Did the song 'Meat is Murder' make you veggie?
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MilaPatricia — 18 years ago(September 06, 2007 09:13 PM)
I always, on some level, hated myself for eating meat. When I heard the song for the first time, I agreed with it but I didn't quit eating meat. I was too young at the time and wasn't sure of myself enough to deal with my family's response. I had tried to quit eating meat when I wasmaybe 14 and it didn't go well. I was too young to buy my own food and my mom mainly cooked meat for the family. My brother mocked me and I was too pathetic to stick to my choice. I have always loved the entire album but never felt comfortable wearing a shirt for it because of the message. I actually didn't really listen to the song much, now that I think about it.
Now that I am comfortably a vegetarian I feel much better about wearing the shirt. I quit eating meat finally, mainly, because it gave me a stomach ache (either out of guilt or because it really didn't agree with my system), I don't want to eat animals, and because I never really liked meat, I always had to dress it up with something else. Meat, alone, tastes horrid.
So, Morrissey didn't turn me veggie. I'm sure he has turned many fans veggie and good for them; it's nice having such a solid figure to emulate. -
Cavr — 18 years ago(September 27, 2007 09:40 AM)
I don't know, I've thought about becoming a vegetarian on numerous occasions, also while listening to the song but I always come to the conclusion that it's natural for me as a human being to eat meat. The only thing I see something wrong with is the meat industry's treatment of animals.
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B_a_S_t_A_r_D — 18 years ago(February 02, 2008 03:57 AM)
I love the song and all, but I think you'd have to be really impressionable to turn veggie over a pop song that doesn't offer any shocking and unknown revelations on how animals are killed.
Every time Morrissey sings "the flesh you so fancifully fry isn't succulent tasty or kind" I want to ask "why not?"
As a lifelong Smiths and Morrissey fan, his militant vegetarianism is the only thing that has ever bothered me.
I know how you feel, when I heard my wife died I could barely finish my lunch -
MissIlsaLund — 17 years ago(July 19, 2008 06:40 PM)
I was raised vegetarian, but I didn't discover the Smiths until I was a teenager. I think if I wasn't already vegetarian, the song might sway me in that direction. It's haunting.
It's as red as the Daily Worker and just as sore! -
Rusholme_Ruffian — 17 years ago(November 02, 2008 01:37 PM)
I'm vegetarian, but not because of Morrissey. Meat tastes like beep and I always felt quite sick afterwards. My parents don't mind, although my grandma mocked me for a little while, which was completely unnecessary.
http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=18855712 -
tommyuk — 17 years ago(February 17, 2009 11:25 AM)
Musically Its not one of the best Smiths songs but its a fact that it did make a lot of people go veggie which is a healthier diet and the way the meat industry is run is a disgrace I agree with him on that I still eat meat would like to go veggie though not because of Morrissey but just from a health point of view.
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LfcMotd73 — 16 years ago(July 13, 2009 06:02 PM)
I have battled with this issue for years and it's a very interesting point raised by the OP here.
I've been a Smiths fan since 1988 when I was 14 and a friend got me into them. I never got into the whole albums at once- it progressed over a year or so. The songs always struck me as uncomfortable but brilliant and way different from the pop rubbish in the UK charts at the time. U2 were big then but they just weren't as interesting as the brilliantness of putting on Bigmouth Strikes Again or This Charming Man, etc.
Meat Is Murder is a song I grew to love over time because the album was my least played back then- I constantly played Hatful and Queen from start to finish and Strangeways became a favourite too.
But over time I loved the song MIM. And I've wrestled with my guilt over eating meat over the years since.
I play the song and can lose myself in it's evocative gloom and beauty and passionately sing along to the words but then I think I can't promote that I believe in this- and interestingly I've owned 2 of the album t-shirts but couldn't wear the MIM one because I'd feel like a hypocrite.
I sometimes try to become veggie for a while but I'm a fully grown stron2000g young man who needs meat to live and I enjoy it so until the day-if I do- quit eating meat, then I will always feel uncomfortable listening to that magnificent song.
But then, surely Morrissey's point was always to make people uncomfortable in the early days.
Songs about exploring/ denying/ being happy or ashamed of homosexuality, songs about paedophilia, the Moors Murders,songs about school brutality, domestic violence, songs about depression, alienation, loneliness, songs mocking the music of (most probably) your cool friends or family.these were songs that were always going to make you face up to yourself weren't they?
It's become cooler over time to be a Smiths fan because "cool" bands like Oasis - who are, let's face it- a lad's band- had them as an influence.
But back inthe 80s you were sort of set apart by being into Morrissey and the Smiths because people were either listening to acid house (which I embraced btw) or working class bands like UB40 or Madness.
Where I grew up it was mainly reggae and dance music and - chart pop. So me playing Panic or Death Of A Disco Dancer was me rebelling and making a statement, but equally feeling at odds with myself because of my peers. Hence, Morrissey wrote confrontational and uncomfortable songs.
So Meat Is Murder makes you question your right to like it.
-we hate it when our friends become successful -
Meven_Stoffat — 16 years ago(October 09, 2009 11:45 AM)
I find vegetarianism to be bullsh-t. What if you're out in the forest and you have nothing to eat? You'd have to kill for survival.
Therefore it didn't make me a vegetarian, because really, vegetarianism is hypocritical bullsh-t. I'm an animal lover, doesn't mean I can't eat meat. SOme of my favorite dishes are meat-fuled too.
"That's a mistake you can make just one time." - Bruce Dickinson,
Dracula -
Jewels200987 — 16 years ago(October 26, 2009 09:58 AM)
It's a bit different if you're starving in the forest Bruce. If you had your dog with you and nothing else to eat you'd probably be forced to eat your dog but in normal circumstances I doubt you'd eat your pet dog one day just to try it. Use your head.
As for me, I was a vegetarian long before that song, but I wouldn't be surprised if it made a lot of people vegetarian because most people don't even think about where their food comes from before they put it in their mouths. That song makes the uneducated think about it though.