.....John Lewis might not be the huge capatlist organisation (my own bit of melodrama) but they are still an upmarket chain. Allowing them to use one of the Smiths songs to seel their stuff goes against everything the band stood for......
The John Lewis Partnership isn't a huge capitalist organisation, it's an employee-owned partnership. They may well be upmarket, but I bet Morrisey and Marr are quite happy with the money they'll be getting from the advert. They like money. They loved it when The Smiths were going when they originally split the recording and performance royalties thusly - Morrissey 40%, Marr 40%, Andy Rourke 10% and Mike Joyce 10%.
So very far from the ideals of the Smiths, but not the way you thought.
Here's a bit from the Wikipedia entry about The Smiths, showing that Morrissey and Marr weren't too concerned about worker's rights and equality when they trousered the money.
"None of the members of the band had any business experience having all left school by 16 and Morrissey, the more assertive and oldest by four years, made all the financial decisions. Morrissey and Marr took the lion's share of The Smiths' recording and performance royalties and allowed ten percent each to Joyce and Rourke.
In 1996, Joyce took Morrissey and Marr to court, claiming that he had never agreed to the ten percent deal and was seeking his fair share of recording and performance royalties. Composition royalties were not an issue, as Rourke and Joyce had never been credited as composers for the band. Morrissey and Marr claimed that the other two members of the band had always agreed to that split of the royalties.
Judge Weeks preferred the evidence of Joyce and Rourke that they were never told they would receive only one-tenth of the group's earnings. He described them as "straightforward and honest, unintellectual and certainly not financially sophisticated". Weeks described Morrissey as being more complicated and "didn't find giving evidence easy or a happy experience. He was devious, truculent and unreliable when his own interests were at stake". The judge said Marr was more engaging, reasonable and intelligent but became less credible as he embroidered his evidence.
After a seven-day hearing the court found in favour of Joyce and ordered that he be paid over £1 million in back pay and receive twenty-five percent henceforth. In order to pay his debts in 1989 Rourke had previously settled for a lump sum of £83,000 and ten percent of royalties giving up all further claims."
So, Morrissey and Marr were in fact the capitalist greedy bastards all along, and John Lewis aren't.
Still, don't let facts get in the way of a good story Olle.
And what about this Maltese chap who we've had on the books for 2 or 3 years and has never played a competitive game??
