Adult R&Pers: Was Morrissey The "Emo" of Our Times?

Question

I hate using the "E" word.

But Let's face it, every generation has had its own share of gloomy musicians, which helped us get through our early "rebelling" years. Would you say that Morrissey was "emo" for our generation?

Your Thoughts please ...

Oh, well of course. The musicianship of
The Smiths, or Morrissey solo and company,
far surpasses that of what is defined as "emo" today. I'll give our dear Morrissey due credit anyday

The Cure was most certainly another one... if any of you can think of other acts that would have fallen under this category ... share them

Rckets, point well made.

Spider hun, did you read my disclaimer? lol

"uneducated rock knowledge" lol ... I guess I'll have to file that phrase in my Rock and Roll Reference Encyclopedia

Yikes - what's with all the thumbing down people?

LOL No worries How Soon Is Now :)

I'd like to clarify once more that the disclaimer was put there to establish the context of the word "emo" that I'm using in this example. I am by NO means comparing the childish groups of today with our dear Moz. Some people know well enough to understand that.

Answer 1

I cant really answer..

...but... cant you give the man a little more credit?

But...its well known that the awefull "Emo" bands claim that they were influenced by him...



Edit: I know what it looks like but i swear i gave no thumbs down!

Answer 2

I cringe to hear those two in the same sentence. I guess I would have to say going by the definition though that you are right. The difference to me is that Morrissey has always had a darkly humorous side to his lyrics. They have hope (in a strange way) that is in self acceptance, no matter how messed up you are. I don't think today's artists are like that. They seem to be sad and mournful, but never offer any way out.

Answer 3

um, hell no. i can't even believe you put morrissey and emo in the same sentence.

read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo

the smiths/morrissey in no way fit the cast for historical emo. besides, what is traditional revered as emo came out not that long after the smiths, and aren't even genre related at all. so what if music is "gloomy". i could sit around and write gloomy songs all day but that doesn't make them "emo". morrissey has no punk derivatives, and wasn't from friggin detroit. you can be emotional and not deemed emo. even the term emo has been terribly bastardized which is a subject that alone needs its own forum. i really wish people would stop slapping an emo label on anything downbeat and less than happy. ever pay attention to of montreal lyrics? they're sad as shitt but i wouldn't say it's emo. same goes for sparkle horse, rasputina, mazzy star, giant drag, and none of those bands have emo roots. even referencing morrissey with emo is a flagrant misuse of jargon and uneducated rock knowledge.

edit: yes, but the question is null anyways. emo and morrissey are from essentially the time gap so the answer is no. emo is emo and morrissey is morrissey, that is NOT the pot calling the kettle black. they are extremely distinct and separate musical anomalies alltogether.

Answer 4

If you were to apply the term to mean exactly what it should instead of what it's morphed into today, then yes I'd have to agree with that. Morrissey was far gloomier than MCR and the rest of poser army could ever hope to be.

SpiderDijon - All those artists you mentioned are indeed quite glum but Morrissey has something on all of them. His vocal delivery makes him sound much sadder than any human on the planet. No one said Moz was truly emo. However, that has more to do with the ever changing definition of the genre.

Answer 5

Aww, no...

Those two words in the same sentence make me want to cringe. Subtleties make all the difference.

Answer 6

morrisey, the cure, depeche mode, I so have to agree, well I was 8 years old and they were the most popular bands that used lyrics about heartbreak and they sold, plus they also made dressing up in an efeminate way popular(well,along with glam metal)