For context, Ramones started out in '74, the Smiths in '82. Morrissey joined his first band, the Nosebleeds, in '77. This was a punk group. Morrissey was not a founding member, and does not seem to be particularly proud of this part of his story.

Anyway, this piece was in all likelihood not written by the Morrissey of the Smiths, but Morrissey as some unknown kid who liked fancy rock but didn't get what was up with punk music. Which makes perfect sense to anyone familiar with his work. He's all about being feeling desperate and hopeless about struggling to understand basic human emotions while snobbing away about some piece of classic literature or some shit like that.

This is in all likelohood a letter from some edgy unknown kid at some point in the 70s, not the opinion of a famous rock star. And a big part of the punk scene at the time was all about pretending to hate things that were popular, "I hate Pink Floyd" and all that. So in a way by sending this dumb letter he positioned himself in the scene.

He saw the Ramones in London around '78. I wonder if this was written before or after.

All that said, Morrissey is still an asshole, for obvious reasons.

I can’t help but appreciate how well it’s written. It’s much more thoughtful than merely saying “The Ramones suck.”

It’s a fair take. I still like listening to The Ramones but they are, by far, the least talented group to come out of that CBGB era.

Their main contribution was showing the disaffected youth of the USA that you didn’t need talent or much money to get on stage a be heard.