Could M come back from being cancelled?

Young And Alive said:
Morrissey's issue is that he wants 2004 levels of chart success and adulation, but isn't prepared to put in the work.

No major labels will sign him, so he takes the huff instead of self-releasing.

Complains of being 'gagged' but won't embrace social media - going over the heads of the legacy media he claims to despise - in order to engage directly with fans and clarify his views.

Frequently cancels gigs with little notice and no explanation, and then wonders why subsequent gigs sell poorly.

Sticks with the likes of Jesse Tobias and Donnie Nutcase even when they push away people who are good for Morrissey.

He is his own worst enemy.
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This is a pretty apt summation. I think, as ever, the most frustrating aspect is that he wants the structure/marketing support of a major label but, with the exception of the "comeback" push in 2004, thinks himself entirely above the effort needed to make their efforts on his behalf worth their while. And the material for Bonfire has sat on the shelf so long now that self-release is not very likely to cast a wide shadow on the charts or public consciousness. He missed his window in all regards.
 
Redacted said:
Maybe if Morrissey fixed the things in his control, like stop lying about people, stop pissing off record companies, stop canceling, stop saying you can't get a major deal when you got one and ruined it, stop aggravating the f*** out of everyone you know, it would be a start.
I honestly do not think anyone in the US gives a f*** about his politics, but he has to stop talking about politics because he is extremely ignorant on the subject. We have 50 states here and a lot of venues, he could tour here for quite a while and begin to rehabilitate his image and I doubt anyone would ask him about the political things he's said. His defense of the rapist Weinstein is another story, or saying he would kill the president, he might be asked about that. All of his wounds, EVERY single one of them are self inflicted. He could probably maybe get on some late night shows here where he just gives a short interview where he is not asked about those things and then do a song or two. The problem with Bonfire is it really the title of the album and a song, how do you not get to talking about politics with that as your album name? And then his conspiratorial nutcase song, Notre Dame. He is not canceled tho, he would not have gotten that record deal if he was.
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Spot on. I really think it's his behaviour that lies at the heart of it and not his 'controversial takes'. Nobody under 50 cares about the opinions of music journalists or critics anymore. Even supporting Trump/Conservative politics hasn't harmed the careers of people on Morrissey's level of success like John Lydon or Iggy Pop. It's the combination of unreliability and increasing bitterness that has make him unbankable as a product. Spent the Day in Bed was witty and wry, nobody wants to hear lyrically simplistic alt-right dribble like Notre Dame. And why would any label want to invest in his new albums when all they get is aggro and smear campaigns?
 
This all depends on what is meant by 'cancelled'. If it means losing a large chunk of your fanbase in a very short space of time then he has indeed been cancelled. If it means being unable to continue in one's chosen profession then he clearly hasn't.
His live fanbase in the UK shrank from around 60,000 in 2017 to around 20-25,000. Not a massive problem - just means multiple arena tours are no longer possible but no problem playing to 5,000 capacity places in London and 2,000 elsewhere.
New album sales are more problematic. Why? Because they rely surprisingly heavily on radio support for the new songs which was pretty much withdrawn from 2019 onwards with the Radio 2 playlist being the big one. They might play his new songs again, they might not. Without it, album sales will stay at Dog on a Chain levels (5,000-10,000) rather than Low in High Schools 30,000-50,000.
Plenty of other acts regularly put out albums with sales that struggle to go beyond 5,000 but Morrissey is refusing (up to now) to accept such deals as he's used to ones that are associated with much higher sales.
 
I don't believe it's especially controversial to state this: his sound has too often been uncommercial i.e. with few exceptions, it's been neither standard forgettable/mindless pop or singalong-style or particularly cheery...you know, the throwaway sounds so beloved of mainstream-radio DJs. And yet, for many years, he appears to have thought that he should've enjoyed the sales and success of, say, Oasis in the UK and U2 worldwide. How could he not realise - or accept - that his very style isn't geared to truly massive commercial success? Considering this fundamental problem, it's a (wonderful) miracle that he's had the success he has enjoyed...

(None of the above is meant as a criticism of Morrissey's/the Smiths' music at all, by the way. Far from it, in fact.)
 
Rufusindigo said:
Apologies if this has already been done to death! I recently saw the film on John Galliano 'High and Low", much of which focused on whether he could come back from being cancelled after the appalling things he said. Today I saw this article about Andrew Garfield working with Mel Gibson and the idea of giving people second, third, fourth chances. Just wondering whether people think M's cancellation is forever? Perhaps because he doesn't have the 'excuse' of being drunk or doesn't publicly distance himself from past behaviour? It seems like both Gibson and Galliano's behaviour was worse than anything M has done?

www.indiewire.com

Andrew Garfield Says ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ Director Mel Gibson ‘Deserves’ to Make Films: ‘None of Us Are Infallible’

Andrew Garfield explained why his 'Hacksaw Ridge' director Mel Gibson 'deserves' to be forgiven by Hollywood.
www.indiewire.com www.indiewire.com
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No one has cancelled him. One-time fans have made their judgement on his allegiances and utterances and voted with their wallets. He's free to say whatever he wants on his own and other platforms. And those who would spend money on his products are free to make their own judgements. No one has cancelled or silenced him, he is facing the reality of the commercial world where his actions have real monetary consequences.
 
Uncleskinny said:
No one has cancelled him. One-time fans have made their judgement on his allegiances and utterances and voted with their wallets. He's free to say whatever he wants on his own and other platforms. And those who would spend money on his products are free to make their own judgements. No one has cancelled or silenced him, he is facing the reality of the commercial world where his actions have real monetary consequences.
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Point taken, but I think I was using the word cancelled as a shorthand for his situation. I'm not saying that he isn't mainly responsible for where he finds himself. In my view though, he's definitely been cancelled from UK radio playlists.....
 
Have you actually seen UK radio play lists recently? Or had to listen to any?

He may bang on about them, but like most things he fixates on, the world has long moved on.
 
This has absolutely nothing to do with his music. That’s a different thread entirely.
 
Morrissey has had deals with many many majors and they don’t want to work with him again, especially with the new BOT record.

So he should :

-change musicians

-find a right producer (Lillywhite, Visconti )

-Re-record / re-produce the 2 « unreleased albums »and merge them in one good one (selecting the best songs)

-appoint a new manager

and then look for a deal with these new facts.

If it doesn’t work ,he should turn to independent labels (but he doesn’t want to).
 
Talking about Bonfire, any A&R going to a recent Moz us gig would leave with one idea for a next day job:no signing
I listened to Dallas gig and that was horrendous ( the band I mean)
Jessie and co ; you are fired
 
Cancelled? When was he cancelled? The last ten years since the media really succeeded in their hate campaign and it became trendy to distance yourself from him he has had multiple sell out tours, TV performances, interviews, radio play and a string of top 5 albums and continues to record and tour. I'm struggling to see how he's been cancelled. Ignore the vocal minority.
 
I don’t think he’s cancelled - there hasn’t really been a big enough ‘incident’ for that to be the case.

Over the last 10 years or so, I think he’s mostly known for being a vegetarian and also a bit of a racist. That, in my view, is all that has possibly cut through to the public consciousness over the last few years. Certainly not any of his creative output. His behaviour over these years has been himself a bit of a peripheral character.

To most people I think he mostly just seems a bit of a ridiculous character these days - when the Simpsons mock you and you take it upon yourself to be publicaly outraged by it, then you do bring upon yourself ridicule I guess.
 
Also, I hear The Smiths on the radio all the time and I’m sure if they reformed people would flock to see Moz front then - so he’s not Cancelled in that regard.

Rather than being cancelled, I’d say he’s just made him self a bit of sideshow for most people and they aren’t really interested in his current music. It happens.
 

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