I’m not sure why people were suggesting skipping meat is murder, this album is the height of political commentary and outrage when it comes to the smiths and has some of their best work on it.... a crucial album if your going to listen to their entire discography

Yeah Well I Wonder is really underrated and no one ever talks about it!

“Is sounds like Morrissey was very popular in school. It sounds like he had a great school life” lol

Thanks, all, for keeping incendiary debate topics civil in your comments, and for not disliking the video simply based on an opinion I shared near the end. It's a rarity on the internet. More THE SMITHS Reactions: The Queen is Dead: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pdBxo8960bPOj2Q.html Self-Titled: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q6mFp5V_r8_VfJs.html Hatful of Hollow: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n816dc-ksciuj5s.html Strangeways, Here We Come: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kL-Ils58nauyhZ8.html The World Won't Listen and Louder than Bombs: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mb11Z5eYvbbZZpc.html

Yeah well I wonder is definitely the smiths most underrated song by far.

Barbarism Begins At Home has got to be one of my favorite songs The Smiths have put out, period.

Surprised you didn't comment on the bass line in Barbarism Begins at Home. It's amazing.

I don’t get why some people dismiss this album, this is my favorite Smiths record honestly.

As far as I'm aware he hated school, and wasn't very popular. Let's face it, Morrissey's always been very opinionated, and those opinions often didn't fit with mainstream UK popular culture of the day.

imo this is their best album, to me this really defines that smiths sound

btw, meat is bloody murder.

Meat is Murder is their best though.

You do not have to believe that an animal is morally equivalent to a human to not kill them. All you have to believe is that a life is worth more than 5 minutes of human taste pleasure.

Recently went to a Morrissey concert and during the playing of Meat is Murder they show graphic scenes of Animals being slaughtered in slaughtere houses. It's quite powerful and disturbing!!

Love these reactions to the smiths mate, big smiths fan from the UK really interesting to here your take on these songs especially from someone not from the UK. Well I wonder is one of my favourite smiths songs, looking forward to your thoughts on strangeways and some of the compilations LTB and the TWWL

Go Vegan!

Great idea for video. It kinda sucks that you don't have more subs. Pls don't give up I really enjoy these.

Huge Smiths & Morrissey fan! When Morrissey wrote "Killing for no reason is murder", he was expressing the fact that with grocery stores providing fruits, vegetables, beans, and other wonderful items, then killing animals for food is unnecessary...if we don't need flesh to survive, then meat is murder. It's not religion but morality that says a sentient being has the right to live without being terrorized by humans. To believe any species of animal (yes, humans are animals) has the right to inflict their will upon another, especially to the other's detriment, is the a form of hatred termed "speciesism". We were not born to believe this but it was taught to us at an early age. Ironically, because humans believe that we are intended to consume flesh (humans will eat ANYTHING but thrive only as herbivores), not only are we destroying our planet as half of the greenhouse gases are a result of animal ag and clearing rainforests to support human craving for beef, but there is unprecedented degenerative disease due to consumption of meat and dairy. Most vegans become vegan after an incident or information removes the veil of cognitive dissonance from our eyes. Being open-minded and doing our own research helps. "What the Health" changed my life, for others, it was "Earthlings"...both wonderful documentaries. I've been vegan for over a year and it's changed everything for the better. Anyway, just want for you to please understand that vegans are trying to help the world by eliminating unnecessary violence, pollution, and self-destruction. We care.

I can promise you that no one in Britain ever pokes fun at the fact that it's populace isn't outnumbered by guns.

Meat is Murder made me go vegetarian in 1986. I'm now vegan ❤️ We are all animals

Of the four main albums, this is my favourite, mainly due to The Headmaster Ritual and Rusholme Ruffians.

Just to add, Morrissey was pretty brutal, at times, about what he thought about the UK. He didn't paint a great picture of the UK. Not helped by him by being brought up close to a city suffering from deindustrialization and lack of investment at a time of deep recession. It was a grim time. Manchester is now a modern, developed and vibrant. One of Lonely Planet's best cities to visit (maybe top 3 or 4) in the world. I wouldn't go that far myself but it is a great city with a fascinating history.

I absolutely love your reactions to my favorite band of all time- I love introducing people to the Smiths, too.... One thing I have noticed is you pay more attention to the music than the lyrics... both are sublime (Marr is a god), and- Morrissey's lyrics are what make this music extra great-full stop. Maybe comment on them more - or listen to them more?

Barbarism Begins At Home definitely deserves it's 7 minutes. It is awesome, particularly the bass.

The Smiths never performed Well I Wonder live. Apparently Morrissey & Johnny Marr felt there was something so tender and heartfelt about it that they thought it would intrude on its sentiment to give it a 'public airing'. The song Meat Is Murder is suitably harrowing.

Can't wait to see ur reaction to Strangeways, Here We Come especially Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me

They don’t have to be morally equivalent. Of course killing a human is worse in our eyes. That doesn’t justify murdering animals.

This is my first favourite Smith's album, I think it's ALL underrated. Although This Joke alone is worth it.I use to have it on tape!

That's pretty unfair and presumptuous to state that atheists/agnostics monolithically view living beings as "just particles" without intrinsic value. Maybe they see that people/animals as having worth for the very fact they are alive and, accordingly, are innately entitled to dignity and respect simply due to their existence? I think you're ignoring the possibility that individuals can devise their own moral codes and standards from basic logic and experience in the absence of reliance on a religious text. (For the record, I do think there is some value in organized religion, but I also think concepts like compassion and the Golden Rule are fairly self-evident.) I've always had a problem with the "atheists have no objective morality" argument. The argument seems to be premised on the assumption that all religious people in a particular faith have a shared and "objective" understanding of their moral duties as gleaned from their religion. That assumption ignores the fact that religious texts are subject to wildly different interpretations and the existence of different denominations and theological schools reflect that fact. I don't think many people would say that a Southern Baptist and a liberal Presbyterian would likely have the same ideas of what it means to "practice their Christian faith" in the 21st century.

Radiohead do an excellent cover of Headmasters Ritual. Also Rusholme is an area of Manchester where they originated.

I found you by accident today, i'm watching every video of 1 listen in a row, i Just feel like i could make a drinking game km every time he says the sound is "polished"

Another fantastic album from a fantastic band

I used to eat lots of meat for 40 years, but I always thought this song provoked me in a good way. For many reasons. The meat industry is horrible for the climate. But the cruelty of factory farming, like you said. I think Morrissey is right on this. You think he did not have a belief system? We all do, with or without religion. This is a weird analysis in my opinion. But they're always interesting, from what I've seen. Thanks, peace

morrissey forever

meat is murder

I'd love to see him introduce Well I Wonder into his solo gigs.

Well I wonder is probably my fav on this album

Well I wonder is definitely the best Smiths song

Gotta say it, Nowhere Fast is my favorite Smiths song

yes!!! Well I Wonder is totally underrated, is their best ballad, and yeah, the main riff is a double string bass riff.

Yes, tortured animal carcases are drained of blood, but there is still blood in the muscle and flesh. When it is heated, that leaves the slab of meat and it is sizzling in the pan. The song is meant to be haunting, you try to justify or scoot around the moral corruptness you are feeling. Watch any documentary on animal cruelty.

"Oh my god Morrissey a bad word! Wash your mouth....." I swear I also do that when he curses.....it's so weird when he does it.....

I think this is their best album.

Headmaster Ritual focused to some degree on the brutality of schools in the 1970s. In general, schools in the UK are better than public schools in the US. Personally,I love this album because of the references to Manchester, my home town.

The person in the cover is a soldier that survived the Vietnam war. He had no idea he was in the cover. I saw someone ones comment on another video and said that the person was living in Australia.

well i wonder is i think the only song that makes me cry besides a few other radiohead songs

This is the ONLY number 1 album by The Smiths in the UK!

Well I wonder is my favorite Smiths song :)

21% of Americans identify as being Catholics while 9% of British citizens so identify. I'm not sure what your point was.

That joke isn't funny anymore is pure art.

Well I Wonder is really Wonderful!

Perhaps their least important album in some ways, perhaps their most important album in some other ways. Apart from "Nowhere Fast" as a song, and the death of Pelle Lindbergh of the Philadelphia Flyers coinciding with "That joke isn't funny anymore", which meant a lot personally back then, I think it's a bit lame compared what we were expecting from them back then.

I don't know much about the issue of animal equality against human thinking. By not achieving full communication with them. Before it was thought that an animal did not feel, think or communicate, that it could not be creative and much less think of itself something. Now much more is known about his ingenuity, communication and instilled in the notion of his own life and death. Monkeys have been seen creating tools, whales trying to tell us something and dogs finding out deceased dogs and other animals even in duel. I imagine that in the future we will know more about it. In the meantime, and for now, the debate lies primarily in cruelty and entertainment against them, justified merely by our supposed intellectual superiority. However, we are not so superior if in the end we fail to overcome our self-destruction. When Morrissey was asked about the subject of his vegetarianism, he was told that the reason why humans eat meat is because of hunger, he said that nobody is so hungry, given the environmental and physical circumstances of the human body ... it would be preferable a vegetable (which feeds healthily) to eat from the cruel sacrifice. PS: regarding this great album of the smiths, I can only say wonders in both music and lyrics. Bravo

This has always been my favorite Smiths album. I know everybody says 'The Queen is Dead' is their best, but not for me. They were at their peak on this album. The only songs I really like from that album are: The Boy With the Thorn In His Side, and Some Girls are Bigger Than Others.

The best thing about the uk is the music and comedy. Schools could be pretty harsh 50 years ago,and the class system stinks

Their best album imo

it is were you end at 2 am when your bored . then you wake up and said ok its time to move on. Now, i have to admit that i pick the video because to guy is cute and i love blue eye. the guy is always justifiez himself. he bored me to dead,, but it not kill me for some reason. now, its kind of robert redford.... said anything you like i dont listen but only watch you because your so cute and you have a nice voice.

Oh, don't worry: monarchy, religion, and the education system are all things that we here in Britain hate about Britain as well. Maybe that's why our comedy, music and art is as acerbic as it is. We can all agree on what's shit, but not what's good.:) As for the album: i always liked 'That Joke...', 'Nowhere Fast', 'Barbarism..' and the title track, but not a lot of the rest. Though i do like the lyrics. That goes without saying. But, like the first album, there's a lot of atonal discordant stuff. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing in of itself, it can just give you earache after a while. Looking forward to the 'Strangeways' review.

Well I Wonder is sublime!!!

Rushholme Ruffians = Elvis "Latest Flame" sped up.

Well I wonder is legit fantastic

Their first 2 studio albums were kind of mediocre. But I love their early music which is found better on 1. Hatful of Hollow and 2. Louder than Bombs.

I hope I just misunderstood what you said at the end there, but you can have morality without religion.

Morals are always just opinions, you just either agree with them or you don't - that's just how morality works.

React to the album Cruel Town

If your agnostic/atheist you don't have moral?? Excuse me Sir??

Definitely the best!

Another interesting review, thanks for that. Meat is Murder is the only Smiths track I routinely skip while listening to them as I find the preachiness a bit irritating. I've been a fan since the first single, think Morrissey has a great singing voice and style, but I also think the man is a twat. You have a very strange idea of what atheists believe. I don't know any atheists who think that there are no such thing as morals. The only thing all atheists have in common is a lack of belief in gods. Morality comes from upbringing and social norms, and from thinking. And for theists it can come from books written in the stone age- only difference is that atheists leave that last one out.

The comments are like that in the Queen is Dead now

Meat is murder.

Morrisey doesn't eat meat, huh? I'll bet there's quite a few Italian male models who might have something to say about this.

morrisssy was the very opposite of popular, his whole life tbh

The Headmaster Ritual is about corporal punishment in schools, which was prohibited in the UK in 1986. Meaning Morrissey probably got smacked for being a smug smartass one too many times, and decided to write a song about it. Also, Morrissey was not popular in school, and he constantly talks about how barbaric and evil his high school was. He was a sad loner in high school, and dropped out because he hated it so much. As for your Meat Is Murder diatribe, I think it's weird and slightly troubling how you seem to believe atheists/agnostics have no morals. They do, they just get their morals from something other than a holy text, such as from culture, human nature, how they were raised, common sense etc. For example, you don't have to be told that murder is wrong by a holy text. It's been engrained in every culture since way before religions even existed. From Wikipedia: "Morality is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper. Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal.

That Joke isn’t funny is their greatest song

I think you are oversimplifying atheism or agnostics. It's not that there are no morals because something something particles, it's that an old man in the sky doesn't decide those morals.

Smiths masterpiece IMO.

What's wrong with Catholicism?

best band in the world

I agree with you on the monarchy politicians etc useless and dangerous. Great song, about bullying basically. C.

Being pedantic about justifying murder, not wise.

Man how are you not the world's biggest Smiths/Morrissey fan - you're always so miserable in every video haha

Hey Alex, I'm enjoying your videos. I just wanted to say I disagree with you when it comes to atheism, morals don't exist. That's incorrect. I'm pretty sure if you talk to any philosopher and/or atheist, they will all disagree with you.

I appreciate how you grasp the reality of moral relativism without the presence of a transcendent and authoritative source from which we can ground our moral claims. While - as you said - Morrissey is perfectly free to express his convictions on the subject, he has no ability to condemn carnivorism as being truly, objectively evil. It's a tough pill to swallow if one takes on the atheist or areligious worldview, as our intuitions strongly suggest moral realism as opposed to morality being illusory or fictitious.

I loved your review. But the idea that atheism means no morals is insane. I simply don’t wanna hurt people bc I don’t wanna see them suffer. I don’t want them to feel certain things I’ve felt. I have morals not bc I was fed them. I have morals bc I have compassion and empathy which comes from life experience.

Stop talking! Just jibberish flows out.

Haha drained at the butcher?! Dude...it's raw flesh. Humans aren't vegan, nor omnivore, nor carnivore . We are 100% herbivore.

4:38 the UK is predominantly Protestant, bearing in mind we created the Church of England which was heavily based off forms of Protestantism

This video was great until you started trying to justify killing animals unnecessarily at the end. Also there are way fewer sustainability issues with vegan diets that omnivorous diets considering our meat eating habits are literally destroying the entire planet. Not trying to come and lecture you but nearly everything you said on the issue at the end was misled or just wrong. But besides that the video was good and interesting and it's nice to hear your musical opinions.

Oof... You totally lost me with the "atheists don't have a moral compass" argument because it is totally wrong, morality does not need to come from a higher realm or religious system of belief at all. You have moral naturalists, moral nihilists, moral relativists etc. So your point falls flat. It sounds like you are either ignorant about it or a religious person who dislikes/can't accept that other people have ways to live that better suit them than religion.

Poor Morrissey has a beef with eating meat.

You either get the smiths or you don't and you don't .

To be fair The smiths are very english and you have to grow up here to get it.

Weak argumentations against meat is murder dude

This dude talks to much 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼