It is January 1985, and the Smiths are soon to release their political opus, Meat Is Murder. NME’s December 1984 interview teasing the album begins with the earnest question, “Rather than writing about yourself in the abstract, your new songs seem to isolate particular instances …” Students across the nation are going vegetarian at Morrissey’s lead. This is very serious stuff.
Over in Smash Hits, Tom Hibbert’s first question for the singer is: “What’s the matter with you?” Moz’s persistent lethargy, Hibbert suggests, may be down to the vegetarian’s “daily intake of yoghurt and bread”. He grills him on whether his heroes ate meat and what he feeds his cat, and concludes by asking, “If you died tomorrow, went up to heaven and met Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, what would you say to him?” Morrissey suggests a knee in the groin. Hibbert points out that it is a trick question: “You should have said Colonel Sanders wouldn’t be in heaven.”
