Ravinia 2019, Issue 7, Week 14

7:00 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 PAVILION INTERPOL † –Intermission– MORRISSEY † † Ravinia debut MORRISSEY A Manchester, England, native, Morrissey came of age during the punk explosion of the late ’70s. Alongside guitarist and fellow songwriter Johnny Marr, having bonded over a shared admiration of the punk pioneers New York Dolls, he helped craft a library of songs that defined the sound of British rock for a generation. Their band, The Smiths, debuted in 1983 with the single “Hand in Glove,” setting the tone for the obstreperous per- sona that continues to be Morrissey’s trademark. (He would be voted the second greatest living British cultural icon, behind David Attenbor- ough, in a 2006 poll by the BBC’s Culture Show .) Over the five years that followed, Morrissey and the band became seminal figures with their four studio discs on the independent Rough Trade label: The Smiths (1984), Meat Is Murder (1985), The Queen Is Dead (1986), and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987), as well as the live album Rank (1988). When Marr departed the group after Strangeways , Morrissey disbanded The Smiths and struck it out solo, ultimately achieving even greater success with his prolific solo career that has seen all of his records enter the UK charts in the top 10, including three number ones. His debut solo disc, 1988’s Viva Hate , was one of the three, immediately courting controversy with its final track, “Margaret on the Guillotine,” a refer- ence to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In ad- dition to condemning prominent politicians, his forthright opinions have often included endorse- ments of vegetarianism and animal rights, as well as remarks on royalty and questioning issues of British cultural and national identity. Morrissey labored over his sophomore album until 1991, when he issued Kill Uncle ; subsequent discs Your Arsenal (1992) and Vauxhall and I (1994), solidi- fied his American fanbase, particularly with the single “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get.” He returned to form with 2004’s You Are the Quarry , and 2006’s Ringleader of the Tormen- tors featured orchestrations by Ennio Morricone. Suggesting he might retire in 2014, Morrissey published an autobiography in 2013, topping UK book charts. Fortunately for his fans, instead new albums of original material surfaced in 2014 and 2017; his most recent disc, the covers-filled California Son , was released in May. Morrissey is making his Ravinia debut. SEPTEMBER 3 – SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 117