I don’t like the word ‘cult’ because it suggests that you don’t actually appeal in the greater world. I’ve had three number one albums in three different decades, so I’m also neither ‘alternative’ nor ‘indie’. I am just one of those pop artists that the media don’t know what to do with. I have never embraced rock celebrity status, and wouldn’t want to. To be called a celebrity these days is to be called an idiot. David Beckham is a perfect example of a celebrity.”
—Morrissey, on his status as a cult rock star, to MSN Juice.
Photo: LAMC Productions
Belize
I do not like David Beckham and I do like a number of Morrisey’s songs. But this is disappointingly catty even if Queerty didn’t use that photo of him. What the hell, Morrisey? We do not need more of that. We already have Madonna acting like an 80-year-old schoolyard princess. Not to mention so many people like her in the bubblegum variants of of Hip Hop and Pop. And quite frankly, that is one of the many reasons as to why “to be called a celebrity these days is to be called an idiot.”
GregR
Morrissey didn’t call David Beckham an idiot. I took what he said like if a person is a celebrity nowadays, they’re going to be called an idiot. So he feels Beckham is an example of today’s celebrity? So? Other “celebrities” like Kim Kardashian, Sarah Palin, any and all of the Real Housewives, to name a few, are often called idiots. It’s ridiculous how these people get so much media attention and opportunities given to them for no other reason than than their celebrity status. The people who love Morrissey are not a cult, nor do they need to be called a cult in order to understand that Morrissey has fans. He is right when he says the music world has become meaningless and moronic.
J.
@GregR: ‘Celebrities are idiots, David Beckham is a celebrity, therefore David Beckham is an idiot.’
Morrissey makes (sorry, made) good music but stop defending him as a person, he’s always been a complete and utter twat.
Cam
It must get tiring being bitter for 30 years.
Rory
He is notoriously twatty.
Alexa
Yes, Morrissey makes great music but he’s a complete asshole as a person. An English friend had the misfortune to work with him a few years ago and he’s at the top of her list of people she will never work with again. She’s used to artists being demanding, it’s how they put out their best work, but he was unreasonable (and cheap).
Red S.
I’m a huge fan of The Smiths and Moz’s solo work but his grumpy statements are pretty much to be expected. He’s so reliably contrarian, sometimes you just have to roll you eyes.
And I don’t think many people would call him ‘cult’ these days, though they might use a word that sounds somewhat similar.
1equalityUSA
He tends to get more handsome as the years go by, though kindness is underrated.
Clueless
What a douche, and this is arguably the weakest example of Morissey’s well-known ass-hattery.
Lefty
@Alexa: Yeah, contrary to what Morrissey likes to claim, he’s a complete and utter cult…
Lefty
I think he was at his most handsome/gorgeous between You Are The Quarry and Ringleader of the Tormentors (his work seems to have deteriorated a lot since that second album, too).
He tends to sweat a little, these days… 🙁
Andrew
He’s utterly deluded about what happens in the real world.
This is what he said after the shootings in Norway.
“We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 dead. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Shit every day”
john
Please mister squeal into the mic is calling Beckham an idiot, well Beckham realizes the body wont last forever so cash in on it now, still a good footy player.Unlike the Kardashian’s he actually has a skill that has put him in the spot light.
I have never been a Morrissey fan
Carl 1
This is news? The entire UK has known that David Beckham is an idiot for the last decade…
Carl 1
@Andrew: He’s kind of got a point about fast food: it’s killing us as surely as any bullet and on a global scale.
n900mixalot
Just an old fat arse with a cat on his head and a chip on his shoulder. Boohoo, morissey, like your sad sack fans. At least Bowie makes moaning and wailing sound like art.
Brandon
LMAO this is coming from the world’s biggest closet queen Morrissey!
Nicki
Whatever Moz. Your music sucks since you’re no longer in the Smiths, and you’ve always been a whiny closet case.
Glen
“To be called a celebrity these days is to be called an idiot. David Beckham is a perfect example of a celebrity.”
Thank you Morrisey, for having the guts to say what most of us instinctively realize. The king has no clothes.
adam
this sure sounds like sour grapes at beckham’s expense: sniff, i didn’t want to be a celebrity anyway, sniff. . .
on the other hand, now i’ll be humming the smiths all day: shoplifters of the world, unite and take over. . . .
Will
Glen, Morrissey doesn’t have to say this for everyone to know that it’s true. Just look at the Kardashians.
teto
I don’t think Morrissey thinks it’s Beckham’s fault. He knows the media is controlled for maximum profit, and that everyday people are obsessed with sex, money and power.
When he makes comments like this, he’s basically an idle, bedridden dreamer who wants to overturn everything stupid by simply saying so.
It’s what he does. It’s not going to change. He thinks it’s stupid, and he’s right. So what?
Also, there’s no point in calling Morrissey a closetcase. Michael Stipe was an actual closetcase–he avoided having a sexuality even in his music. Morrissey had an OBVIOUS gay sexuality in his music, including a song called Picadilly Palare for chrissakes, but he refused to come out in INTERVIEWS. It’s different. And much more interesting.
Lefty
@teto: I agree with what you say about Morrissey not strictly being a closet-case. I’ve often argued that he has, in fact, been one of the most openly gay popstars ever, when you take into account the emotions and desires he expresses through everything he has done – going right back to the start of The Smiths (the first single and cover, etc).
However, he has actually denied being gay once or twice in interviews – not just ambiguously deflected questions regarding his sexuality, but explicitly denied that he’s gay (“I’m gay? Well, that’s news to me.” – Rolling Stone, 1990).
Having said that, it always amazes me that there are long-term Morrissey/Smiths fans who will categorically deny that he’s gay and that lyrics which, to me, seem obviously gay are anything but…
kae
He is the embodiment of nasty, snide, bad tempered negativity. Narcissistic and boring with it.