Friday, October 18, 2013

Speed Read: 13 Juiciest Bits From Morrissey’s ‘Autobiography’

Score settling, women bashing, Smiths hating, and finally a reveal about his mysterious love life—Nico Hines digs into Morrissey’s new ‘Autobiography’ for the most scandalous tidbits.

The outcry over Morrissey’s Autobiography started before anyone had read a word. Somehow, the pop iconoclast persuaded, or cajoled, Penguin to publish his memoirs as part of its Classics series, which previously had been reserved for significant works by the great figures in literary history, including Homer, Mark Twain, and Jane Austen.

Morrissey
Redferns/Getty
You won’t be surprised to hear that the most celebrated contrarian in British music has packed plenty more controversy between those trademark covers. He recounts the breakup of ’80s cult favorites the Smiths, settles plenty of old scores, and finally opens up about his secretive love life. Here are the juiciest moments:

1. His Two-Year Romance With a Man
After decades of speculation over Morrissey’s sexuality, he describes for the first time an intense two-year “whirlwind” romance with a man named Jake Owen Walters. “For the first time in my life the eternal ‘I’ becomes ‘we,’” he writes. “Every minute has the high drama of first love, only far more exhilarating.”
In his mid-30s, Morrissey was now an ex-member of the Smiths and a veteran heartthrob who had rejected the lascivious lifestyle favored by many of his pop contemporaries. “His leap towards me is as uncharted as mine to him,” he said. “There will be no secrets of flesh or fantasy; he is me and I am him." As the relationship blossomed, there was a noticeable upturn in the tone of Morrissey’s work. “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” gave way to the warmth of “Now My Heart Is Full” at the start of the 1994 album Vauxhall and I.
More

No comments: