Okay I'll Bite
I like the Smiths and, guess what, I'm very much a carnivore. Also, I know many other people who enjoy listening to the Smiths and are not: Vegetarians, sexually repressed, or humour-free zones. In fact it is possible to listen to the Smiths and enjoy their music without necessarily following the lifestyle with the religious fanaticism many Smiths fans are often accused of.

Musically vapid? I love Johnny Marr's guitar playing. I know everyone goes on about the riff to 'How Soon is Now' but have a listen to some of the fret-work on 'Big Mouth Strikes again", "William it was really Nothing", "The Joke isn't funny anymore" or "What Difference Does it Make" and try telling me the guy can't play! There aren't many who can match him.

As for Morrisey's lyrics, there is a lot of dry wit and cutting humour in them: "I look at yours, you laugh at mine and love is just a miserable lie!" for example

If I would say one thing about the Smiths they are a band that you can't just give a superficial listen to, you need to give them a few listens before it starts to make sense. But if you don't want to take the time to find out, well that's fine also -it's your loss!
(Nitrous Nitrous, Sun 2 Jan 2011, 19:14, 1 reply)

See above re: clarification of "Smiths fans"
This is the problem I have with the Smiths fans I have encountered, though: that implication that I only don't like them because I haven't tried hard enough. Music, to me, is not something for which you can get an acquired taste - you listen to something and you either dig it or you don't; and if you have to make an effort to like a song, maybe it's just not your thing. I don't like Lady Gaga. I'm pretty sure I will continue not to like her no matter how many times I involuntarily hear "Bad Romance".

I don't doubt Marr is talented, I just find the music he plays to be mind-numbingly boring. Morrissey's "wit" is a bit too smug and sixth-formy to me: I don't think he's as clever as he thinks he is. "If you think peace is a common goal/That goes to show how little you know"? Oh get you, Holden Caulfield.
(Shinigami, Sun 2 Jan 2011, 20:46, closed)