Paul Weller Disses Morrissey In Print

From my friends over at Morrissey-solo forums: Morrissey adores Paul Weller, but the love isn’t mutual. When asked about The Smiths, the former Jam and Style Council frontman told MOJO Magazine:

“I’d never really got them before, but when I saw them live I thought, “f**king hell!” When they hit hit the stage it made me think of the Jam days; there was an explosion when they hit the boards…but I never listened to any of their records to tell you the truth. I liked a couple of singles, but I was never a fan. I’m certainly not a fan of Morrissey’s solo stuff. It’s a weird thing, because he’s a bit of a fan of mine [Moz covered the Jam's "That's Entertainment" in 1991]. But it’s not reciprocated. It bugs me, I don’t want to diss him in print, but he’s a quintessential Englishman but lives in L.A.”

The Morrissey fans are PO’d: one says, “Paul Weller is an arsehole who’s not contributed any decent material since The Jam, bar a couple of ok tunes. At least Morrissey doesn’t need to suck up to all these new crap bands that kick about these days to gain any sort of attention. [Weller] was an inspiration in his youth, he is however no longer interesting nor relevant.”

But another fan retorts: “Saying he’s done nothing relevant… How about a number 1 double-album in the UK at 50 years old? That seems relevant. He’s still influencing new music (in his current form, not just as The Jam) like The Rifles, The Enemy, etc.”

Hmmm, don’t think being responsible for The Enemy is something to be proud of…

I wonder how Moz will respond. A good Morrissey catfight is always delicious. Remember his vicious comments about David Bowie?

Paul Weller’s new album, 22 Dreams, is up on his website so you can judge his relevance there.

In other news:

• Denials galore out of the Madonna/Guy Ritchie camp about a divorce. So why has A-Rod’s wife fled the country? Hmmm??(The Sun)
• Got a question for Russell T. Davies about Doctor Who or Torchwood? Ask him yourself.
• Trinny Woodall looks shame-faced after an ungainly leap into a Mini convertible.(Daily Mail)
• Emma Bunton a.k.a. Baby Spice has embraced her curvy figure.(Daily Mail)
• Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell, who worked together in Talladega Nights, will reunite for a Sherlock Holmes movie.(BBC)
• Is Agyness Deyn‘s hair a tribute to Elvis or an homage to the Cameron Diaz “hair product” scene in There’s Something About Mary? (Daily Mail)
• The full video of Jay-Z‘s epic diss of Noel Gallagher at Glastonbury.
• Lily Allen‘s new album will be titled Stuck On The Naughty Step. The f***? She explains: “In England, when kids are naughty, they get sent to sit on the naughty step. Like a timeout, you know? I feel like I’m stuck in a hole where people say, ‘Lily, you’re bad. Go think about what you’ve done’.” Glad to see Ms. Allen maturing as a woman and as an artist.(NME)
• Mark Ronson has made the new Kaiser Chiefs album into a New Wave-a-palooza: “It’s a bizarre, eccentric record for such a huge rock band to make – in a good way,” he told BBC Newsbeat. “It’s got elements of Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, The Go-Gos, The Move, and ELO.”(NME)
• The A.V. Club interviews Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Ed O’Brien.
• Morrissey isn’t the only artist with a grudge against NME: Calvin Harris is also fed up with the magazine’s coverage of him. “Despite a decent album review, they use my name for something that’s synonymous with rubbish. Like ‘Well, this is bad, but at least it’s not as bad as that lanky cretin Calvin Harris and his s****y music’. That’s not a direct quote, but you get the idea.” But instead of suing, Harris is applying for a job as a writer there. No joke. NME news editor Paul Stokes says, “If he’s successful, he won’t be allowed to review his own records.”(Daily Record)