I thought the Maida Vale gig when he was promoting Low in high school was the start of all this nonsense. Many of us on this site were listening live and commenting on the new songs when in between songs he said
“I was very surprised the other day, it was very interesting to me to see Anne-Marie Waters become the head of Ukiip”
“Oh no, sorry, she didn’t. The voting was rigged. Sorry, I forgot.”
The crowd went deadly silent and it was a real wtf moment.
Yep, that was the start of it all. The start of the bleakest 18 month period in Morrissey's several decades of fame. The only positive is that it did at least end in spring 2019 - there's been nothing to add to it all since.
It's almost as if Morrissey was set a task in the summer of 2017 to lose 50% of his entire fanbase.
He thought, "yeah, there's an interesting challenge. Hmm, let me think...
I'll start with a strike at the heart of the indie world, at a 6 Music live concert. Couldn't get more indie! I'll mention the UKIP election at a time when no decent person could actually give a shit about UKIP. The Brexit vote has already happened FFS! Just mentioning the UKIP election will freak them out, let alone the idea that I have a preferred candidate!
Then I'll say a ton of dodgy dog-whistle nonsense to a prominent German culture mag. I'll deny that I said any of it, and challenge them to prove it. They'll finally print it word-for-word which will make me look like a lying arsehole with bigoted views. That'll shake off a few more thousand fans!
Then a few months later, I'll put an official post up on my website pleading with the fans to vote for a far right political group. That'll surely get ride of another 10,000! Then, a year later, in spring 2019 just when all the fuss is starting to die down and people think I've moved on having regretted all that I've done and said, I'll deliberately and prominently wear the emblem of the far right group, not only at concerts but also on live TV before millions. That'll show them!
And there you have it - my plan to shake off 50% of my entire fanbase in just 18 months, and damage my reputation forever. What's more, all the Smiths related goodwill that ever came my way will now be disproportionately channelled towards Johnny Marr. In the 2020's, if things go according to plan, radio stations in the UK will be playing new songs sung by Johnny Marr (yes, SUNG by Johnny Marr!), but they will have stopped playing anything new sung by me!"
On the plus side, he's at least not added to any of this nonsense since spring 2019 which is now 5 years ago. A new generation of teenagers/young adults has been drawn to the Smiths songs (as new generations always will be), and although aware of what he did in those bleak 2019/2019 times, they weren't following him then so don't care too much. That explains the much better atmosphere at the recent UK concerts than in 2019/2020 (as well as the smaller venues) which bodes well for the future. And although the 'indie world' may never forgive him, I reckon Radio 2 may jump back on board which will make a big difference to his commercial (and album deal) prospects.
Let's hope the album pipeline gets unblocked pretty soon. I thought Dog on a Chain was excellent (the album not the song) so I really hope the new stuff gets released soon, and he continues to put out albums as long as his health etc allows.
