2003-06-29

... ?

blissblog : Simon Reynolds on Dizzee Rascal

but the Morrissey parallel is probably most apt. Even the disappointing UK chart position of "I Luv U" reminds me of what it was like to be a Smiths fan--the singles never got as high as they seemed to deserve. The sheer disbelief when "This Charming Man" only got to #25, and even more when "How Soon Is Now"--Epic Rock Single Dead Cert Number One surely?--only got to #24. The deep sense of aesthetic injustice. Fits with the Anglophile constituency syndrome in the USA too: the lost cause of being a Smiths fan in America. Why couldn't a new Morrissey for this new endless 1985 (worst pop year ever) emerge from London pirate radio? A voice coming in from the cold. Battling against the times. Bringing the truth few want to hear. “Oh, it’s real out here”… “MCs better start chatting about what’s really happening” . Panic in the streets of London, etc. The obsession with lost innocence, the wistful nostalgia. Dizzee even disses Her Majesty c.f. Mozz's "I'd like to drop my trousers to the Queen"...