Billy Bragg explains why The Smiths were “fantastic” but are now tainted
Billy Bragg has long been considered one of the quintessential British musicians of the punk generation. A left-wing troubadour and something of Essex’s answer to the late Woody Guthrie, Bragg is one of a rare set of artists that can claim to have turned listeners on musically and opened their eyes to vital socio-political issues. This hallowed group includes the likes of Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Bragg’s contemporaries, such as Joe Strummer. Although it is a dying breed of musicians, there’s an argument to be made that it has never been so critical.
Blending punk and folk flavours with the base of a protest song, Bragg has written a number of important tracks in his time, ranging from the anthemic ‘A New England’ to the earworm that is ‘Sexuality’. Marking himself out from the crowd, he matches his undoubted musical skill with having his finger on the cultural pulse, meaning that his most cherished pieces are imbued with a substance more profound than much of the music produced in Britain.
Reflecting this, last year, he made headlines when he changed the famous line from ‘Sexuality’, in which he sings: “Just because you’re gay, I won’t turn you away / If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find some common ground” to “Just because you’re they, I won’t turn you away / If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find the right pronoun”.
Demonstrating the kind of self-awareness that has consistently earned him kudos from fans, in an op-ed written in the New Statesman, Bragg explained the importance of his discussion to change the lyrics: “I’m not erasing the gay community when I change the lyrics to ‘Sexuality’, I’m simply updating them to reflect the changing times we live in. My hope is to encourage others of my generation to do the same with their long-cherished notions of an inclusive society”.
That’s the thing about Billy Bragg. Not only is he a musician, but he’s a thinker, and over his career, he has provided many insights that have added positively to broader discourse.
Back in 2008, when speaking to Record Collector, Bragg delivered another interesting take. This was a brief account of the musical landscape of his heyday, the early 1980s. In doing so, he reaffirmed something all music lovers are aware of, but the gravity of which is sometimes overlooked; just how excellent the partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr was in The Smiths.
Starting the segment, Bragg was told that arguably, he, Elvis Costello and Paul Weller were the “great triumvirate” of British songwriters in the early 1980s. In response, the Barking native reminded fans of Morrissey and Marr and how their eponymous debut album knocked his own – 1983’s Life’s a Riot – off the top of the indie chart. He also explained that The Smiths were so good that they stopped him from comparing himself to Elvis Costello and gave him something more “manageable” to aim for.
Bragg said: “I think you also have to mention Morrissey & Marr, they were my true contemporaries. I really felt that myself and The Smiths coming through at the same time – their first album knocked Life’s A Riot… off the top of the indie chart – really put the focus back on singer-songwriters. The Smiths were fantastic, and in a way they stopped me measuring myself against Costello and gave me something more manageable to aim for! I could work out what Morrissey and Marr were doing, but I could never get close to what Elvis was doing.”
Bragg touched on his individual relationships with Morrissey and Marr, and revealed that the controversial frontman praised him as “vaudevillian”.
He recalled: “I ended up working with Johnny Marr quite a bit, but my relationship with Morrissey was more arm’s length. I did some shows in the UK with The Smiths which was all very pleasant, and I was on their first American tour. I got on famously with them all, but Morrissey was very much his own man, our conversations tended to be a little more oblique. I remember he described me as ‘vaudevillian’. When I went home and looked it up I was quite pleased.”
It must be noted that whilst Billy Bragg is clearly a fan of The Smiths, he has taken exception to Morrissey’s right-wing views over the past few years. In July 2019, he released a statement on his Facebook page slamming the former Smiths man for his views and support of the far-right party For Britain.
At one point, he wrote: “He expresses support for anti-Muslim provocateurs, posts white supremacist videos and, when challenged, clutches his pearls and cries ‘Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me’. His recent claim that ‘as a so-called entertainer, I have no rights’ is a ridiculous position made all the more troubling by the fact that it is a common trope among right-wing reactionaries.”
“Worryingly, Morrissey’s reaction to being challenged over his support of For Britain, his willingness to double down rather than apologise for any offence caused, suggests a commitment to a bigotry that tarnishes his persona as the champion of the outsider. Where once he offered solace to the victims of a cruel and unjust world, he now seems to have joined the bullies waiting outside the school gates.”
Only a couple of months prior to his statement, in May, Bragg had already made his thoughts clear on The Smiths when speaking to The Guardian. Asked about Morrissey’s political views, he said, “It stinks”. He then continued: “They were the greatest band of my generation, with the greatest guitar player and the greatest lyricist. I think Johnny [Marr] was a constraint on him… back then he had to fit into the idea of the Smiths”.
Bragg then compared Morrissey to Oswald Mosley, the late president of the British Union of Fascists. “But now [Morrissey is] betraying those fans, betraying his legacy and empowering the very people Smiths fans were brought into being to oppose,” Bragg opined. “He’s become the Oswald Mosley of pop.”
“Whenever a Smiths track comes up I flip on, I just can’t… I love Johnny Marr, he’s the nicest man I ever met in pop music. So I really feel for him that the great work that he’s done should be tainted in this way,” he concluded.
Whilst Billy Bragg feels that The Smiths were a fantastic band in their time, like many of us, he feels that their legacy has been tainted by the right-wing ramblings of Morrissey, and it’s not hard to understand why.
