, as to whether people listen to miserable
music because they are depressed or do they become depressed by listening to
miserable music. If I had to agree with
either possibility I’d go for the former, as a person who has suffered bouts of
depression from my teens I was drawn towards a music with the emotional depth
that I empathised with. But… I listen to
lots of music. Yes, I enjoy… and I mean
ENJOY listening to The Smiths, The Cure, Joy Division et cetera but I also like
a lot of upbeat rock music, techno, electronic pop and may occasionally even be
found tapping my feet to a Lady Ug-Ug song whist probably not knowing who it
is. The reason I listen to the music I
listen to is the same reason as why most people listen to the music they listen
to. I like it.
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