08/24/2007
Morrissey Turns Down $75 Million Offer to Reunite The Smiths
Morrissey has no interest in returning to the days of yore with guitarist Johnny Marr and his ex-bandmates in The Smiths, not even for a deal that would line his pockets with cash.
"Morrissey's publicist has confirmed the artist refused a $75 million offer to tour under the Smiths name in 2008 and/or 2009, with the only mandate being that Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr would be part of the band. The Smiths also declined a multi-million dollar offer to perform in recent years at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif."
The singer will start a U.S. tour on September 21 in Las Vegas.
Posted 10:30 AM EST by Andy Towle in Morrissey, Music, News | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
From Wikipedia: To this day Morrissey refuses to reunite his old band, going as far as to say that he would “rather eat [his] own testicles than re-form The Smiths, and that’s saying something for a vegetarian.” In March 2006 Morrissey revealed that the Smiths were offered five million dollars to reunite for a performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which he turned down, saying, "No, because money doesn't come into it." He further explained, "It was a fantastic journey. And then it ended. I didn't feel we should have ended. I wanted to continue. [Marr] wanted to end it. And that was that." When asked why he would not reform with The Smiths, Morrissey responded “I feel as if I’ve worked very hard since the demise of the Smiths and the others haven’t, so why hand them attention that they haven’t earned? We are not friends, we don’t see each other. Why on earth would we be on a stage together?”
Posted by: DrSmileX | Aug 24, 2007 2:03:52 PM
I can't stand Morrisey, and could care less about a Smiths reunion. The guy is a totsl fucking tool, and his voice is like fingernails on a blackboard. He also needs to get a new look. A greying pompadour on 50+ year old man is not cute.
Posted by: michael | Aug 24, 2007 2:24:59 PM
Really why should he do a reunion? Turning down reunion offers is done by only the true artistic giants remember Tina Louise? Mo has just as much talent as Tina, just ask the screaming homos that pay to see is lazy singing technique year after year. Mo also wants you all to know he’s not gay.
Posted by: ggreen | Aug 24, 2007 2:45:22 PM
The queen is dead, boys.
Posted by: J'ason D'luv | Aug 24, 2007 3:24:54 PM
The quotation from Morrissey will leave the others in the band singing: "We hate it when our friends become successful"
I am not gay, but adored the Smiths (orientation NOT a prerequisite to appreciating their music and place in rock history), which was totally driven by Morrissey for me (as borne out by his subsequent successful projects). Many of my friends and I were strangely energized by the connection to the melancholic but slightly droll lyrics - it was a relief to have someone telling universal truths from a perspective of common neurosis rather than empty bragging in metal band format. And on the change of look: HEY, MOST OF US ARE GREYING...WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO? GIVE UP ANY PERSONAL SENSE OF STYLE? Shave our heads? Curl up and dye...shoe polish coif? Time waits for no man...we'll be waiting for you in the wrinkle room Michael.
Posted by: greymase | Aug 24, 2007 3:40:33 PM
re: Michael. dear, "cute" is not the highest compliment for those of us post-40. in fact, it's usually a compliment applied to young girls, prepubescent boys, and kittens. if that was meant to sting, try harder once you've got some balls.
the Smiths were a group that was particularly skilled at coding sexual/social difference. the rabid fan base it developed was rewarded in interpreting this difference and informing how life could be lived. like Neil Tennant & the Pet Shop Boys, or Michael Stipe & r.e.m., these groups informed one version of what gay life could be for a generation of men living through overt prejudice and the very real fear of death (through AIDS panic).
looking around now, I'm really hard pressed to think of anyone who's got this sensibility and platform. Patrick Wolf? Bloc Party? the Killers? Tiga? (those are all honest suggestions...) but tragedy of today's gays is the silly, flip cynicism that dismisses credible aspects of gay history in such a stupidly assertive manner. so - who is it? who really has some artistic integrity as either a gay or LGBT-affiliated recording artist these days? perhaps Rufus Wainwright -- but I'd really like to hear who others think has the chops these days.
Posted by: resurrect | Aug 24, 2007 4:23:29 PM
argueing over has been bands and singers who haven't been relevant for 15 years is like argueing over politics and religion....no one wins, since we all have our own sense of what's good and whats not.
Posted by: Joshua | Aug 24, 2007 5:43:35 PM
Curse Michael. I can't think of another pop singer with better style than Morrissey. And he's only 48, actually. Not 50+. Oh and the pompadour was cropped from his head over 12 years ago. It's now a very short, receding hair-line type of cut with a little length in the front. I'm still not getting how any gay dude could miss all of this.
Posted by: alexi | Aug 24, 2007 6:09:58 PM
Sorry,just don't get the Morrisey/Smiths thing at all.Sure the music was part of the 80's culture but i really thought it stayed there.There are far worthier musicians/bands that deserve that kind of nest egg dangled before them.
Abba.Of course the comparison would be there,but Bjorn & Benny are smart,have you seen the box office receipts for Mamma Mia.Oh and there's that little movie being made as we speak.
Posted by: john | Aug 24, 2007 6:16:37 PM
Ressurect: Good question. Rufus is making great contributions to pop music but not to pop culture as an icon or influential persona. He has a baroque sensiblility, musically, which could be argued to be a gay sensibility. But everything else about him is neuter. His lyrics are genderless but in a benign way. I think the age of Morrisseys and Oscar Wildes and Gore Vidals and Truman Capotes is over for now. It's a gay baby's world and there isn't a platform available for this kind of person right now.
Posted by: alexi | Aug 24, 2007 6:28:18 PM
....Pastafarian do yourself a favor and purchace The Smiths release "The Queen is Dead". Acually, you should buy everything they every did.
Posted by: ARTFAG! | Aug 24, 2007 7:35:27 PM
I don't see how the Pixies reunion "tarnished their image". I mean honestly if you feel seeing a reunion tour will tarnish your "image" of a band then don't go...there are plenty of other fans who don't dwell upon superficial idiocy.
Posted by: liam | Aug 25, 2007 4:55:11 AM
johnny himself told me that morrisey repeatedly propositioned him till in the end he propositioned johnny and his wife. so he got tired of it and quit. but they are 40+ now so $75m would let bygones be bygones, i'm just saying like if no one grew up yet after almost 20 years...just take the money and chill. morrisey could have any straight/gay boy he wanted. he's an icon. i'm sure they've all emotionally moved on!
Posted by: i heard | Aug 25, 2007 12:40:40 PM
Saw them in 1985 here in NYC and they rocked. Hard. I guess he doesn't need the money.
And Joe is right, their act might seem cliche these days. They are still my favorite band.
I'm sure he doesn't need the money enough to want to do something he doesn't want to do.
Posted by: Katie | Aug 25, 2007 8:05:45 PM
that is it integrity the only other time i remeber witnessing it was my snotty lil sis asking to borrow my stuff i said would you let me use any of your things even know straight aways she said no
we need more people like that not refusing money integrity i prob wont join them but ill root for them
Posted by: sasha | Aug 26, 2007 3:42:26 AM
Ah, don't you just love how people will argue to their deaths about how "this band or that singer" was brilliant and every gay person must know who they are....I'm sure it's been said about Liz, Judy, Ethel, The Smiths, Elton John blah blah....I for one love that young gays aren't getting "stuck" in the musical past of older gays but forging their own path with gay rappers, rockers, electroclash, whatever....yeah, the Smiths were good, but in the big picture, lots of bands come and go and some make a mark on a particular generation...and everybody swears nobody of "today" can measure up...
the reality is these groups just represent your youth, when you were carefree or whatever, and the gays of today should have their own, whether it's Mika or Rufus or whoever to identify their particular generation...
sometimes you just aren't able to relate...and that's okay...rock on gay babies...rock on
Posted by: Oh Well | Aug 26, 2007 6:22:06 PM
CHUX...."who are the smiths anyway?" shit, man...important band. Not just to their fans. they were huge and influenced so many bands. if Moz turned down that huge sum of $ it's for a reason that none of us can understand. respect that.
Posted by: roman | Aug 28, 2007 6:38:37 AM