Everyone has an opinion about pop music. Former Smiths frontman Morrissey shared his, calling out Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith in an interview with Boulder Weekly. When Morrissey was questioned about the success of current pop stars, his response caused quite a stir.
First, he recognised an obvious fact – “There are no bands or singers who become successful without overwhelming marketing.”
“There are no surprise success stories. Everything is stringently controlled, obvious and predictable and has exactly the same content,” he added.
Then he slammed the current state of the pop music industry. “So, we are now in the era of marketed pop stars, which means that the labels fully control the charts, and consequently the public has lost interest. It’s very rare that a record label does something for the good of music.”
Normally in a situation like this, names wouldn’t be used. Morrissey, ignoring the basic rules of etiquette, used the names of two of the biggest stars on the radio to prove his point. “Thus we are force-fed such as Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith, which at least means that things can’t possibly get any worse. It is sad, though. There’s no spontaneity now, and it all seems to be unsalvageable.”
When Sheeran heard about this, he was quick to respond. He responsed to an article on the interview via Twitter, saying it is “absolute bollocks” and Smith “was the least predictable success story of the last year.”
@NME even you guys should think this is absolute bollocks. Taking me out of the equation, Sam was the least … http://t.co/QMLhbqZTkS
— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) July 10, 2015
Smith, who is about to be featured on Disclosure’s upcoming album, is staying out of this argument for now. Good idea, Sam.
Morrissey, your move.