SALON

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 2:09 PM UTC

David Cameron defies Smiths ex-guitarist, Johnny Marr

The rocker refuses to allow the British prime minister to declare his devotion to the Smiths VIDEO

By

Topics: Video, David Cameron, Hilary Mantel, England, U.K., The Smiths, Music, Politics, pop music, entertainment news, Paul Ryan, Rage Against the Machine, BBC, Chris Christie, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Marr, ,

David Cameron defies Smiths ex-guitarist, Johnny Marr (Credit: AP)

The British prime minister is on a tear: First, he has gone after Hilary Mantel for her comments about Kate Middleton. Now, David Cameron has made a vow to defy Smiths ex-guitarist Johnny Marr, who has “banned” the Tory from listening to music by the Smiths, reports BBC News.

In a story that recalls Paul Ryan’s uninvited and unrequited declaration of love for Rage Against the Machine (and, for that matter, Chris Christie’s obsession with Bruce Springsteen), the prime minister is a longtime fan of the new wave band — who split in the 1980s, and are perhaps best known for their songs “How Soon Is Now” and “Heaven Knows (I’m Miserable Now) — and has said so on many occasions. Marr has voiced his disgust, telling the BBC that this is “not allowed.” But Cameron, who was on a visit to India, declared he’d ”go on and listen,”anyway. In 2006, Cameron chose the Smiths song “This Charming Man” on Desert Island Discs.

This isn’t Marr’s first ban imposed on the prime minister — he repeated the warning in an interview with BBC Radio 4′s Today program — but this time he was specifically ruling that “This Charming Man” is off-limits. ”I think he likes the song,” Marr told the BBC. “That’s probably sadder than if he didn’t know it, really. He’s entitled to like whatever he likes, as long as he doesn’t say it. It’s a good song,” adding, “I do forbid him to like it. He shouldn’t like us because we’re not his kind of people. ”

Marr isn’t alone in publicly decrying Cameron’s fandom. In 2010, Morrissey has also called on him to please stop proclaiming his admiration: “David Cameron hunts and shoots and kills stags — apparently for pleasure. It was not for such people that either ‘Meat Is Murder’ or ‘The Queen Is Dead’ were recorded; in fact, they were made as a reaction against such violence.” But Cameron, who was a teenager in the 1980s and grew up listening to them, can’t resist expressing his devotion, once even making a fleeting mention of the 1984 song “William, It Was Really Nothing” during Prime Minister’s Questions.

During a diplomatic and trade-building mission in Delhi, Cameron remained defiant, telling the BBC, “I’ve now got Johnny Marr and other members of the band saying I’m not able to listen to the Smiths. When I’ve got the complete and full set, even then, I’m afraid, I will go on and listen to the Smiths.”

The Smiths’ “This Charming Man”

Kera Bolonik is a contributing writer at Salon. Follow her on Twitter @KeraBolonik More Kera Bolonik.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 16 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations