(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) – Morrissey revealed that the Smiths turned down a $5 million offer to perform at last year’s Coachella festival, during a press conference before his set at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, on March 16th.
“Money doesn’t come into it,” he explained, according to NME. “It never has. I do what I do because it’s all that I am.”
He also attacked ‘Pop Idol’ during the conference, calling the contestants “imbeciles,” and even complained that British sensation the Arctic Monkeys hadn’t paid their dues.
“For them it’s happening too quickly,” he said. “They haven’t proven anything and they haven’t had to work too hard. It’s all a bit unnatural. Yes, they’re sold 700,000 albums but it can’t be gratifying. They haven’t been driving up and down the M1 in a van for 15 years.”
Morrissey’s fans were treated to a 17-song set that mixed material from his latest album with classic Smiths songs.
He explained his decision to play his former bands music: “I didn't play Smiths songs for a long time. But then I realised that those songs don't belong to somebody else – nobody will sing them as with as much feeling as me and no-one will make them more meaningful than I will.” –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
