Fiona Dodwell: "Morrissey: Capitol, Censorship And The Silencing Of Art" (June 15, 2023)

Morrissey: Capitol, Censorship And The Silencing Of Art.

Excerpt:
"With the situation being as it currently stands, it appears to many that Capitol Records signed Morrissey’s album to sink it, leaving many wondering why such an act would be of benefit to anyone. It hasn’t escaped Morrissey’s notice – nor his legion of fans worldwide who have been watching the unfolding drama with keen interest – that Capitol subsidiary Harvest Records were also the ones responsible for pulling Morrissey’s 2014 album, World Peace Is None Of Your Business from circulation, essentially abandoning the project and cutting it short."

Morrissey: Capitol, Censorship And The Silencing Of Art

Opinion by Fiona Dodwell On the singer’s website, Central, Morrissey recently posted a brief statement regarding his album, Bonfire Of Teenagers and the way that Capitol Records have left the album…

gabfest.co.uk

Didn't want to say it, but sure enough - there's of course a new FiDo article

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Didn't Morrissey say that he's been approached about a documentary on his life? If I were him I would agree to one - one that is made by someone who has a career making documentaries and someone who is a quality filmmaker.

Yes. How about Herzog?

Have that released and then released an album a short months later. The Importance of Morrissey (Channel 4) surely had some benefit attracting a new audience and reviving love and interest in an audience that otherwise began to wane (sound familiar?). What we don't need is something put out by neph-achoo Sam or Fiona Dudwell.

If not now, when?

 

[A Man Escaped]

Yes. How about Herzog?

I think if Herzog tried to film a documentary about Morrissey, he'd get so pissed off with him, he might threaten to shoot him like he did with the actor Klaus Kinski during the filming of Aguirre.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

I think if Herzog tried to film a documentary about Morrissey, he'd get so pissed off with him, he might threaten to shoot him like he did with the actor Klaus Kinski during the filming of Aguirre.

Herzog’s no angel, he has his enemies too!



‘it’s not a significant bullet’ lol

 

[Rufusindigo]

Scorsese? Did the recent New York Dolls documentary which included an interview with Morrissey......

 

[Roman Holiday]

Herzog like any other documentarian would probably be interested in the fanaticism Morrissey inspires. But unlike the others, who would just get the obligatory quotes from "San Morrissey" tattooed Mexicans and the "this is my 106th show" contingent, his morbid curiosity would probably seek out the more mental patient types among the devotees. I can picture Herzog interviewing Malarkey at length.

 

[gashonthenail]

Not really.

All men existed within a female body before we functioned in a male body, so it seems obvious to me that there are less secrets to being male or female than we are trained to accept. Because there is so much profit in the division of the sexes ... heterosexual divorce is a huge business, and so on ...
(Morrissey, Vegan Logic, 28 November 2014)

And he agreed that he was gender fluid in 2017.

There is a world of difference between empathising with trans people, with feeling uncomfortable with your own body and with gender norms and gender roles - and agreeing with trans ideology, the Trans Taliban. That ideology is anti-woman and anti-lesbian. Moz would be appalled. He voiced support for JK Rowling and Germaine Greer in the interview recorded at the Palladium.

 

[goinghome]

There is a world of difference between empathising with trans people, with feeling uncomfortable with your own body and with gender norms and gender roles - and agreeing with trans ideology, the Trans Taliban. That ideology is anti-woman and anti-lesbian. Moz would be appalled. He voiced support for JK Rowling and Germaine Greer in the interview recorded at the Palladium.

Interesting podcast here on those issues, echoing Morrissey's prescient comment above quoted by Malarkey - https://savageminds.substack.com/p/paul-kingsnorth#details

Analysing the scale of institutional capture, Kingsnorth discerns how in addition to gender ideology, the language of race and white supremacy, all transplants from the United States, are being weaponised today across Europe to divide people into racial groups, setting people against each other while creating a war against the human body, human relationships, and the family.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Herzog like any other documentarian would probably be interested in the fanaticism Morrissey inspires. But unlike the others, who would just get the obligatory quotes from "San Morrissey" tattooed Mexicans and the "this is my 106th show" contingent, his morbid curiosity would probably seek out the more mental patient types among the devotees. I can picture Herzog interviewing Malarkey at length.

Yes, I don’t believe he would be interested anyway.
Just thought it would be funny to hear Herzog’s voice narrating over scenes of Morrissey singing live or dealing with Capitol, etc.

 

[Malarkey]

There is a world of difference between empathising with trans people, with feeling uncomfortable with your own body and with gender norms and gender roles - and agreeing with trans ideology, the Trans Taliban. That ideology is anti-woman and anti-lesbian. Moz would be appalled. He voiced support for JK Rowling and Germaine Greer in the interview recorded at the Palladium.

He didn't say a word about trans - is it a little more difficult to trick him into saying a gender related buzzword?

He has always maintained he thinks there's too much segregation between the sexes & that the outer body & inner selves don't necessarily correspond.

I don't think he'd support feminists being harmed or women being left in vulnerable situations - but I can't imagine he'd support the hysterical hatred of trans people & drag queens that's happened since the far right hijacked the issue.

 

[gashonthenail]

He didn't say a word about trans - is it a little more difficult to trick him into saying a gender related buzzword?

He has always maintained he thinks there's too much segregation between the sexes & that the outer body & inner selves don't necessarily correspond.

I don't think he'd support feminists being harmed or women being left in vulnerable situations - but I can't imagine he'd support the hysterical hatred of trans people & drag queens that's happened since the far right hijacked the issue.

He voiced support for JK Rowling and Germaine Greer. They are both far right, of course.
Many trans people don't like drag queens. They think it's the equivalent of black face.
I haven't heard or seen anyone express hatred of trans people in the media. No one cares how people want to dress or call themselves. All the 'hysterical hatred' is directed towards women, and left wing lesbians. Which you have condoned on several occasions.

 

[Malarkey]

He voiced support for JK Rowling and Germaine Greer. They are both far right, of course.
Many trans people don't like drag queens. They think it's the equivalent of black face.
I haven't heard or seen anyone express hatred of trans people in the media. No one cares how people want to dress or call themselves. All the 'hysterical hatred' is directed towards women, and left wing lesbians. Which you have condoned on several occasions.

The fights about this started on the left well over a decade ago - the far right moved in to laugh about it, then started exploiting it. Using Germaine Greer & J K Rowling as human shields doesn't stop people analysing what's actually going on.

 

[Jamie]

I await FD's rehash of this article in 2032 when a distribution deal with Capitol for Without Music The World Dies goes sour.

 

[MoneyChangesEverything]

I'm not really sure it's "paranoid nonsense."

Capitol knew that "BOT" wasn't going to sell 100,000 copies. They knew that Miley was on the album and that might be a problem with her label. They knew the name of the album was going to be controversial. They knew working with Morrissey could be "difficult." After knowing all of these things, higher-ups at Capitol heard the album and still signed him.

Capitol could / should just give Morrissey the rights to the album so he could shop it around or, self-release and write-off their expenses. They are writing it off regardless of what they do. But, since Capitol is silent, all we have is Morrissey's version of events. It is also bad business for Capitol if they bin "BOT" because it sends a message to other bands who have the potential to sell a lot of albums. If you are, The 1975 or Interpol, do you think you would want to be associated with a label that could just bin your work without explanation?

I'm not attacking your comment, but I do think that Capitol knew very well of what they were getting and Morrissey deserves to release "BOT" on his terms....and at some point in the contract negotiations...Capitol agreed to his terms. What changed?

I think Moz ascribing it to 'cancel culture' is nonsense. He's not got a great commercial appeal : the label probably thought they could maybe engineer a 2004-style career rebirth, then realised they probably couldn't make it happen. In my opinion they should just let him buy the record back and do whatever he wants with it. But they won't.

I don't think its that Capitol agreed to his terms, more than he agreed to their offer. Moz wants the payday, the glory of major label heft behind him, and the chart position to feed his ego, and thought Capitol could do it for him. In an ideal world, he'd've had a long standing contract with a label like Mute, a decent profit split, and be left alone to do whatever he wanted as long as it covered their costs. But of course, that didn't happen. I think the move from EMI was the start of a period of label turbulence that continues to this day.

 

[Johnny]

I'd love to know what representation ( both management and legal)Morrissey had with him the day that deal was signed.

 

[TuckerRamone]

and then there's the Phil Ramone produced solo Karen Carpenter album that A&M Records refuses to put out ........https://youtu.be/Xr4_3Iqob8s