10 Rock Musicians That Get Way Too Much Hate

Right around the time that the indie scene started exploding over in England, the Smiths were the sad kings of melodrama. Although all of their songs dealt with pretty morose topics like on Girlfriend in a Coma, the tunefulness behind Morrissey's vocals was impossible to resist, almost like he was pleading to find some sort of happiness by the end of the song. A band is always better as a unit though, and when Morrissey opened his mouth outside of the band, people started to really reel back on things.

It's not like people don't have reason to be upset either, from Morrissey's pompous stance on snobby music taste or trying to stand up for people that really shouldn't be given the time of day. Most of the goodwill towards the Smiths tends to get redirected towards Johnny Marr these days, but there's a lot more going on with this pompous man outside of his holier than thou reputation. Going through his lyrics, Morrissey looked after his words almost like pieces of poetry by themselves, calling to mind different people like Keats when he describes something as simple as going out with your girlfriend on There is a Light That Never Goes Out.

The whole thing might seem a bit adolescent when you look at the lyrics on paper, but when paired with Johnny Marr's guitar playing, suddenly all of the dreams that are talked about in these lyrics actually feel possible, if only for a second. Rock and roll may have been his trade, but Morrissey is one of the few rockers who seems as indebted to Shakespeare as he is to Iggy Pop.