Interesting Drug
Morrissey's 4th single, ‘Interesting Drug’ was released April 17, 1989. The single reached an impressive number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.
‘Interesting Drug’ was the second and final Morrissey solo single to feature his former Smiths’ bandmates Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce, and Craig Gannon. The track also features the late Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals. 'Interesting Drug' later appeared on Morrissey's Bona Drag compilation album (released October 1990).
The song was recorded alongside ‘The Last Of The Famous International Playboys’ in November/December 1988 at Wool Hall Studios in Bath with Stephen Street as producer.
Morrissey first performed ‘Interesting Drug’ live several months prior to the single's release at his debut solo concert at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall in December 1988, alongside Rourke, Joyce, and Gannon.
The vinyl versions of the single contained several intriguing etchings:
ESCAPE FROM VALIUM (A-side of the 7")
RETURN TO VALIUM (B-side of the 7")
WHAT KIND OF MAN READS DENIM DELINQUENT? (A-side of the 12")1
MOTOR CYCLE AU PAIR BOY (B-side of the 12")2
HOSSCAH! HOSSCAH! (12" promo)
A music video directed by Tim Broad3 accompanied the single's release. Disparate themes appear in the video: cross-dressing (by way of a high heel-wearing school boy), a reference to Herman Melville by way of a copy of the novel Moby Dick, animal rights, veganism, and a reference to Charles Hawtrey of 'Carry On' fame (a late actor that Morrissey was a huge fan of) by way of the fictional Hawtrey High School For Boys. In the video a group of schoolboys join together with an older, eccentric woman cyclist.
At the end of the video, Morrissey appears to give the group animal rights literature, prompting them to break into a facility to free lab rabbits.
This main story is interspersed with clips of Morrissey and his backing band performing the song. The words "Bad people on the right" (in the song the line is 'Bad people on the rise') are written on a wall by one of the schoolboys during one scene, which Morrissey said "would apply to the Conservative government.”
The video, which shows the battered, bloodied head of a dead seal pup (a truly horrific sight), prompted controversy and was banned by the BBC for a time. The video eventually appeared on Top of the Pops, but only after the word "rise" was changed to "right", with the seal scene omitted.
In a 1989 interview, Morrissey explained that the lyrics are about the Thatcher administration's aggressive prosecution of working-class drug use to "keep people in their place", with the consequence that drug use provided the masses with a "sense of rebellion":
"'Interesting Drug' is about any drug, legal or illegal. We have to face the very simple fact that drugs can help people in many ways. Even with acid house parties and constant police invasions, it almost seems to me that whenever people in working class situations try to enjoy themselves or escape from what is forced upon them, they are stopped. It's almost as if this current government want people to be sheepish and depressed and not seen, and whenever they attempt to break out of that bubble, they are hit on the head."
Morrissey went on to say "I think the pop establishment can deal with pop drug culture in its present form because it doesn't convey anything. It's very vague and wispy and (lolls tongue out and rolls eyes) uuuuungh, unngh. But if you say. “Interesting drug/ the one that you took/ God, it really helped you”, that line was just far too direct."
Watch the promotional music video for 'Interesting Drug' here:
Denim Delinquent was an underground fanzine of seven issues in total, published from 1971 to 1976. It was the first rock and roll fanzine to come out of Canada. The 'WHAT KIND OF MAN READS DENIM DELINQUENT?' matrix etching is a reference to the back cover of issue number 3, specifically to the New York Dolls, who appear on the front cover of the same issue
.
The ‘Motor Cycle Au Pair Boy’ etched on the 12" B-side matrix is taken from Round the Horne, which was a BBC Radio comedy program starring Kenneth Horne, which was transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. Round the Horne is cited as a source in 38 entries in The Oxford English Dictionary. A range of palare words were used in sketches, including "bona" (Good, excellent; attractive), "naff" (Unfashionable, vulgar; lacking in style, inept; worthless, faulty), "nante" (Nothing), "omee" (Man) and "palone" (A young woman. Also: an effeminate man). The use of palare allowed for some double entendres that survived BBC censorship because the authorities either did not know or did not admit to knowing their homosexual meaning. The following from a sketch called ‘Bona Bijou Tourettes’ is a good example of this:
Sandy: "Jule had a nasty experience in Málaga... he got badly stung."
Horne: "Portuguese man o' war?"
Julian: "I never saw him in uniform."
Tim Broad was an English film director. Broad directed the music videos for the Smiths’ ‘Girlfriend In A Coma’ and ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’ songs. Broad also directed a number of music videos for Morrissey, seven of which were released on the VHS and DVD video compilation Hulmerist in 1990.
In a 1990 interview with The Face magazine, Broad was described as Morrissey's closest friend. Broad died of an HIV-related illness in 1993 at the age of 38.
