Smiths legend Johnny Marr has told David Cameron: "...stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don't. I forbid you to like it."
Heaven knows he’s miserable now, after the World Cup 2018 bid defeat, but charming man David Cameron has been left feeling even more blue after Smiths rocker Johnny Marr, cringeing with embarrassment, told the prime minister to:
“… stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don’t. I forbid you to like it.”
Marr has finally decided the joke isn’t funny anymore and taken action against the thorn in his side almost five years after the Tory leader, in a January 2006 interview with Radio 1, claimed to dig:
“… The Smiths, Radiohead, Pulp, Blur – all that quite gloomy music.”
It’s not the first time musicians have politely asked Cameron’s Tories not to say they’re interested in them, leaving the children of Thatcher wondering, dreaming if anybody loves them, as today’s Mirror points out:
At an April rally in the run-up to the General Election, Mr Cameron used Everybody’s Changing by indie rockers Keane in the party’s campaign music. It left the band “horrified”.
On his Twitter page, outraged drummer Richard Hughes ranted: “I’m told the Tories played Keane at their manifesto launch. I’m horrified. To be clear – we were not asked. I will not vote for them.” At the time, a Conservative spokesman defended the party’s use of Keane’s single, saying: “It’s a great song and David is a great fan.”
Rock and politics is not always a cosy mix as Theresa May once found out to her cost. The Home Secretary was left red-faced when an attempt to flaunt her trendy credentials in Parliament hit a bum note after she confused Leeds rockers The Kaiser Chiefs with The White Stripes.
Ms May, 54, said Labour policy was like the song Everyday I Love You Less And Less, but her joke backfired when she mistakenly claimed the Chiefs’ song was by the White Stripes.
As Blur drummer Dave Rowntree said in April:
“He’s a Smiths tourist. Real Smiths fans dress a certain kind of way, and they have a certain kind of haircut, and they wear certain kinds of T-shirts. But what they probably don’t do is have their picture taken outside the Salford Lads Club.”
Poor Mr Cameron must be left wondering if it’s really so strange for a Tory to like good music…
21 Responses to “Smiths legend Johnny Marr tells Cameron: “I forbid you to like us””
Rosie Yohannan
RT @leftfootfwd: Smiths legend @Johnny_Marr tells Cameron: "I forbid you to like us": http://bit.ly/fP5869 reports @ShamikDas
Colin Jackson
RT @leftfootfwd: Smiths legend @Johnny_Marr tells Cameron: "I forbid you to like us": http://bit.ly/fP5869 reports @ShamikDas
David Mills
@Johnny_Marr @leftfootfwd @ShamikDas Great stuff. http://bit.ly/fP5869 Can you ask @BernardSumner to do something similar?
Desperate |Dan
Johnny Marr is a lot older than David Cameron. Perhaps now the old rocker is pushing 50 he’s become a grumpy old man.
Daniel Roy Harris
Johnny Marr, ex of the Smiths, says to Cameron: "I forbid you to like us": http://bit.ly/fP5869