Morrissey has hit out at the upcoming BRIT Awards in a lengthy diatribe, describing recent winners as “shrivelled young souls”.
The Smiths frontman posted the rant online earlier this week, saying that the awards were “unfairly given to singers who, it is hoped, might be encouraged enough by the award to actually write a good song”.
“Just as the Mercury Prize lands like a voodoo doll in the hands of the unlucky recipient (who is usually to be found selling mattresses ten months later), a Brit Award generally goes to a lot of shriveled young souls who have not earned it, yet none are likely to ask ‘are you sure I deserve it?’ – possibly because they know the reply.”
He continued to blast this year’s presenters Ant & Dec, whose “presence indicates the modern hold and control that telly-culture now dominates over the world of modern music”, adding that “it seems unlikely that an end-of-the-world announcement would be believed nationally unless confirmed on BBC1 by Cheryl Cole whilst conditioning her hair”.
The This Charming Man star also urged musicians who respect their craft to refuse to accept any honour from the ceremony.
“In the guise of serving the public, the Brit Awards have hi-jacked modern music in order to kill off the heritage that produced so many interesting people, to such a degree that we could not imagine anyone who has ever truly affected the course of British music to be on stage at the 02 collecting a deserved award,” he said.
“The larger truth may be that any singer or band of any dignity would not join the fantasy pudgery of the Brit Awards… not having accepted a Brit Award indicates classical value for any artist who takes their music seriously, and if we must fold our hands and be grateful as Ant & Dec applaud the Teletubbies for their ‘outstanding contribution to British music’, we can at least be thankful that we are not nominated.”
Morrissey also blasted the number of American stars chosen to perform at the BRITs, saying that Madonna was “promoting her frightening career on the Brit Awards even though her music has not ever said anything at all about British life”.
“The maximum trimmings [at the Brits] divert your attention from the fact that Taylor Swift has nothing to do with Coventry or Wrexham. To pull off rank fraud in tellyland is not a difficult undertaking, especially if you have the entire population of Peru dancing around you as you mime your song.”
