Fiona Dodwell: "The poet without a home: Morrissey has been let down by the music industry" (May 31, 2021)

The poet without a home: Morrissey has been let down by the music industry

It seems inconceivable to his fans that Morrissey still has yet to find a label to work with on his upcoming record, Bonfire of Teenagers.

Poet without a home: Morrissey has been let down by the music industry

It seems inconceivable to his fans that Morrissey still has yet to find a label to work with on his upcoming record, Bonfire of Teenagers.

thepostmillennial.com

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Now linked to by Central (June 1, 2021)

VIEWPOINT - MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY - MORRISSEY CENTRAL - VIEWPOINT

MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY on MORRISSEY CENTRAL

www.morrisseycentral.com

Regards,
FWD.

 

[Amy]

As an autistic person myself I can see where she is coming from. But who knows.

My problem isn't the suggestion / speculation (which has been mentioned quite a few times before) but the source - she's just not credible at all. Autism is just the latest in a long, long line of flimsy suggestions Nerak drags out to bolster her vision of Moz as an Eternal Victim who can do no wrong.

On some days he's being endlessly targeted and maligned due to his Irish ancestry/LGBT identity/Catholic guilt/political ignorance/childhood trauma/inadequate education/working-class background/mental health/vegetarianism etc, etc. Today, it's because he must be autistic and it will be something else next week.

 

[Deleted member 29417]

As an autistic person myself I can see where she is coming from. But who knows.

Amy prefers Greek tragedy.

 

[Famous when dead]

I've had this conversation several times with someone with at least some insight and I was convinced based on what I knew that this new release was set up by and negotiated with a (major) label. In fact, I'd have bet (and apparently lost) they had a deal in place with him stating if he agreed to work with Watt and the others involved that this non-existent label would release it. It is a bit of a surprise to hear he's got to shop the release after the fact.

I've heard similar - in the style of Noel Gallagher's label setup.
Nothing tangible to say with certainty or present as an actual fact, but a strong view by a very experienced rep who hasn't misled me previously.
Regards,
FWD.

 

[Amy]

Amy prefers Greek tragedy.

And you prefer fairytales. You are the Fiona Dodwell of Solo.

 

[klaus]

if he doesn’t get a label to release his next album then he will have nothing to complain about when it doesn’t do well

 

[Deleted member 29417]

My problem isn't the suggestion / speculation (which has been mentioned quite a few times before) but the source - she's just not credible at all. Autism is just the latest in a long, long line of flimsy suggestions Nerak drags out to bolster her vision of Moz as an Eternal Victim who can do no wrong.

On some days he's being endlessly targeted and maligned due to his Irish ancestry/LGBT identity/Catholic guilt/political ignorance/childhood trauma/inadequate education/working-class background/mental health/vegetarianism etc, etc. Today, it's because he must be autistic and it will be something else next week.

Amy that's garbage - it's not a long line - it's the exact same thing - some journalists aiming barbs at him without taking into account his background or his mental health.

Other journalists have picked up on it - Johnny Rogan & Paul Morley were pretty astute about it. His autobiography goes extensively into it.

There's plenty of evidence to back it up & it's why some defences of him boil down to 'that's just Morrissey'.

 

[Amy]

Amy that's garbage - it's not a long line - it's the exact same thing - some journalists aiming barbs at him without taking into account his background or his mental health.

Other journalists have picked up on it - Johnny Rogan & Paul Morley were pretty astute about it. His autobiography goes extensively into it.

There's plenty of evidence to back it up & it's why some defences of him boil down to 'that's just Morrissey'.

It's not garbage, you just can't see beyond your tunnel-vision. You treat a 62 year old man like a problem teenager who can't really be held responsible for the stupid shit he says and does, but in reality he isn't a 'misunderstood kid' anymore and he has been held accountable - largely by his own fans, not just critics.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had this conversation several times with someone with at least some insight and I was convinced based on what I knew that this new release was set up by and negotiated with a (major) label. In fact, I'd have bet (and apparently lost) they had a deal in place with him stating if he agreed to work with Watt and the others involved that this non-existent label would release it. It is a bit of a surprise to hear he's got to shop the release after the fact.

Maybe it was set up by a label but either it wasn’t good enough or they decided they couldn’t work with him.

 

[Deleted member 29417]

It's not garbage, you just can't see beyond your tunnel-vision. You treat a 62 year old man like a problem teenager who can't really be held responsible for the stupid shit he says and does, but in reality he isn't a 'misunderstood kid' anymore and he has been held accountable - largely by his own fans, not just critics.

It's garbage & I don't have 'tunnel vision' - I researched the situation. If it turned out he was a talented racist, then so be it, I'd accept he was a talented racist.

What I found was a persistent pattern of music journalists taking his words out of context, imposing their own interpretation & making negative comments about his sexuality, gender expression, vegetarianism & his general strangeness.

That shifts over to The Guardian when NME hacks start getting employed there.

And it started with the ridiculous suggestion from Frank Owen that Panic was about hanging black DJs in an article where his agenda was to get Morrissey to come out of the closet because 'Morrissey is the biggest closet gay queen on the planet'.

The idea that British journalism is on some kind of moral mission to hold pop singers to account for jarring phrases & crank party badges is f***ing laughable.

Outrageous publicity is a fairly normal thing - he's just unusual in that he manages to cling on despite never effectively countering it.

 

[Anonymose]

Morrissey claims to have recorded the best album of his life, yet he's looking for a record company to do what? He's recorded the album. Which means he and the band have already payed for a recording studio, producer, engineer. He should just take one more step and front the cost of getting physical copies made.

It's not just a case of getting a few thousand CDs/LPs manufactured. It's also worldwide distribution, marketing and promotion (including trying to get things like radio play, which in recent years hasn't been great admittedly).

If all Morrissey wants is to get his music out there, then by all means he has the cash to run his own boutique label. But as anyone who has read his autobiography knows, chart placings are hugely important to him, almost an obsession. Selling albums via some mail order link on Morrissey Central or Bandcamp isn't going to get him that week one Top 5 chart position he craves, and would be a huge comedown for him. I just don't see his ego ever allowing him to do this. He'd rather sell no copies at all than not chart.

 

[Eldritch]

I liked Dog a lot too and am hoping that Bonfire gets released sooner or later. But Morrissey is 62-year-old man with the delusions of still being able to have hits as easily as artists 40 years younger. He is known for wanting a huge advance, has a well-earned reputation of falling out with companies and publicly slagging them off, usually refuses to do promotion -- and when he does, he never comes across well, to say the least. Plus of course his toxic views of lately.

Now, I call myself a Morrissey fan, but if I was the A & R boss of a major label, I'd think very hard if I really wanted to sign him. Getting the idea across to shareholders wouldn't be that easy either. And if I ran a smaller label, then he wouldn't be interested in me.

It also seems that the figure Dodwell worships is the one who wrote Kid's a Looker, Journalists Who Lie and Get Off the Stage, because her latest plateful of triple pretty much recycles all those "insights". Neither Morrissey or Dodwell really know anything about modern pop music or media.

 

[ThePoliticalRevolution]

Does Fiona have a job? Or, is she just chilling?

 

[Verso]

Does Fiona have a job? Or, is she just chilling?

Yeah, it's a handjob.

 

[ThePoliticalRevolution]

Yeah, it's a handjob.

If her writing skills are any indicator, then her handjob skills are unlikely to result in an explosive orgasm! Sorry!

 

[Pablo Myers]

It's garbage & I don't have 'tunnel vision' - I researched the situation. If it turned out he was a talented racist, then so be it, I'd accept he was a talented racist.

What I found was a persistent pattern of music journalists taking his words out of context, imposing their own interpretation & making negative comments about his sexuality, gender expression, vegetarianism & his general strangeness.

That shifts over to The Guardian when NME hacks start getting employed there.

And it started with the ridiculous suggestion from Frank Owen that Panic was about hanging black DJs in an article where his agenda was to get Morrissey to come out of the closet because 'Morrissey is the biggest closet gay queen on the planet'.

The idea that British journalism is on some kind of moral mission to hold pop singers to account for jarring phrases & crank party badges is f***ing laughable.

Outrageous publicity is a fairly normal thing - he's just unusual in that he manages to cling on despite never effectively countering it.

“I researched the situation”

 

[Deleted member 29417]

“I researched the situation”

You can find the research on my website or on my Twitter.

 

[countthree]

Aren't labels a thing of the past? These are times when artists don't need labels to record music, to promote it and to distribute it. Aren't we tired of talking about label's charts manipulation? Artists can promote their music now without third party's interviews. They can use Instagram, YouTube channels and reach millions if that is what they want. They only need a professional community manager and a digital marketing manager.
Labels don't want Morrissey? It's their loss. Morrissey's best home is his fans base.

 

[Eldritch]

And you prefer fairytales. You are the Fiona Dodwell of Solo.

Now, that's nasty! (And quite true.)

 

[Deleted member 28251]

You can find the research on my website or on my Twitter.

Is it a Morrissey site Nerak?

 

[Deleted member 29417]

Is it a Morrissey site Nerak?

Yes!

Folk Devil

Morrissey in the media

folk-devil.com

I'm primarily aiming it journalists & it's been successful on that score - I'll pitch less scathing versions eventually.