Day XXV
Mired in such a strong, enveloping cloak of darkness for the better part of this week has distracted me from the ever approaching light that although seemingly dim, thankfully never goes out. This week I have succumbed to the tunnel, losing sight of my end goal. I knew that with a drastic shift in my work environment that requires a gargantuan increase in listening time, this week would be a challenging one. Having dreamed the dream of this project with full knowledge of this inevitable period of the month occurring at the precise point of my patience and perseverance perchance pitifully puttering out (and my use of unnecessary alliterative clauses increasing) I braced myself. It could have been worse.
Is there anything you’d like to begin with to help isolate your particular mindset today?:
The past days have taken my full-on saturation of The Smiths to new levels. It may seem like a curious experiment to see if a cup of coffee can actually take on thirty packages of Sweet & Low but the results will never be as full of sweetness as one would expect. To quantify my week, I’ve kept a relatively official tally of my Smiths intake:
At this point of the project, have you noticed anything strange about your daily life:
Although a sense of optimism should be setting in, I feel only a slight tingle. The end of the project is certainly within my sights but in many ways I feel like I have failed and accomplished little of whatever it is I envisioned myself completing.
Not being Freud or OT level VIII, a full understanding of my subconscious still evades me. I can however, write with solid certainty that The Smiths have played both the soundtrack to my conscious days this month as well as my dreams. Each morning when I rise in my pre-dawn fog, the very first brain wave that crashes to my cognitive beach is a random Smiths song. Before my feet hit the floor and despite my fogginess, each morning for the past two weeks I could easily write down which particular song has launched a preemptive strike on my day. By the time I am roused by my shower, I have usually silently replayed a verse, guitar hook or an entire song. The songs vary completely, but the most frequent assailants has been William, It was Really Nothing and Ask.
The reasoning behind this seems obvious. As I surround myself with The Smiths so entirely and unhealthily much during the day it makes complete sense that my subconscious is affected. What intrigues me is why certain (and very specific) songs great me each particular morning. I can’t draw a conclusion based on listening to these good morning tracks with higher frequency during the preceding day as I listen to SO MUCH Smiths that it’s impossible to find weight in a few more play counts for particular songs. Yes, these songs are catchier by nature but that can’t be all. I fear that my brain is rotting and as death escapes it, Morrissey is singing its funeral march.
Have you settled on a hatred of any particular elements of The Smiths’ catalog?
I have. The list of ire is comprised not of albums or songs but particular sounds, lyrics and moments. Being so thoroughly involved has allowed me to isolate why I cringe with specificity. While I don’t feel that this is quite complete yet, I can provide a list of 5 of these ‘elements’ which I absolutely despise.
1. The lead guitar sound on Rank‘s version of The Boy With the Thorn in His Side
I love the album version(s) to the point of overkill and particularly the strummy, almost jangle guitar mix. On this live version, Marr’s guitar sounds like it’s played through a 15 watt amp from Sears with the overdrive footpedal switch stuck on and recorded by a mic stuck in a bloody tin can. It also sounds like Johnny is holding each note a fraction too long, looking for emphasis but only destroying the melody.
2. Every part of Paint a Vulgar Picture other than the first 25 seconds
Yes, some songs have such excellent melodies that there isn’t much need to change tempo or really have any structure at all. The Smiths are usually particularly apt at understanding this. Not this time.
3. The bassline of What She Said, especially the melody around the :50 and 1:46 mark
I hate the Red Hot Chili Peppers mostly due to Anthony Kiedis’ inane, nonsensical jibber jabber but through relation to him, I’ve grown to despise the band’s entire sound. If isolated, these two particular moments sound much too similar to the annoying mix of Flea’s hyperfunk slapping and whatever painfully simple pulled and strained electric guitar notes from whatever heroin / tattoo addict guitar player that was in the band at the time.
4. The double hit of Golden Lights and Oscillate Wildly from Louder than Bombs
Whoever decided that including these gems on the compilation designed to help break The Smiths into the American market clearly underestimated the ease of lifting a needle a moving it forward a few grooves or even more so, hitting the skip button. Yes, we understand that you have ‘different’ sounds and yes, you told us in The Queen is Dead that you can play piano. No need to make us listen to it.
5. The introduction all of Meat is Murder
Surefire reciepe for success: Mooing and toddleresque piano noodling leading to a repetitive lead riff over a walking bassline and eventually to the witty, intelligent line ‘this beautiful creature must die.’
On a scale of 1 to 10 Morrissey in Peaceful Ecstasy faces, with 1 being catatonically bed ridden and 10 being elated, how did your Smiths listening experience make you feel today?
Using what we have been blessed with, use Google Images to find a seemingly unrelated random picture to describe your over all mood after listening to the Smiths all day:
Day XVII
As the increased gaps between these randomly interspaced pseudo interviews would indicate, my fervor for approaching each day as a unique part of an overall project has decreased. The possibilities for this lack of enthusiasm can be neatly divided into three broad categories: distaste, complacency and acceptance. Although I can admit that there have been distinct moments during the past week that file neatly under the first category, I can earnestly admit that I have settled into acceptance in order to ward off any desire to give up. My mettle is up against its most impressive foe this coming week, an anticipated toiling task that wears on my mind. Explanation to follow.
Is there anything you’d like to begin with to help isolate your particular mindset today?:
I have accepted normalcy in regard to my personal soundtrack in the midst of great upheaval in many other aspects of my life. In a way, The Smiths have become an island of solidarity amidst this annual tide of change that washes across the cluttered beaches of my daily routine. Are they also responsible for overly dramatic marine metaphors? Perhaps.
My resolve has not wavered as it appears I have skipped through any stages of frustration and settled upon having only one choice of artist as a way of being as undebatable as my reliance on caffeine and chewing gum.
Today however, I sit perched on the edge of this beach, staring out into an eddy brewing mere yards away from my relative safety. Although I have certainly become fully enveloped in The Smiths, my next week will force me to dive headfirst into this whirlpool that will begin to spin with more viciousness. My daily time spent with Morriessey and Marr will at least treble, if not quadruple due to my requirements to spend 80% of my work day alone with stacks of paper to assess and fret over. I have faith in my ability to remain functional but as I am booted from the sand, I will certainly need strength to tackle the hardly gentle or kind waves that will envelope me.
At this point in the month, what aspect of this project irks you the most:
By far the most challenging aspect of the project hasn’t been The Smiths. By agreeing (with myself) to embark on this journey I left both the vast variety of my musical catalog as well as numerous, greatly anticipated new releases on the shores behind me. At many points during the past two and half weeks I have yearned to hear a certain voice, to sing along with a particularly infectious chorus or to tap in rhythm to a well known beat. However, by far the worst experience I have voided myself capable of is new music. Have I heard the new Vampire Weekend? No. Have I heard the new Spoon? No. Have I heard the new Owen Pallett? No. Have I heard my old Superchunk records calling out to me? Yes. Have I heard Morrissey’s voice begin to replace my own thoughts? Yes. Please stop.
Obviously you are now relatively well versed in The Smiths’ catalog. Have there been any surprises?:
Previously, as only a very, very casual fan (think less than t-shirt and jeans, more like moth-bitten sweatpants and a XXXL hoodie with paint stains), what I knew of The Smiths‘ style was limited to singles like Cemetery Gates and How Soon is Now?, which although different in tone and mood, certainly fit within a similar genre. After gleaning some knowledge from the entire catalog, I am impressed by the diversity. In particular, the rockabilly has surprised me. I absolutely adore Vicar in a Tutu for it’s melding of a backbeat and song structure so typically raunchy with guitar work and vocals so completely Smiths. I would have never previously related The Smiths to toe-tappin’ knee slappers.
What Smiths have you found yourself listening to most often?
My torrid affair with The Queen is Dead appears to have puttered out. As they possess a limited number of tracks in total yet an absurdly large amount of compilations, I’ve learned that if I want to find standouts like There Is a Light That Never Goes Out or The Boy With a Thorn in His Side without the drudgery of I Know It’s Over and Never Had No One Ever, I can play The World Won’t Listen. I’ve also really come to love Hatful of Hollow as a collection, though the later half is a little weak.
Despite the strength of the self titled record and The Queen is Dead and unlike most artists I listen to, I see The Smiths as a singles band. It’s different for me to crave a few songs here and there rather than an entire record. Chiding those with iPods comprised of only a few tracks per album use to be a landmark of my cynical snobbery. This may change.
Do you feel the Smiths affected your general mood today?
No. At this point of the project, listening to The Smiths is like breathing, breathing heavy, chesty breaths while contemplating my own happiness and looking down into my increasingly empty glass. Acceptance of an unvarying soundtrack is more bleak than The Smiths could ever be. In all earnestness, I imagine this feeling would set in around the half way mark of listening to any band, even Cub.
On a scale of 1 to 10 Morrissey in Peaceful Ecstasy faces, with 1 being catatonically bed ridden and 10 being elated, how did your Smiths listening experience make you feel today?
Using what we have been blessed with, use Google Images to find a seemingly unrelated random picture to describe your over all mood after listening to the Smiths all day:
The Smiths Project – The Explanation
Day X
Heading into this project my expectations for effect of any kind were high. Considering the amount of time I usually devote to a variety of music as vast in difference as my checkered past is in variety of fleeting directions, there appeared to be no possible way that I could remain unchanged if forced to listen to only one band for 30 days. I had not considered the rate of this transformation, whatever I expected it to be, but I doubted that it would happen as instantly as flipping past the title track from Meat is Murder. As I check in for my third ‘post to prove I’m alive,’ I’m dwelling on the permanency of the bubble that I have descended into and am wondering if this is what I was waiting for.
Is there anything you’d like to begin with to help isolate your particular mindset today?:
For whatever I had previously defined it as, normalcy has evaded me throughout this new year and considering my track record for random bouts of January malaise, I’m beginning to see this as a wonderful, wonderful thing. As much as Robert Pollard can try to convince me, I am no scientist and it shows. I had not designed a control for this experiment. Yes, I am limited by my inability to sprout multiple copies of myself ala Michael Keaton and yes, I do believe that if I tempered my Smiths listening with a regular listening diversity the results would be inauthentic but I still feel that the strangely exciting, patternless rhythm to my 2010 life may not be completely the result of my Smiths listening. Or, to consider the other Hand in Glove, perhaps it is.
How would you describe your desire to listen to the Smiths today?
As at this point in the month I’ve delved into all aspects of their catalog. I am now relatively confident that I can choose which Smiths records will best fit my needs. Today for example, I found myself seeking the bouncy pop of the first section of The World Won’t Listen to compliment my jovial early morning optimism but when the piles of paper requiring my attention dragged my spirits down, I sought out Meat is Murder, especially How Soon is Now?.
At this point of the month, how much of a Smiths expert do you feel you are?
I have more confidence in my skill at pointing out and accepting my short-comings than I do in any of my other personal qualities or quirks. Even so, I can admit with all depreciating bias tossed aside that I am in no way, even close to an expert. I may have an advanced knowledge of The Queen is Dead due to over exposure but I remain relatively ignorant of much of the Smiths history. This isn’t a slight against the Manchester men as I have left all my previous fervor for encyclopedic knowledge of any band with the pile of XL Alice In Chains T-shirts and other awkward 15 year old tendencies I’ve thankfully left in my wake. The most I can expect by month’s end is a better knowledge of each studio record and a sense of the Smiths evolution (which I’m turning the corner on).
Did any one song standout to you today as best capturing your mood?
As I am struggling to accept the durability of this strange feeling of optimism I am currently shrouded in, I’ve learned that I’m not the only one. Morrissey, I get it, there are questions even when things seem proper great. Still Ill may jump into negativity more quickly that even I will (I can just picture a topless, dreary Morrissey lying in bed calling after his previous night’s suitor as he / she dresses for the day, ‘And if you must, go to work – tomorrow / Well, if I were you I really wouldn’t bother’) but there is an undercurrent of hope, which I can see in the lines that follow: ‘For there are brighter sides to life / And I should know, because I’ve seen them / But not very often …’
Do you feel the Smiths affected your general mood today?
The concerted effort I made to not let the Smiths affect my mood today was mostly successful. Most of the bleakness of the lyrics went through one ear, tickled my dormant depression and escaped through the other. Today I loved Johnny Marr’s guitar layers. Big Mouth Strikes Again: inspiring even for an ignorant power chord junkie like myself.
On a scale of 1 to 10 Morrissey in Peaceful Ecstasy faces, with 1 being catatonically bed ridden and 10 being elated, how did your Smiths listening experience make you feel today?
Using what we have been blessed with, use Google Images to find a seemingly unrelated random picture to describe your over all mood after listening to the Smiths all day:
Day IV
My second questionnaire call and response focuses on the effects of The Smiths project moving from an interesting drunken concept to a dominating aspect of my daily life. Like learning to accept the relative permanence of a bad haircut, once the realization sets in that there is no return, coping is the next step. As a subject, I am currently showing few signs of impact but beginning to see just how far away the end of that tunnel really is.
Is there anything you’d like to begin with to help isolate your particular mindset today?:
Fatigue plagued me quite fiercely today. Rather than suffering through the common heavy eyelids and lack of enthusiasm for bounding up staircases, I spent all day feeling like I was trapped within a semi-permeable bubble. Everything that I tried to get out was blurred and distorted and everything that I tried to take in was foggy and unclear. In relation to music, I doubt that anything peppy, loud or less moody would have burst my perceived encasement as it was pure lack of sleep, not crankiness that held me in.
How would you describe your desire to listen to the Smiths today?
Being a touch on the side of delusionally tired, I was wary of The Smiths ability to keep me awake. This was more of a Lucksmiths type of day. All that considered though, I am at that point with The Queen is Dead where I know the sequence and look forward to different sections of the record. I was excited to put it on in the morning. It has become my chosen commuter record.
Is your resolve to finish this project higher or lower than your desire to club Morrissey like a baby seal?
Higher. At this point, I’d much rather hug Morrissey than hit him. I should also mention that my motivation to see this through has been given a serious boost by many doubts leveled in my direction. In this way, I am like a young Allen Iverson, tell me what I can’t do just so I can prove that I can.
What Smiths did you listen to today?
As I mentioned above, I’ve listened to The Queen is Dead over the last couple of morning commutes. I’ve been playing Meat is Murder throughout my days with some sprinkling of The World Won’t Listen when I feel less determined to sit through an entire record.
Did any one song standout to you today as best capturing your mood?
Working in education, it’s often difficult to feel authentically enthusiastic about being there. The Headmaster Ritual is a biting, aggressive anti-education due to the apathy of educators song and I would be a touch of a hypocrite if I wrote that the entire song hits home with me but, on a day like today, I can see a lot of truth in the line, ‘I wanna go home / I don’t wanna stay / Give up education / As a bad mistake.’
Do you feel the Smiths affected your general mood today?
I don’t feel the Smiths made my drowsiness any worse, but it was certainly more of a poultice than it was a cure. Of course, I became a little more excited when Panic came on and a touch more dreary during How Soon is Now. Despite my attempts to let the overall lyrical mood remain a wash, I have to admit that beginning to understand how bleak Morrissey often is has not been a happy experience.
On a scale of 1 to 10 Morrissey in Peaceful Ecstasy faces, with 1 being catatonically bed ridden and 10 being elated, how did your Smiths listening experience make you feel today?
Using what we have been blessed with, use Google Images to find a seemingly unrelated random picture to describe your over all mood after listening to the Smiths all day:
Day II
The Smiths Project – The Explanation
The random daily updates I will provide during this month long, far from world-changing experiment I am putting myself through will be written in a 1st and 2nd person dual point of view. As a curious foray into the slipstream of narcissism, I will be filling out a questionnaire that I have written. The questions will remain consistent and to avoid the verbose rambling that I so easily revert to when baring down on the home keys, I will use pictorial rating systems and where appropriate, curt responses.
Is there anything you’d like to begin with to help isolate your particular mindset today?:
Today was full of drastic change as I said good bye to bottles of wine and peaceful freedom from obligation and hello to 5am and a viking boat full of more responsibility ready to rape and pillage my free-time. I’ve always marveled at how quickly my blithe approach to a day, cultivated through weeks of vacation, slips away when faced with this ‘job’ business.
How would you describe your desire to listen to the Smiths today?
I was pretty excited to get this going. Of all I know, which is shockingly little compared to what I think it should be, I like The Queen is Dead the most.
What Smiths did you listen to today?
The Queen is Dead, about 4 times and the self titled, Smiths record twice.
Why did you choose the Smiths that you listened to today?
I wanted to gain some impression of how enjoyable this process might be so I started with record I knew and liked the most. Midway through the day I went for the debut record as I remember it containing a lot of songs I enjoy.
Did any one song standout to you today as best capturing your mood?
Outside of surface based lyrical content, which I’m slowly beginning to delve deeper into, I suppose This Charming Man makes the most sense to me today. First day back, I felt that my ensemble needed to be well chosen – there was a little pressure to have more than a ‘stitch to wear‘.
Do you feel the Smiths affected your general mood today?
Not drastically. There were a couple moments though, stuck in the middle of the I Know It’s Over and Never Had No One Ever combo where I felt a little more bleaker than I should have, being whirled up in the flurry of jarring change that was everywhere today. It was hard to listen to ‘Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head‘ more than a few times and remain totally optimistic.
On a scale of 1 to 10 Morrissey in Peaceful Ecstasy faces, with 1 being catatonically bed ridden and 10 being elated, how did your Smiths listening experience make you feel today?
Using what we have been blessed with, use Google Images to find a seemingly unrelated random picture to describe your over all mood after listening to the Smiths all day:
