Saint Morrissey: A Portrait of This Charming Man by an Alarming Fan [Paperback]

Mark Simpson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2006

There is no other contemporary artist who is so famously difficult, so seemingly enigmatic, and so passionately loved by his fans as Morrissey. From the moment he caught the public's eye in the early 1980s as the iconic front man of the Smiths, and through his subsequent solo career, the patron saint of misfits has fascinated and baffled in equal measure.

Yet, as Mark Simpson argues in this wickedly funny and deeply sacrilegious "psycho-bio" -- told through the lens of his own obsession as a lifelong fan -- Morrissey isn't quite so enigmatic as he might appear. To understand this most private (and sexually ambivalent) of stars, one need only uncover the countless clues to his personality in his startlingly candid song lyrics and his innumerable provocative interviews.

Simpson deftly explores why Morrissey bewitched a generation -- and why he remains as intriguing as ever. Both an insightful look at the singer's career and a personal story of a boy's first love for his music idol, Saint Morrissey is, like its subject, shrewd, sharp-witted, charming, and utterly original.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Morrissey, the former lead singer for the 1980s underground band the Smiths, returned to the public eye last summer with his first album in seven years. Going by the breathless prose of this pop hagiography, Simpson was one of many fans who never abandoned faith during the long absence. The British journalist flirts dangerously with parody in the extravagant praise for "the greatest-ever lyricist of desire" and an unchecked tendency toward hyperbolic metaphor, but reveals some sophisticated insights into his "anti-pop idol." Mixing cultural criticism with biography, Simpson explores Morrissey's troubled childhood in the northern working-class city of Manchester and the significance of his obsessions with figures like Oscar Wilde and James Dean. The text is peppered with snippets from interviews illustrating the star's cagey relationship with the music press over the decades. A homoerotic spirit pervades much of the proceedings; Simpson describes his own initial encounter with a Smiths song as an overwhelming seduction, and reads much into the singer's collaborative relationship with guitarist Johnny Marr. But he admires Morrissey's deliberate coyness, concluding that it makes him accessible to self-identified outcasts of every orientation. With the star already on the comeback trail, this enthusiastic appreciation is well timed. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Saint Morrissey is a cracking read, almost an instructional handbook on how to develop, deal with, and finally escape an obsession." --The Boston Phoenix

"Simpson is funny, clever, honest, irreverent and egotistical: quite the match for Morrissey. More biographies should be written this way." --Independent on Sunday - Books of the Year

"The most incisive biography of Morrissey yet published" --James Maker - 'The Fifth Smith'

"Like his subject, incurable super-fan Simpson is constantly amusing and provocative.... A book Morrissey will claim to hate, but secretly love." --Mojo

"Relentlessly enjoyable."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"The faithful will have the satisfaction of discovering another person who's desperate to figure out what's going on in Moz's head."

-- Spin

"A provocative and precocious read...Smiths fans will love it."

-- Time Out (UK)

"Entertaining and perceptive...written with real flair."

-- The Times (UK)

"A sweet and tender mash note by an unabashed obsessive...witty, clever, charming, disarming."

-- Geeta Dayal, The Village Voice

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (March 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074328481X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743284813
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #599,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brit author and journalist Mark Simpson is credited with 'fathering' the metrosexual in the UK's Independent newspaper in 1994 (and also his hairy-backed anti-thesis the retrosexual).

Simpson introduced his insufferably pretty offspring to the US in 2002, naming David Beckham as the prime exemplar and starting the current global epidemic of metrosexmania.

In 2010 the global cool-hunting/trend-spotting website Science of the Time described him as 'the world's most perceptive writer about masculinity'.

Both the New York Times and The London Times acclaimed his saucy new concept of 'Sporno' ('the place where sport and porn meet and produce a spectacular money shot') as one of their 'Ideas of the Year'.

In December 2008 GQ Russia listed him - topless and oiled up - in their top ten Things That Changed Men's Lives, above Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sigmund Freud and even Biotherm Homme.

Publications Simpson has written for include The Times, Playboy, Out, the Independent, the Seattle Stranger, the Guardian, Vogues Hommes International and Details. He is also Senior Contributing Editor at the world's leading men's fashmag, Arena Hommes Plus.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morrissey finally has a biographer worthy of him, May 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Saint Morrissey (Hardcover)

This is a remarkable book and, like it's subject, is startlingly unique. It's funny, clever, insightful and often quite moving. Above all it's brilliantly, dazzlingly written. Morrissey finally has a biographer worthy of him.

I have to admit though that I was, relatively speaking, a part-time Morrissey fan when I came to this book, but after finishing 'Saint Morrissey' I realised what I'd been missing out on, went out and bought all the albums I didn't have (except 'Southpaw Grammar' of course) and fell in love with Morrissey all over again, and more completely this time. But then this isn't just the best Morrissey book out there, this is one of the best books on pop culture and fandom ever penned.

Or at least, one of the best I've read - and I've read it twice now, in quick succession. I may even start memorising lines from it - talking about the effect hearing the first Smiths album had on him Simpson writes: 'It filled me with the urge to shoplift expensive perfume and spray bus shelters with it'. Is fandom catching? And can you become a fan of a writer simply because of the intensity and intelligence of their own fandom? 'Saint Morrissey' certainly makes it seem that way

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy, breezy, pleased me., May 10, 2006

By 

Eyelashes (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saint Morrissey: A Portrait of This Charming Man by an Alarming Fan (Paperback)

Through the first twenty or so pages, Simpson's apparent attempt to appropriate and emulate Morrissey's wit/sense of humor sort of turned me off. But while I would've enjoyed a slightly less precious delivery, Simpson does turn out to have a reasonable amount of original observations on Morrissey's career.

Promoted as a "psychobio," Saint Morrissey is more about the man than the music - you may be surprised how little Simpson has to say about the actual albums through 250 pages (though this may be down to the fact that Morrissey offers much more opportunity for intellectual tangents than the average artist). You might call it a Unified Theory of Morrisseyism: it's less about "he did this, then he recorded this, then this happened" (which is what a lot of otherwise fine bios, like Complicated Shadows, devolve into) than it is about what it all means. It's an emotional response instead of a historical exercise, and that really appealed to me. It's also less...invasive, I guess?...than, say, Heavier Than Heaven, which took disgusting license in trying to get into its subject's head. Saint Morrissey isn't about exposing its subject's secrets, because Simpson understands Morrissey's career well enough to realize that his secrets are a massive element of his appeal. That understanding and respect is the key appeal here. Of course, it's written by a fan, and an alarming one at that, so Saint Morrissey is never critical in any serious sense, but it never panders the way Landscapes of the Mind does, either.

In the end, it's a quick, cute read designed for those who already know all the significant dates and chart placements and catalogue numbers. Why don't you find out for yourself?

24 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You've finally earned it, baby..., April 17, 2004

By 

"laurapgillespie" (Grand Rapids, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saint Morrissey (Hardcover)

Maybe there are two kinds of Morrissey fans, but I don't really believe so. People who only like one or two Morrissey albums tend to be 80s leftover **Smiths** fans. And to be fair, I suppose it's possible that some of those people will enjoy this book. But my honest feeling, however selfish, is that anyone who might be described as a CASUAL Smiths/Morrissey fan does not deserve this book.

SAINT MORRISSEY is for the only kind of Morrissey fan - those of us who have stuck with Moz. By which I don't mean not liking some albums better than others (I happen to like them all - see below). Or not sometimes feeling frustrated at what being a Morrissey fan seems to mean to certain people we all know!! (There's a great quote about this on the back of SAINT MORRISSEY, which is too good to give away here.) But, well, you're either a Morrissey fan or you're not.

If you are a fan, this book will speak to your heart, make you immediately start grabbing the albums and playing them incessantly (if you've ever stopped), and make you feel... like this book is part of your Morrissey collection.

I've read SAINT MORRISSEY three times. So far. But - as I promised above - I must also confess that I love KILL UNCLE and SOUTHPAW GRAMMAR. And if I were to offer any criticism, it would be that Mark Simpson unfairly neglects those albums and MALADJUSTED... But maybe another true mark of a Morrissey fan is that we all have our own books to write?!