PETA's Interview Morrissey

[Guest guest]

http://www.peta2.com/ot/o-shake.html

 

 

 

* Morrissey *

Veggie icon Morrissey, who burst onto the scene in the '80s with The

Smiths

and released a string of solo albums in the '90s, is back on the road

this

fall with sold-out concerts in the U.S., Australia, France, and his

native

England. The reclusive singer, whose " Meat Is Murder " album has

inspired

legions of listeners to stop eating animals, was playing in El Paso

the same

day that PETA launched its latest " Go Veg " billboard campaign.

 

Morrissey hooked up with PETA's Dan Mathews to take a snapshot of the

ad and

reflect on his feelings about animal rights.

 

 

What turned you vegetarian?

 

Well, it was a long time ago, actually just over 30 years—simply

the love

of animals.

 

If you love animals, obviously it doesn't make sense to hurt them.

There

was a very famous television documentary on British Television. It

was about

the usual abattoir/slaughter situation, and it horrified me. Because

obviously it was very, very rare to see any abattoir footage. They

still

rarely show things like that on British Television for some reason.

So that

was the turning point for me. And I always looked at animals and

thought

they were very much like children and they looked to us always to

help them

and save them and protect them. Then I could see all these animals

being led

and assuming they were being led to safety and being organized by

human

beings—and then, of course, being butchered—very simple.

 

The Smiths' Meat Is Murder album inspired legions of people, and even

nowadays, young people are hearing it for the first time and it's

making

them think. What made you decide to do something so focused and

pointed?

 

Well, it seemed to me to be a very simple statement, but often, as

you

know, very simple statements can become incredibly effective. There

were a

few people who said, " Meat Is Murder—do you really want to call the

album

that? " It's a bit studenty and a bit typically radical, but it did

not have

that affect at all, and for it to sell so well and to have such

visibility

was fantastic—especially at a terribly frothy and fluffy time in pop

music,

when nobody was saying anything at all. There was no sort of harsh

romanticism to pop language; it was very, very dull and soppy, so

Meat Is

Murder really stood out.

 

What are your favorite stories of people who changed as a result?

 

There are so many, but really the ones that strike a chord with me

the

most are the people who live in very simple situations and the typical

family situation. I mean, young people, it seems—certainly in

the '80s—had

to battle with their parents because their parents were sure [that] by

becoming vegetarian, you were missing out on a multitude of proteins

and so

forth. But often people realize if you are vegetarian, you can look

incredibly healthy, and if you eat animals, you can look as if you are

dying. So it was nice to see that old argument quashed that you must

eat

animals to be a healthy person.

 

How do you think that the world has changed since '85, when Meat Is

Murder

came out, and how has the way that people respond to vegetarianism and

animal rights in general changed?

 

Well, I look at the world in several ways, and sometimes I examine

it and

I think it's really not changed. When I see or hear of absolutely

grotesque

things happening to animals, things that are protected by the

government and

the police and so forth, I just find this really unacceptable. But

then I

look and I see a multitude of ways it has changed, and it's really

moving to

me when you see in small ways how the world has changed—in massive

supermarket chains, in small supermarket chains where you see the

vegetarian

corner ... it's better in England but getting stronger in America.

 

How do you incorporate animal rights into your everyday life?

 

I think everything helps. You don't have to be outside burning down

buildings—you can do small things all the time. And I really believe

that

every small gesture can be seen and can be just as effective as any

other

gesture—as long as you keep it foremost in your mind and it's

therefore in

everything that you do that you are protecting animals, who need us to

protect them. I think it's just so possible to be influential—also,

when you

're a touring unit, and you tour as much as I do, and you tour as a

vegetarian unit, and you make it known. You hear so many stories now

of

groups who tour as vegetarian units, and it's absolutely fantastic.

It's

great to be saying " no, no, no " to all these old stale industries.

And you

arrive at hotels like this, and you book 20 rooms, and all these

rooms are

vegetarian rooms, and you're making it known all the time that [in]

this

large touring party, … nobody is interested in your stale, old silly

menus.

So it is effective. It really is effective.

 

What are some of the stickers you use on your envelopes?

 

They're all PETA stickers, and some of them go back a long way. I

did

collect a massive amount of PETA stickers in the late '80s. They're

anti-fur—they cross the whole spectrum, really. I never post a letter

without putting something on it. The Rosie the Riveter/ " Go Veg "

sticker is

the newest one I have. Once again, it's just a small gesture that I

think is

really effective.

 

What are some of your favorite foods?

 

I have very simple tastes, like breads and fruits. I'm very lucky

because

I actually love fruit. If I can have fruit several times a day I feel

absolutely fine. And I love very basic vegetables like potatoes and

broccoli

and asparagus and sprouts. It's very, very easy for me to eat when

I'm at

home because I like very, very basic stuff. So I'm never struggling

at all,

I'm never confused about food—how could I be after all this time?

 

Some say that PETA's campaigns can be too edgy, too confrontational,

too

provocative, or too sexy and stray away from the seriousness of the

issue—what is your take on that?

 

Well my take on it is that maybe PETA's campaigns are all of those

things

occasionally, but when you consider how many different people are out

there

in the world watching, I mean, not everyone is of one frame of mind,

not

everyone is amusing or trivial or hard-faced about politics. So if

you are

trying to appeal to practically everybody in the world, then you have

to

occasionally take different approaches. So sometimes there is a need,

I

think, for things to be very edgy, and there is a need for absolute

subtleties. The combination of all these things, I think, makes PETA

so

great because it's for everybody, absolutely everybody. It's not a

secluded

movement. It's not a private club—it's for the world, so therefore,

in my

view, it strikes to appeal, and does appeal, to every shade and

persuasion.

 

You mentioned earlier that for years, you've given your nephew every

reasonable argument about vegetarianism but the first thing that

seemed to

reach him was the PETA/Playboy poster with Kimberley Hefner?

 

The interesting thing about that campaign is that there are people

like my

nephew, boys like my nephew. The thing that struck him about the

campaign,

for better or worse, was she is a beautiful woman and she was showing

a

great deal of her body, and that catches his eye and that makes him

think

about vegetarianism. And that poster goes directly on his wall. It

just

proves … it goes back to the point about people being different and

every

shade and persuasion. It means that they are there to be appealed to,

and it

just takes different approaches, and we should use all approaches—

absolutely

everything.

 

Even the sometimes controversial strategy of using sex?

 

Well, I think it's fine because, you know, that's the world, and

the women

or men who want to use their bodies to make a point—it's absolutely

up to

them. They don't belong to a circus, they are not being beaten into

doing

this, they want to do it, and they want to use what they have to

help. At

this stage, you know, with this subject of animal protection and

animal

rights, everything must be utilized. Many of PETA's campaigns are

amusing,

which I think is very helpful, because, of course, the traditional

image of

anybody who fights for animal rights is of very doleful and forlorn

people

basically asking people to stop doing something they enjoy. So PETA

has a

way of appealing to people's humorous side and making people think in

different ways about issues which are terribly grave. Because human

beings

don't like too much reality—they can't take it. So if you can pepper

it with

a bit of humor and softness, then you can approach people by a

different

angle, a more gentle angle. But nonetheless, your quest is to fire a

solid

bullet, and I think PETA does that really well.

 

What are your favorite campaigns?

 

There have been just so many campaigns and so many victories, and

every

single victory is just fantastic to me. It's really [heart-rending],

and it'

s difficult to pull something out. But, obviously PETA has made great

impressions on people like McDonald's and Burger King, which I think

is

incredible, because they were certainly such dreadful institutions

and they

were completely closed off to any kind of communication—they were

closed off

to even thinking about their own error. It was unthinkable that they

were

doing anything wrong. So PETA, I think, has very intelligently

persuaded

them to make concessions in many areas. That's really remarkable.

 

We have a new Spanish language magazine and Web site, and we've had a

lot of

support from the Hispanic community. You also have quite a large

number of

Hispanic fans. What do you think it is that makes Hispanics more

sensitive

to animals as well as to your point of view?

 

Well, I think they are very open people, and I think they are very

gentle

and emotional people. They are struck by any strong emotional

gesture, that'

s simply how they are. They are very open to the basic humanities of

life

and caring and loving; therefore, I think it's easier to appeal to

them in a

very humane, gentle way.

 

When you introduced Meat Is Murder last night, you opened it by

declaring,

" Sea life, not sea food. " What do you say is your overall message to

your

admirers?

 

Please don't kill anything. These are pathetically basic words but

get

through your life without killing things and killing animals and

dragging

animals down, making them pay for your pleasures—they're mostly

trivial

pleasures as well—it's not anything that anybody really needs. We

were all

raised with that concept that animals are there to be used, but

they're not.

It's just the dreadful industries that do it.

 

What do you say to fans who listen to your music but haven't gone veg?

 

It's usually the influence of the people who are around them, and a

lot of

people are stuck with carnivores, you know—it's a tough habit to

break.

Also, people feel threatened because they think you are asking them to

absolutely change their entire lifestyle and change everything about

their

entire life. But I say to people, they should try and do things

gradually,

and the first step and the most important step is to stop eating

animals.

 

And then once you do that, you begin to see in other ways and it's

not

quite a shock to you, not sort of jumping off a cliff and absolutely

changing your identity. So, I just say to people to take it slowly

and they

do. It will just take time. I have arguments with people who are the

most

diehard carnivores, but once you have an intelligent debate with

somebody,

you can see how they begin to break down a little and their edges

become

softer, and you can see that this is not a difficult topic—the whole

idea of

vegetarianism is so simple. And it's really what everyone needs and

wants

and is best for most people, and I think everybody knows that. Nobody

can

come up with a good argument for eating animals—nobody can. People as

some

kind of a joke say, well, " It's tasty, " but it's only tasty once you

garnish

it and you put salt and pepper and you cook it and you have to do 300

things

to it to disguise its true taste. If you put garnishes on a chair or

fabric

it would probably taste quite nice.

 

 

 

 

http://www.peta2.com/ot/o-shake-moz85.html

 

~* Morrissey *~ September 1985

Here is Dan's interview with Morrissey in September of 1985.

Morrissey was

known to give interviews sparingly, but when approached with the

animal

rights topic he was most cordial and willing—even though it was 3

a.m.!

 

Dan Mathews: Thanks very much for chatting at this hour.

 

Morrissey: Sure. I don't usually give interviews, especially on

this

tour.

 

DM: In the interviews that you do in England, is the animal rights

subject

often discussed?

 

Morrissey: Oh, yeah. It's very much accepted as a major issue in

England.

 

DM: When did you write " Meat Is Murder " ?

 

Morrissey: Back in October 1984.

 

DM: Did you get any problems from your record company, Rough Trade,

about

such a shocking title?

 

Morrissey: None whatsoever. As soon as we had decided on that as

the

title track, it made the headlines in the British newspapers and got

very

wide attention. That whole subject is very controversial over there

and so

" Meat Is Murder " was an extension of it. The big crime of the whole

matter

was that the title song did not get any air play on the daily radio.

The

album entered the charts at number one but they never played the

title song!

 

DM: Are you aware of some of the other songs dealing with animal

abuse?

 

Morrissey: Certainly. Howard Jones has a song called " Assault and

Battery, " and Captain Sensible also does one called " No Meat. "

 

DM: You've heard the mini-e.p. " Their Eyes Don't Lie, " haven't you?

 

Morrissey: Yes, that was heartwarming.

 

DM: How long have you been a vegetarian?

 

Morrissey: I became a vegetarian when I was about 11 or 12 years

old. My

mother was a staunch vegetarian as long as I can remember. We were

very poor

and I thought that meat was a good source of nutrition. Then I

learned the

truth. I guess you could say I repent for those years now.

 

DM: So it was your mother who first interested you in the animal

rights

movement, or did you find out about it on your own?

 

Morrissey: I would definitely say that my mother started me.

She's very

active. She often goes on anti-hunt rallies in the U.K. She has

influenced

me very much.

 

 

 

DM: Do the Smiths do many benefits for the animal rights groups in

England?

 

Morrissey: We get literally swamped with requests to do benefit

shows,

but it's very difficult. There is a load of ridiculous fighting that

goes on

between some groups, and so if you do a show for one you can find

yourself

in trouble with the others. I think we contribute a great lot to the

animal

rights movement in that it is our main theme. We really get a lot of

people

thinking and talking and help keep the issue going strong, at least in

England. It's our big platform and we use it, and I think that's as

effective as doing benefits. We were in Scotland not long ago and were

interviewed on a TV news show. The show was at 6 o'clock in the

evening,

right at dinner time, and we were able to get some vile

slaughterhouse film

footage on the air to get people to think about what they were really

eating. That made a huge impact.

 

DM: What kind of reaction do you get from your fans considering

your stand

on animal issues?

 

Morrissey: That's an interesting question. We get endless positive

response, generally. Something strange happened at a show once,

though, in

Stokes, a city in England. It was unfortunate. While we were playing

the

song " Meat Is Murder, " somebody in the audience threw a heap of

sausages

onto the stage, and oddly, they hit me in the face and part of them

got in

my mouth. They were a good shot, but they really missed the point. It

was

horrible. I had to just run off the stage and heave! I really vomited.

Eating meat is the most disgusting thing I can think of. It's like

biting

into your grandmother.

 

DM: That response doesn't sound too positive.

 

Morrissey: It was clearly an isolated case. I get lots of mail

every day

from people all over saying how glad they are that someone is finally

saying

what we are saying. From Americans especially, we get a tremendous

response

thanking us for " Meat Is Murder " and telling us that they have become

vegetarians and all. It's wonderful! When we played in Madrid, it was

a

great high point as well. We did an open-air concert in front of

350,000

people and it was televised to all of Spain. During " Meat Is Murder, "

they

translated the words on television. It was " Carnes Es Asesinato " or

something like that. That was great. Then the next night, we played in

Barcelona and they did the same thing again. And Spain uses all the

meat,

too. And they do that horrible bullfighting! We were hopeful that they

learned something from our shows there.

 

DM: What do you think of the Animal Liberation Front? Did you know

that in

April, they raided a lab in California and freed hundreds of animals?

 

Morrissey: No, I hadn't heard about that. That's great. Yeah, I

think

they do really important work. I'm happy that they are active in

America

also.

 

DM: So you've just toured Europe, and now you're playing in America.

 

Morrissey: Yes, and a bit of Canada, too. We love the audiences

here.

Everyone's really excited.

 

DM: Is it discouraging to you to think that while everyone is

singing

along with " Meat Is Murder " at a concert, they may very well go out

and have

a hamburger after the show?

 

Morrissey: I don't think that at all. The amount of letters I get

from

this country keeps me from getting discouraged. Every day, I read

letters

from fans saying how they have really been changed by our album and

that

they no longer eat meat. Now, it may not be the same impact as we've

had in

England, but I'm happy nonetheless. Things are fine here. It's much

more

difficult finding vegetarian restaurants, and it makes me ill to see

so many

dead animals on the roadways, but otherwise, things are great. The

tour is

going quite nicely.