Morrissey — KROQ interview (part 4/4)
air date: July
6, 1997
Interview by Richard Blade
for KROQ 106.7, Los Angeles, CA
Text transcribed by Melinda Hsu
BLADE: We’re listening to an interview I did with Morrissey on Thursday after he talked live with Jed the Fish. And before the interview I should tell you that the record company said, Whatever you do, don’t talk about the Smiths, and don’t talk about like older music! But as you can hear from the interview, Morrissey was more than happy to talk about the Smiths. In fact, he was the one who brought up the idea of the Smiths. Then I thought, you know, as it’s going to be an all-request Fourth of July weekend at KROQ, wouldn’t it be cool if Morrissey chose some music himself? So, after I finished the interview I thought I would lead into getting Morrissey to choose some songs by asking him about the kind of music he was currently listening to:
[cut to pre-recorded interview]
M: I’m listening to the Smoking Popes’ new album, which I don’t think has been released yet. It’s called Destination Failure, and it’s excellent. And a group from England called Travis. Have you heard of them? (B: Not Travis, no.) Yeah, and ummm... probably nobody else, I don’t think.
B: Now with the Smoking
Popes we played "Need You Around", and everybody said, "Sounds
like Morrissey!"
M: Yes, they said that too in England, yes they did. And I bought the album,
and I just thought it was extraordinary — the most lovable thing I’d heard
for years. I think he has a great voice. Are they big here?
B: That last single was,
that "Need You Around" single. But since then they haven’t been
played that much. (M: Yeah, yeah) Are there any other similarities that you
find? Or is it just that one single?
M: Oh, no! I love the entire album, and it’s unusual for me to buy a cd and
to like every single track. I mean if I buy a cd and I like three tracks,
I consider it to be a good cd. But in the boring old days of vinyl, if I bought
an album and I didn’t like the whole thing, I’d consider it to be failure.
But I feel a bit more generous towards cds, so I thought that it was excellent.
["Need You Around"
(1995) by the Smoking Popes]