The song Mark E. Smith used to insult Morrissey
Though he may have existed within it, Mark E. Smith was more than forthcoming about his hatred for the music industry. He hated musicians, and throughout the years, he openly criticised a number of widely loved artists, including the likes of Pavement, Suede, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Kate Bush, and even his own bandmates. Smith’s consistently biting comments cemented his position as a much-loved outsider in the industry, both feared and adored in equal measure.
His sarcastic and often spiteful wit knew no bounds as he relentlessly took down those around him, one by one. Smith’s agitations even caused The Fall’s 1998 formation to disassemble in 1998, a time when an altercation onstage drove the band apart. Smith’s misanthropy stretched beyond his antics while performing and being interviewed and into the lyrics he penned. One of his many lyrical targets was, it would seem, the controversial former frontman of The Smiths, Morrissey.
On some level, Morrissey was just as pessimistically minded as Smith, with lyrics full of self-deprecation and desperate loneliness. While Mark E. Smith derided others, The Smiths gained a reputation for their reflective, melancholic sound and lyrics full of self-hatred, begging, “To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.” But outside of their music, Morrissey, like Smith, made a name for himself as a misanthrope.
Just as bitter as the frontman of The Fall, Morrissey has openly critiqued countless fellow musicians, from David Bowie to his own bandmates. He caused a feud with The Cure, put down Michael Bublé, and once even made a sarcastic dig at Kylie Minogue. On many levels, the two frontmen were suitably matched, and conflict between them was inevitable.
The Smiths were inspired by The Fall and even supported them in the early 1980s but, despite their similarly pessimistic outlooks and previous history, Smith once wrote a song which ridiculed Morrissey. Writer Jason Heller recalls that Smith professed that he wrote part of ‘C.R.E.E.P.’ about Morrissey.
At the beginning of the track, Smith opens up with “horrid trendy wretch”, as the lyrics continue: “He reads books; of the list book club, and after two months, his stance a familiar hunch, it’s that same slouch you had the last time he came around, his oppression abounds, his type is doing the rounds, he is a scum-egg; a horrid trendy wretch”.
The rest of the song goes on to further describe the title ‘C.R.E.E.P.’ as an “ugly gawk” who will “absorb all your talk”.
Morrissey is one of Smith’s more satisfying targets, as the frontman seems increasingly determined to overshadow his musical success with his outspoken, right-wing political opinions. To many, the former Smiths frontman appears more than content to prove Smith’s denunciation of him as “horrid” and a “scum-egg” as correct.
