Friday, October 14, 2011 3:56am ET by  
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Morrissey: "we live in very dumbed-down times"

Morrissey is concerned with the way modern media presents news and ideas to people and has revealed he thinks "we live in very dumbed-down times".

The outspoken singer told Clash magazine that "everything - news media, music, music magazines - are presented with the assumption that the people as a whole are utterly thick" and that he has been made into "Mad Morrissey" by the press:

"I think I am officially 'Mad Morrissey' now, and everything I say must be ridiculed because that’s one way of not dealing with the contents of the actual comment."

He also aired his concerns over his role as a musician and admitted that his original intention was to "stand upright and sing out" and he wanted to take his fans on a journey of truth, but now because of his iconic status he is often "ridiculed" for his remarks:

"I never wanted to be a musician. I wanted to stand upright and sing out. I didn’t want to look down as most people onstage do. I wanted to walk the plank, to dive in, to take it on the chin. I wanted to give too much, like Al Martino or Maria Callas or Edith Piaf or Tom Jones in his mad days."

"I loved it when singers were so over-emotional that onlookers would feel slightly embarrassed or uncomfortable and then absolutely love it. You very rarely see modern singers or modern groups taking the audience somewhere."

Check out an interview with the star from earlier this year below: