The Herald: "'The way that Morrissey has been treated is unfair'" (March 2, 2025)

'The way that Morrissey has been treated is unfair'

By Russell Leadbetter

In his years as a solo artist Morrissey has released thirteen albums, from his remarkable debut, 1988’s Viva Hate, which entered the UK charts at number one, through to the most recent, 2020’s I Am Not a Dog on a Chain. Of his 14th album, however, there is no sign, even though it was completed in as far back as May 2021.

Morrissey is back: The return of this 'extremely charming man'

The album was due to be released in February 2023 in every country apart from the UK by Capitol Records, part of Universal Music Group. In December…

www.heraldscotland.com

https://archive.is/Y0Zmw

A compilation of recent discussion quotes and summation around Bonfire.
Use the above link to avoid the subscribe nag screen and read in full.
FWD.

 

[ACTON]

He's been treated exactly how his right-wing utterances and actions have deserved. The buying public have voted with their wallets. That's all there is to it.

Younger generations have somehow been sandblasted with the idea that anyone they disagree with needs to shut up and beg forgiveness or else get cancelled. They use Orwell's 1984 as a guidebook instead of a health warning. But, assuming you're as old as me, what's your excuse for constantly putting Morrissey down and for being so binary in your thinking?

 

[ACTON]

It is. And he wants to spend other people's money, not his. He could release his albums tomorrow if he spent his own money.

I agree with what you said there. He could self-release his albums and even if he just sold them at concerts he'd probably make a profit.

 

[eugenius]

Some old coot in Scotland got his feathers ruffled because a few of El Jefe's recent choices have come back to bite him on the bum? OK. Now what? This word salad is best suited for the likes of LiveJournal and the YouTube comments threads.

I'm bored with Bonfire and I haven't even heard it yet. That said, the music has been left in the hands of Tobias and the rest of the rotating cast of unseasoned characters, so I have no doubt its listless and over produced. No one is waiting for Dog on a Chain Mach II.

In 2025, can we just cut bait, clean house, fire everyone with prejudice (It's time to go, Jesse), and find a producer who can set Tugboat Annie back on course. I suggest Ed Buller.

 

[TheSmiths_1985]

But, assuming you're as old as me, what's your excuse for constantly putting Morrissey down and for being so binary in your thinking?

Morrissey broke his heart and this is his way of dealing with it.

 

[BookishBoy]

It’s a typo in the original article.

Was there ever any actual reaction within the Uk generally/Manchester specifically to the song when it was played live for the first time? I don’t recall any, but I’m in the us. FWD?

There was remarkably little reaction in the press, if I recall correctly. (The Guardian, for example, could easily have used it an excuse to continue their battle with him - but the current policy with the music writers there seems mostly to be ignoring him.)

When I saw him play the song live in Birmingham in October 2022, there was a fair bit of cheering after the first "I'll be angry till the day I die" bit (or whatever the exact words are) - it certainly seemed to resonate with most of the fans in attendance.

 

[new musings]

Another calm open minded left wing nutcase folks.

uncleskinny having some big feelings today.
So emotional.

 

[Anonymous]

But we do know the real problem with BOT was the Miley vocals and we do know he can self release if he wants.

Indeed. I'm considering hiring a plane to buzz him on his upcoming tour with a banner demanding he release 'Bonfire of Teenagers'.

 

[Cornflakes]

I agree with what you said there. He could self-release his albums and even if he just sold them at concerts he'd probably make a profit.

If he pressed a CD and sold it exclusively at his gigs this year, he would probably sell far more copies than he ever would through the internet and what's left of shops.

Only works if he turns up to the gigs, though.

 

[Gray Fruit]

Indeed. I'm considering hiring a plane to buzz him on his upcoming tour with a banner demanding he release 'Bonfire of Teenagers'.

Good idea. The plane should buzz his tour bus. See how he likes it.

 

[A Man Escaped]

"The title track, Bonfire of Teenagers – which, like other songs from the unreleased album, has been played at Morrissey concerts – has provoked the latest controversy in the singer’s solo career. It takes as its subject the Manchester Arena terror attack in 2017, in which a suicide bomber took the lives of 22 people and injured more than a thousand others".

What controversy?

Maybe I haven't been watching, reading or listening to the "right" media in the UK, but I haven't came across any prolonged media controversy.

It's not like he's tried to justify the terrorist bomb.

 

[tonymaroneypony]

The tied is turning. Conservatives viewpoints and votes are gaining ground in England, France, and Germany. People are tired of the bullshit and all the looking the other way. Moz has always been at the forefront of this discontent and public mismanagement before it became a wave sweeping over Europe and the U.S.

 

[DaveJCarr]

The tied is turning. Conservatives viewpoints and votes are gaining ground in England, France, and Germany. People are tired of the bullshit and all the looking the other way. Moz has always been at the forefront of this discontent and public mismanagement before it became a wave sweeping over Europe and the U.S.

Yes. And if he signs a deal with a company to release his upcoming record(s) and they don't nab a number one chart topping single and critical fawning, who will be left to blame then?

If the albums are successful, then that is proof positive than he is a harbinger. If the albums are not, then that "failure " is proof i he is s a martyr. He has set the rhetorical expectations with manipulative cunning, so that he has a hero's narrative in either case.

He'd rather complain about not getting a deal he feels he's owed than actually work with companies happy to release his music (albeit while respecting things like Miley's exclusivity to another label), or by releasing it himself

 

[Lujan369]

Morrissey broke his heart and this is his way of dealing with it.

I've always wanted to ask about that. What was Skinny's story with Moz or what happened or didn't happen to him with Moz? Why do you say that Moz broke his heart?

 

[bhops]

I've always wanted to ask about that. What was Skinny's story with Moz or what happened or didn't happen to him with Moz? Why do you say that Moz broke his heart?

Skinny and Mike Joyce were lovers and then Morrissey found out and ordered Mike to dump him. Which he did.

 

[SuedeMoz]

"Treated unfairly" because major record companies don't want to sign him? He did have a deal for BOT that he ruined. He has several options that he's not pursuing including self-releasing. So, what's so unfair? Maybe he's treating indie labels "unfairly" because he won't sign with them?

 

[Ste Wriggers]

Moaning Myrtle acted like an entitled twat for decades and now his obnoxious behaviour is coming back to bite him in the ass.

Oh yeah, and his new music sucks monkey balls.

Karma really is a bitch.

The article is spot on, I am not a Dog on a Chain is an absolutely brilliant album, which just because you haven't been bothered to listen you foolishly slag off. "His behavior" has just sold out an American and European tour. You sound bitter the fans have not cancelled him, the record companies may have, but I do believe he should have gone with the guy who said he could release BoT, but I'm sure "Moaning Myrtle" had his reasons. Why do you waste time slagging off the greatest songwriter that's ever lived? Just move on if you feel like this...

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

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'The way that Morrissey has been treated is unfair'

By Russell Leadbetter

In his years as a solo artist Morrissey has released thirteen albums, from his remarkable debut, 1988’s Viva Hate, which entered the UK charts at number one, through to the most recent, 2020’s I Am Not a Dog on a Chain. Of his 14th album, however, there is no sign, even though it was completed in as far back as May 2021.

Morrissey is back: The return of this 'extremely charming man'

The album was due to be released in February 2023 in every country apart from the UK by Capitol Records, part of Universal Music Group. In December…

www.heraldscotland.com

https://archive.is/Y0Zmw

A compilation of recent discussion quotes and summation around Bonfire.
Use the above link to avoid the subscribe nag screen and read in full.
FWD.

I tend to suspect these people are asked to write these things by the gig promoter

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

I agree with what you said there. He could self-release his albums and even if he just sold them at concerts he'd probably make a profit.

Actually mate Gen z males are quite Right Wing . It’s the Gen z females and the generation above them that are whiney little bitch hitlers .
I said a while ago the tide will turn and people will come back to M in the end , not like they did in the 1990s or 2004 but some will
Nothing he said or did was that bad . He didn’t rape children or kill a prom queen for feck sake. It’s just people like Wall Eye and the haters who are desperate for M to be a loser , because they are losers. They got to 45 had kids they don’t like, who have glued them to a partner they can’t stand Not to mention , the children mean they will never have money and will be a slave to work until they drop dead. They can’t even buy nice clothing as a hobby as they have grown fat and bald . Worst of all they can never leave the shitty little towns they spent their whole lives in. So they hate on M, because he has left his home town , seen the world and remains a man of adventure.
What they really hate about M is that even when they hate him , they love him . Why else come on here day in day fecking out ?

 

[CrazyFaceGenes]

His insane behaviour at Capitol records over Miley Cyrus is probably the only time in my life that i felt sorry for a record company executive. It's beyond music and art, it's the sort of behaviour that gets you sacked and more, so i don't think the word unfairly applies at all.

 

[Gareth Keenan]

It is. And he wants to spend other people's money, not his. He could release his albums tomorrow if he spent his own money.

Who paid for the recording of the unreleased albums?
Has to be Morrissey
Jealousy is a dreadful trait