How did The Smiths end up on Donald Trump's rally playlist?

For years, Morrissey — the frontman and main lyricist of British rock band The Smiths — has been slowly alienating the band's fans with his antics. After the band broke up, he's been putting himself in hot water, cancelling concerts and making remarks that have been labelled as racist, xenophobic and anti-immigrant. 

In 2019 while playing The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Morrissey wore a pin supporting the far-right political party For Britain. 

Back in the day, The Smiths were a band known for creating a home for the rejects and the lonely, but now, their music is being played at Donald Trump's campaign rallies. 

Their song Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want was played at a Trump rally in September. However, the band's guitarist Johnny Marr was not happy, tweeting, "I never in a million years would've thought this could come to pass. Consider this s-- shut right down right now."

But, how did we get here? How did The Smiths' music go from being a haven for society's outsiders to being played at Trump rallies? Journalist and The Smiths' fan Luke O'Neil breaks down the conservative embrace of the band.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, plus a conversation on Sofia Vergara's new role as Griselda Blanco in Netflix's new Narco's spinoff, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

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O'Neil says that much of what Morrissey's recently controversial behaviour can be distilled down to self-pity, which aligns with Trump's state of mind. 

"He's very big on self-pity and [he has a] victim complex and I think that's why it aligns with Trump. But being frustrated with Morrissey has been part of the experience," explains O'Neil.  

He says that some of Morrissey's music have always been controversial — songs like National Front Disco and Bengali in Platforms.

"But there was always this level of irony in the lyrics and his entire persona is sort of this facade. So it sort of gave us plausible deniability," he says. 

He's very big on self-pity and [he has a] victim complex and I think that's why it aligns with Trump.

O'Neil also says that as people get older, their political views get more conservative, whether they're punks or not. 

"Maybe there are some actual fans of Morrissey and post-punk music who, as they get older, their politics get a little more conservative"

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Shannah Wlliamson