blogging away in LA

Asking people about their interest in the Smiths is another way of asking this question: “How did you survive your teenage years?” There’s always been a creepy messianic thing happening with Morrissey, with his fans charging the stage in tears to hug him, throwing flowers, and so on, but for someone who has internalized the Smiths catalog in a certain way, such actions seem perfectly reasonable. Not for nothing is the terrific song-by-song analysis of the band’s entire catalog called Songs That Saved Your Life. Teenage dreams may be hard to beat, but teenage nightmares are what stick in my memory. It’s important to remember the depths of them, how your life could seem so beyond your control, how you could be so terrified of being mocked, how you felt like you were always one random decision away from being a pariah. Or, to use Morrissey’s words, spoken with his enviable compression: “Sixteen, clumsy and shy.” Once you are an adult, those times become useful. You can look back on them and suddenly your current hardships in work or relationships or poor sense of who you are don’t seem so insurmountable.