The Telegraph / James Hall: "Morrissey: ‘My whole life has relied on free speech – naturally, I’m gagged’" (September 9, 2024)

Morrissey: ‘My whole life has relied on free speech – naturally, I’m gagged’

The forthright singer’s ‘masterpiece’ Bonfire of Teenagers was finished in 2021. He reveals the ‘idiot culture’ blocking its release

https://archive.is/J2hBl - no paywall.

Morrissey: ‘My whole life has relied on free speech – naturally, I’m gagged’

The forthright singer’s ‘masterpiece’ Bonfire of Teenagers was finished in 2021. He reveals the ‘idiot culture’ blocking its release

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Related items:

• Morrissey-solo.com: "What has happened to Bonfire of Teenagers? - media request" - September 2, 2024
• The Times / Will Hodgkinson: "Morrissey says he is being censored. He isn’t" (September 10, 2024)

 

[BrummieBoy]

Yes, the original version of "woke" was way more interesting than what it's become. If you were woke it meant that you were attuned to conspiracy theories about the white man, such as that the Egyptians were black but this fact was suppressed (unfortunately this is refuted by DNA evidence), or the NOI theory that the white race was developed by a black mad scientist named Yakub in a eugenics project gone wrong (unlikely, but highly amusing), or that the crack epidemic was deliberately caused by the CIA (and this one has credibility, if the late Michael Ruppert is to be believed). It was a lurid gnosis of black radicalism, and nothing much to do with the tedious, academic, corporate rainbow stuff being force-fed to people these days.

...wow!...just fcukin WOW!...

...incredible yet irrefutable...a forensic audit trail of a comment...expressed with elegance and panache: if only Morrissey could write like you do...

Kudos

BrummieBoy

 

[Redacted]

I think he was trying to say that things should never be the same after such an event. It should have been a wake up call for the UK and Europe. Unfortunately, however, the 'don't look back in anger' mantra meant that there was absolutely no discussion about what was the root cause of such an act, and how such an act could be prevented again in the future. Instead, it was all lighting candles and singing kumbaya.

I think those people were just trying to deal with their grief and fear. I am not in the UK, but I did read about it and it did seem there was some discussion about how these men were radicalized and there was a trial and a life sentence, if I recall correctly.

 

[Redacted]

So the whole “good news around the corner” statement about BOT was moot? And it doesn’t matter that he’s bought it back? I don’t get these timelines.

It seems to me that he was under the delusion that record companies would be banging down his door for the privilege of obtaining rights to BOT, and now he has spun some story that the title song is far too controversial and no one will touch it, and he is being gagged, silenced, blah blah. He has also made it clear he will not self release.

Utter bullshit, the Miley fracas is the reason the album never came out and his acting like he is the patron saint of the murdered children is just nauseating.

 

[gordyboy9]

this thread is dying on its arse and has no chance of reaching the 500 club.
in other news,the tories take migrants out of hotels,labour let up to 5000 lags out of prison and put them in hotels,anybody who voted labour are seeing the mistake they made.
in other news,taylor swift is backing harris in the americas,whats the point when most of her fans are under the voting age.

that was the news goodnight.

 

[gashonthenail]

I don't see how this is all relevant considering that M used the most recent, pejorative connotation of the word that's used by alt-rights and likes

It's used by the vast majority of people who don't like the mutilation of children in the name of trans ideology, and don't think that Western civilisation is evil to the core and 'racist'. If you think that is 'alt right', then you are calling the silent majority 'alt right'.

 

[Surface]

this thread is dying on its arse and has no chance of reaching the 500 club.
in other news,the tories take migrants out of hotels,labour let up to 5000 lags out of prison and put them in hotels,anybody who voted labour are seeing the mistake they made.
in other news,taylor swift is backing harris in the americas,whats the point when most of her fans are under the voting age.

that was the news goodnight.

64% of her fan base are between 18 and 44

 

[gashonthenail]

It's certainly a term created by black activists, but calling everything woke is definitely a party trick or the right, just like a few years ago when everything on the left was political correctness gone mad.

I agree with Lionel Shriver that 'woke' is far too comical and monosyllabic a term to fully describe how potentially catastrophic and disastrous are some of its intentions and consequences. But it is perhaps a useful short hand term to describe in one word why left wing parties across the West have lost the working class vote. Woke is fundamentally a middle class ideology of the university educated. And it turns off working class voters big time.

 

[Ryan]

It seems to me that he was under the delusion that record companies would be banging down his door for the privilege of obtaining rights to BOT, and now he has spun some story that the title song is far too controversial and no one will touch it, and he is being gagged, silenced, blah blah. He has also made it clear he will not self release.

Utter bullshit, the Miley fracas is the reason the album never came out and his acting like he is the patron saint of the murdered children is just nauseating.

At 65 it really is a big waste of time to keep going on and on in circles and circles with this crap. Enjoy the time you have and release music and shut the f*** up already.

 

[Redacted]

At 65 it really is a big waste of time to keep going on and on in circles and circles with this crap. Enjoy the time you have and release music and shut the f*** up already.

I totally agree, time to let it all go.

 

[Amy]

At 65 it really is a big waste of time to keep going on and on in circles and circles with this crap. Enjoy the time you have and release music and shut the f*** up already.

I really believe that these 'battles' keep Morrissey going. I think he needs them in some way. Like a larger-scale version of people who complain endlessly to their local councils about potholes or traffic noise or the neighbours' shrubbery or whatever. It's never to do with the surface topic, it's about purpose and wanting to be heard. If he really feels like a 'recluse' when he's not working, maybe it's just... boredom?

 

[Lionsy]

I really believe that these 'battles' keep Morrissey going. I think he needs them in some way. Like a larger-scale version of people who complain endlessly to their local councils about potholes or traffic noise or the neighbours' shrubbery or whatever. It's never to do with the surface topic, it's about purpose and wanting to be heard. If he really feels like a 'recluse' when he's not working, maybe it's just... boredom?

This is what i've thought for a while, he needs a fight

 

[Ryan]

But the situation here is… there isn’t even a fight to be had. The fans want new music and his “need” for confrontation isn’t getting him or anyone anywhere. And time is ticking.

 

[Luxo]

I really believe that these 'battles' keep Morrissey going. I think he needs them in some way. Like a larger-scale version of people who complain endlessly to their local councils about potholes or traffic noise or the neighbours' shrubbery or whatever. It's never to do with the surface topic, it's about purpose and wanting to be heard. If he really feels like a 'recluse' when he's not working, maybe it's just... boredom?

I'd go further than saying it's boredom. It's his only way of staying relevant. He has nothing much to offer the public in 2024, other than his legacy as a Smith (which he can't even be bothered to maintain), so he finds these silly ways of staying in the conversation, unlike, say, Johnny Marr, who does actively put himself out there with new music, supporting larger acts, interviews, and actually maintaining his legacy as a Smith.

Morrissey needs to say stupid things to say in the zeitgeist. It's as simple as that, in my opinion.

 

[Luxo]

But the situation here is… there isn’t even a fight to be had. The fans want new music and his “need” for confrontation isn’t getting him or anyone anywhere. And time is ticking.

Yeah, but Morrissey isn't just content with his (small) fan base hearing his music. He thinks he deserves the recognition that someone like Taylor Swift has, but without putting in the graft needed to get such recognition. He just deserves it because he thinks he does.

 

[SweetnTenderYorkshireman]

Mancs with mouths…

 

[Vesper Nocturne]

Yeah, but Morrissey isn't just content with his (small) fan base hearing his music. He thinks he deserves the recognition that someone like Taylor Swift has, but without putting in the graft needed to get such recognition. He just deserves it because he thinks he does.

Personally I don’t think he ever sought that out.

Literally every single comment in this entire thread is so mean, it’s untrue.

 

[gashonthenail]

I think those people were just trying to deal with their grief and fear. I am not in the UK, but I did read about it and it did seem there was some discussion about how these men were radicalized and there was a trial and a life sentence, if I recall correctly.

It is for the families and loved ones of the victims to decide whether or not they want to 'forgive' the killer and those who facilitated his murder plot. Only they have that choice. The rest was a co-ordinated and orchestrated attempt to control public opinion. That is what the song is about. And if a white man had gone into a mosque and massacred 20 Muslims, I don't think anyone would have been told to sing 'don't look back in anger' or its cultural equivalent.

 

[Ryan]

At this point I’m not even caring anymore. Will just wait for everything to get released posthumously and enjoy the odd live track here and there he decides to unveil. Saves getting hopes up.

 

[Redacted]

It is for the families and loved ones of the victims to decide whether or not they want to 'forgive' the killer and those who facilitated his murder plot. Only they have that choice. The rest was a co-ordinated and orchestrated attempt to control public opinion. That is what the song is about. And if a white man had gone into a mosque and massacred 20 Muslims, I don't think anyone would have been told to sing 'don't look back in anger' or its cultural equivalent.

I don't recall anyone saying the killer had to be forgiven, and he got killed in the bombing, so I think that would be a moot point? Yes?
As has been pointed out, Morrissey's line of 'go easy on the killer' is a bit nonsensical, since he is dead and his brother got life in prison, if I am remembering that correctly.

I seem to recall many people, incl the Queen condemning this. I don't think it was just swept under the rug.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

I really believe that these 'battles' keep Morrissey going. I think he needs them in some way. Like a larger-scale version of people who complain endlessly to their local councils about potholes or traffic noise or the neighbours' shrubbery or whatever. It's never to do with the surface topic, it's about purpose and wanting to be heard. If he really feels like a 'recluse' when he's not working, maybe it's just... boredom?

This is what i've thought for a while, he needs a fight

I'd go further than saying it's boredom. It's his only way of staying relevant. He has nothing much to offer the public in 2024, other than his legacy as a Smith (which he can't even be bothered to maintain), so he finds these silly ways of staying in the conversation, unlike, say, Johnny Marr, who does actively put himself out there with new music, supporting larger acts, interviews, and actually maintaining his legacy as a Smith.

Morrissey needs to say stupid things to say in the zeitgeist. It's as simple as that, in my opinion.

if true, then as long as there are people interested in him even dislike him as those here do, it’s all good then, it’s nice exchange of needs.