Morrissey on the Boys and Alan Bennett in Time Out

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Choliux · #1 Post by **Choliux** » Fri 24 Jun 2005, 8:32 pm

There is a Q&A with Morrissey in this week's Time Out magazine. He talks about Alan Bennett who used to be his neighbor. One of the questions is:

Q: Was Bennett aware of your work before you met?
M: "... in an early draft of his play "The History Boys" he used a line of 'Headmaster Ritual', which thrilled me - but he dropped the line just prior to publication and replaced it with a Pet Shop Boys lyric, which infuriated me."

There's a scan of the article hosted by Morrissey-solo.com here:

http://www.morrissey-solo.com/news/2005 ... 230605.jpg

shaunh7 · #2 Post by **shaunh7** » Sat 25 Jun 2005, 1:42 am

Has anyone got any more comments on the boys from morrissey from the past?

Tony Cologne · #3 Post by **Tony Cologne** » Sat 25 Jun 2005, 5:24 pm

He's never really had anything to nice to say about them.

Joemoz · #4 Post by **Joemoz** » Sat 25 Jun 2005, 8:33 pm

Sad to say, Tony is right.

shaunh7 · #5 Post by **shaunh7** » Sat 25 Jun 2005, 8:40 pm

"we're the pet shop boy's you can't dance to"

Dipso · #6 Post by **Dipso** » Sun 26 Jun 2005, 4:25 am

Morrissey's ire is aimed at Alan Bennett rather than the Pets though, surely?

Janet Street-Porter · Sun 26 Jun 2005, 8:13 am

Does Morrissey say anything nice about anybody though? With the notable exception of the New York Dolls and Ena Sharples of course.

joncool5 · #8 Post by **joncool5** » Sun 26 Jun 2005, 3:59 pm

Well he loves Sparks, they hang out together in LA!

loon · #9 Post by **loon** » Sun 26 Jun 2005, 7:32 pm

"The tour ended in spectacular fashion at London's Theatre Royal Dury Lane on 26 February, where the concert was recorded and the guests included then Morrissey favourites Echobelly, Adam Ant, Blur, P J Harvey, The Pet Shop Boys, Gianfranco (the afore mentioned gay porn star), my wife and myself."

I've taken this verbatim from David Bret's book 'Morrissey Scandal and Passion'.

Maybe Morrissey doesn't like Marr being friends with PSB. I do like Mozza though. His lack of acknowledgement of his sexual preferences reminds me of someone...

p.s. Why do they always put PSB as THE Pet Shop Boys?

Eldritch · #10 Post by **Eldritch** » Sun 26 Jun 2005, 7:51 pm

loon wrote:p.s. Why do they always put PSB as THE Pet Shop Boys?

Bret's book is totally amateurish twaddle, written by somebody well-informed in French chanson but who has no knowledge of pop music or terminology at all. I'm not surprised that he calls them "the" PSB - after all, Bret also states in his book that Gary Numan was the lead singer of Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark. And his way of name-dropping himself as a guest in the part you quoted highlights his way of bringing himself to the fore at every available opportunity.

shaunh7 · #11 Post by **shaunh7** » Sun 26 Jun 2005, 8:24 pm

found this:

Do you feel any kinship with the Pet Shop Boys?
"I feel absolutely no kinship whatsoever with the Pet Shop Boys. Not this year or the next! They don't leave any impression on me whatsoever."
No interest at all? You've socialised with Neil Tennant...
"Well, Neil interests me, yes, in the sense that I find a brain like that working successfully in this medium far more interesting than, well, fill in your own blank, really. At least he's an intelligent person."

from this page:
http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~moz/quotes/deepend.htm

loon · #12 Post by **loon** » Mon 27 Jun 2005, 7:08 pm

shaunh7 wrote:found this:

Do you feel any kinship with the Pet Shop Boys?
"I feel absolutely no kinship whatsoever with the Pet Shop Boys. Not this year or the next! They don't leave any impression on me whatsoever."
No interest at all? You've socialised with Neil Tennant...
"Well, Neil interests me, yes, in the sense that I find a brain like that working successfully in this medium far more interesting than, well, fill in your own blank, really. At least he's an intelligent person."

from this page:
http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~moz/quotes/deepend.htm

I've not read that interview before. Thanks for that.

Nice to hear that Neil's brain interests him

loon · #13 Post by **loon** » Mon 27 Jun 2005, 7:14 pm

Eldritch wrote:
loon wrote:p.s. Why do they always put PSB as THE Pet Shop Boys?
Bret's book is totally amateurish twaddle, written by somebody well-informed in French chanson but who has no knowledge of pop music or terminology at all. I'm not surprised that he calls them "the" PSB - after all, Bret also states in his book that Gary Numan was the lead singer of Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark. And his way of name-dropping himself as a guest in the part you quoted highlights his way of bringing himself to the fore at every available opportunity.

That book was also bloody confusing as he jumps around stories from various eras! It's the only Morrissey biography I've read. I know there are others but I'm sure it's all just the same story regurgitated different ways.

Eldritch · #14 Post by **Eldritch** » Mon 27 Jun 2005, 7:31 pm

loon wrote:It's the only Morrissey biography I've read. I know there are others but I'm sure it's all just the same story regurgitated different ways.

If you're interested in reading another one, I recommend heartily Johnny Rogan's Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance. It ends in 1987, but paints a really well-researched and revealing picture about Moz's youth and the Smiths years. No wonder Moz hates the book so much.

Native · #15 Post by **Native** » Mon 27 Jun 2005, 8:11 pm

Along the same lines, Mr Little Brit interviewed Noel G for The Guardian and there are a couple of PSB mentions late on....

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/stor ... 23,00.html

Morrissey on the Boys and Alan Bennett in Time Out

Morrissey on the Boys and Alan Bennett in Time Out

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