The Smiths - Meat is Murder

So I complain a lot about how Jam Bands are super masturbatory. It occurs to me that this is kind of ironic. I spend hours every week on this blog, reviewing albums no one has heard of and then posting on my Facebook so my friends will know to read it. What is worse, it seems this month has been solid with albums that everyone in the western world has already listened to, but not me. Often people have been nagging me to listen to these albums for years, possibly decades.

In my defense, I have a very specific way that I get into an album, and once I do I will obsess over that album for years. For example, I first got into The Smiths in my senior year of college. I happened across the song Panic, fell in love, ran out and got the album. Panic is still one of my favorite songs of all time. And then I just kind of got stuck on that album. I dunno if I was afraid the others would not be as good or just got distracted by other things but I never got another Smiths record.

Morrissey, the lead singer, has not helped things. Since the band broke up it has become very obvious that the guy is a massive tool. He is the classic example of a star who gets so wrapped up in their own ego that they consider any criticism to somehow be politically motivated. The man does make a convenient political target. He is a hardcore, having-pets-is-like-slavery PETA member vegan, gayer than Liberance, and had an unfortunate tendency towards paraphernalia of the far right for many years. To be fair, I really doubt the man is racist. He was just cashing in on punk fashion and it’s not like the accuse Johnny Rotten of being a racist these days. And I really don’t care about his sexual or dietary preferences. But the man has zero sense of humor about, well, anything, least of all himself, and refuses to admit of any moral grey area. He is the type of celebrity that sets his causes back years. He and Lady Gaga should really start a family band. They have to be related.

This has definitely cooled my enthusiasm. I try to separate the man from the music but when you are into political music, like I am, and the music is advocating causes you support in a really fucking obnoxious way, it tends to make it that much more grating when you disagree. However, it has been several years since I forced myself to stop hate-reading Morrissey interviews, and I really do love Panic oh so much, so this weekend I finally forced myself to invest in another Smiths album. Meat is Murder is supposed to be one of their best so that is what I picked up.

And it is awesome. Musically. But I had hoped, I had really hoped, that somehow in this, one of their most classic works, from before he had a reason to be such a dick, his lyrics would somehow be more subtle and nuanced. They were not. For most of the album, wherein I agree with him, I was able to ignore him and enjoy the music, which really is awesome and neigh revolutionary. But the last song, the title track, drives me up the wall it is so fucking ridiculous. Its not that I’m not sympathetic to his standpoint, but he undermines it violently by being such a dick. There is really no way to explain myself except by taking him apart point by point.

So here goes.

Meat is Murder

Heifer whines could be human cries
Closer comes the screaming knife

 [Knives scream? Anthropomorphism error anyone?]

This beautiful creature must die

This beautiful creature must die

 [cows kind of scare me. They are pretty big and I am pretty sure my highschool kickboxing moves wouldn’t impress them. But there is no accounting for aesthetics, go on.]

A death for no reason
And death for no reason is MURDER

 [ok yes, that would be true, but the definition of “no reason” is heavily socially constructed. I know Morrissey is unlikely to be a fan of the just war concept, but if you permit the moral justification of any kind of deadly force in society, and you basically have to at some level, then you have to admit that there is a possibility of someone killing for a reason that you disagree with without it being murder. I do not consider the Iraq war justified, but I do not consider the soldiers involved murderers so long as they exercised appropriate care to avoid civilian casualties. Calling it such would serve to unjustly lay blame on people who are a part of a much larger phenomenon and really do not deserve full blame.]

And the flesh you so fancifully fry
Is not succulent, tasty or kind

 [ok no it is pretty tasty. I disagree based on first hand sensory perception. I suppose that is still an opinion based disagreement.]

It's death for no reason
And death for no reason is MURDER
 

And the calf that you carve with a smile
It is MURDER

[The calf is, itself, murder? Well fuck what’s the problem! I too would smile as I dispatched a physical embodiment of the act of murder, thereby assuring no being was unjustly killed ever again!]

And the turkey you festively slice
It is MURDER

Do you know how animals die?

[I do, and some of it is very unpleasant. But you probably aren’t going to be presenting any researched evidence or anything in this pop song.]
Kitchen aromas aren't very homely

[What if the aroma is fruit pie? Is he against meat or all home cooking here?]
It's not "comforting", cheery or kind [opinion]
It's sizzling blood and the unholy stench
Of MURDER


It's not "natural", "normal" or kind

 [I will buy that it is not kind, but unless you have a very different definition of “natural” or “normal” you are just wrong here. 

Sure, humans can survive without eating meat. But we also evolved so that we would be able to. I’m not sure how much more natural you can get than being genetically programmed to do something. Dogs and cats also can survive on vegan diets, but I really challenge you to tell me how it is natural. Just in terms of dental construction. Canines hold flesh while incisors cut it. Molars grind plant fibers. I am not saying genetic programing is a real reason for undertaking a moral choice, but he is! AND HES WRONG! 

As far as normality, I agree that most cultures do not eat AS MUCH meat as us in the West, but it is also very rare to find an entirely ethically vegan society. Most people will eat meat if they can. Some african societies are so desperate for meat that street vendors have started selling deep fried blood, which they get essentially free from city abattoirs. Of course, I dont need to list ouot all the implied hygenic concerns with this practice.

International statistics are hard to find, but given that only 0.5% of Americans self identified as vegan, and given that “vegan” is defined as “had not used animals for any purpose in the previous two years,” you are going to have a hard time telling me strict vegan-ism is normal. In any way.]
The flesh you so fancifully fry
The meat in your mouth
As you savour the flavour
Of MURDER


NO, NO, NO, IT'S MURDER
NO, NO, NO, IT'S MURDER
Oh ... and who cares about an animals life?

AND THAT’S FUCKING IT. Cruelty of industrial slaughter practices are referenced but not described, cruelty of gathering animal products is ignored completely, health benefits of veganism are entirely ignored as are environmental ramifications. There are serious discussions to be had here, but they are ignored in favor of “No No NO. Murder.” There's no justifications here. Not even an I Feel. Just a fuck you and anyone who looks like you.

Which is fucking ridiculous and divisive. Assholes like Morrissey are why most people flip out if you tell them you are vegan or vegetarian. This song is intentionally inflammatory without actually producing concrete arguments or leaving any room for compromise. As a meat eater I am honestly troubled by the conditions in which my meat is raised, and the persistent lack of effective controls from the government makes me more alarmed every year. I am not going vegetarian anytime…well...ever, but I would vote and protest based on my convictions, and I would like to see some serious discussion of food issues. I do think this is beginning to happen, given the pink slime fallout, but there is a ways to go.

As far as convictions that any form of food based slaughter is wrong, I am totally ok with other people holding to that conviction, and I am totally ok with discussing it or hearing a song about it. So long as the arguments are even vaguely well constructed. This would be like a labor movement song where the verse was

Demanding work for money

And buying stuff with money

And seeing benefits from said purchase

IS MURDER

I have my problems with capitalism, but the above poem is insane. On the other hand

You make me work hard

And don’t give me enough

My kids are all dying

Because we cant buy food stuffs

AND THAT’S MURDER

Would be perfectly acceptable to me. There is a cause and an effect. There is a logical progression. I don’t even mind the implied judgment of the rich because there is a argument here.

One that I agree with.

So.

So feel free to accuse me of bias.

But the rest of the album is pretty rad.

So.

Fun.