Saint Morrissey: A Portrait of This Charming Man by an Alarming Fan Book

The amazing thing about Morrissey is not only that he's a pop star and a great songwriter - but also carries a tradition with him. When you listen or buy a Morrissey album or singe, you are also going into his world of aesthetics and a particular history of pop Gay culture. In a way it's almost like Morrissey has his own museum.

Mark Simpson pretty much captures and understands the nature of Morrissey's music and world. He understands the tradition that is behind this artist - and is aware of the literature, the dandyism, films, and other music that makes up the artist we know as Morrissey.

An artist should be able to capture his time and history, and Morrissey is one of the great pop stars who actually gives a lot to his culture. Which is gay, and a total understanding of how the world around him (of his making) is basically various eccentric and out there artists that inspired him via his life and work. Morrissey is unique because he has great taste. He's not one of those artists that jump on the band wagon, he actually understands and appreciates the pop culture. It is almost a coded world where few can enter.

I love Morrissey because I love his reference and sources. I feel very close to him in a sense because I feel we could share our common record collection. Knowing that, we would probably not like each other due to the closeness of our tastes. But nevertheless he's really unique and a great star. In fact I think he may be the last star (of the last of the International Playboys) of the pop world. This is a good book that talks about an artist beyond the music - and goes into fascinating aspects of 20th Century British culture.