End of The Smiths era and beginning of Morrissey's solo career with the album "Viva Hate" (1988) and one of the singles was "Suedehead", which paid a beautiful
tribute to legendary film star James Dean, one of Morrissey's biggest idols. The music video consists of Moz paying a visit to Dean's hometown in Fairmount, Indiana
revisiting the Dean family farm, his school and many other important locations in Dean's life. As for the sound, the melancholic, poetical lyrics joined with a nice
1980-ish beat make it all more intriguing and beautiful as the winter images of Indiana and Morrissey strolling around goes by. Tim Broad's video is one a kind,
peaceful, nostalgic and the sad song doesn't get much downer thanks to its upbeat and fast sounds.
It's a sight to be seen and with various feelings to be sensed. "Suedehead" is a masterpiece of a song, one of the defining hits from Morrissey's career - his biggest in many countries. For Smiths fans who aren't into his solo career or newcomers this is a must-see video not just because Smiths presence can be felt and seen in several references throughout the video, but also because it's the first video of the lead singer (or any Smiths member) that doesn't fall into a heavily artistic visuals where the singer/group disappear from view as in the good videos directed by Derek Jarman. Here, Moz can act a little either playing the drums or visiting Jimmy Dean's grave and the whole clip is a rememberance of an artist to another artist. And in that moment, the many fans of the young star of "Rebel Without a Cause" could imagine themselves as Morrissey for a while. It's a beautiful small town, cold, lonely and pleasing to look at it. To understand why such video to this particular song it's up to viewers to fill in the blanks and imagine; Moz knows his reasons. 9/10
It's a sight to be seen and with various feelings to be sensed. "Suedehead" is a masterpiece of a song, one of the defining hits from Morrissey's career - his biggest in many countries. For Smiths fans who aren't into his solo career or newcomers this is a must-see video not just because Smiths presence can be felt and seen in several references throughout the video, but also because it's the first video of the lead singer (or any Smiths member) that doesn't fall into a heavily artistic visuals where the singer/group disappear from view as in the good videos directed by Derek Jarman. Here, Moz can act a little either playing the drums or visiting Jimmy Dean's grave and the whole clip is a rememberance of an artist to another artist. And in that moment, the many fans of the young star of "Rebel Without a Cause" could imagine themselves as Morrissey for a while. It's a beautiful small town, cold, lonely and pleasing to look at it. To understand why such video to this particular song it's up to viewers to fill in the blanks and imagine; Moz knows his reasons. 9/10
