Song · Morrissey
“We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful” by Morrissey
From the album Your Arsenal (1992)
“We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful” by Morrissey appears on 8 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1992 and 2003. It was first released in 1992 on the album Your Arsenal. Its best result is #22 on the CFNY Top 102 Songs of 1992. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #21 alternative song of 1992, #3,944 alternative song of all time and #422 of the '90s.
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Morrissey kicked off Your Arsenal, his third studio album, with "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" in April 1992, and it was the first Morrissey single produced by Mick Ronson, the glam guitarist who'd stood beside David Bowie in the Spiders from Mars. Ronson gives it a rockabilly swagger and plenty of bite.
The song is a gleeful sneer at the Manchester music scene, all those bands elbowing each other for a place in the light. James frontman Tim Booth has claimed it was about his band, and once performed it at a festival himself; Morrissey insists it isn't. His own explanation was funnier: he said that when his old friend Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio made the cover of the NME, he was theatrically crushed with sorrow.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 25 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1992 | 107 |
| 1992 | 53 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1992 | 91 |
| 1992 | 27 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1992 | 105 |
| 1992 | 25 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1992 | 101 |
| 1992 | 22 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON | CFNY Top 102 Songs of 1992 | 102 |
| 1993 | 65 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1993 | 101 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 526 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1245 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
Also listed as: We Hate it When Our Friends Become Successful.
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