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

---

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)

 

[Gregor Samsa]

If there’s something you don’t understand about Morrissey, then you don’t understand Morrissey and why he does what he does. No?

No, not at all. Not at all the same as not understanding him full stop.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

No, not at all. Not at all the same as not understanding him full stop.

So you understand somethings about him, but not everything about him full stop?

 

[Gregor Samsa]

So you understand somethings about him, but not everything about him full stop?

Not every single detail, no. It would be laughable to claim that you understand everything about a person you don’t even know.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Not every single detail, no. It would be laughable to claim that you understand everything about a person you don’t even know.

I guess there will always be things about Morrissey that won’t be understood by most then.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

I guess there will always be things about Morrissey that won’t be understood by most then.

Of course. Why he’s so stupid that he believes that he either has to sell his soul and be overly commercial or be completely self-destructive and wreck his career, is where he primarily loses me.

But how cool that you understand everything about him! I’d love to see his face if you tell him.

 

[ForgotHowIGotMyName]

He literally concedes that his own problem is easily resolvable, and then says he refuses to fix it. Moreover he recognises that record companies appear to be indifferent.

Who is he giving hell to, other than his own self?

All the things Morrissey said here are things he has been keeping inside for years. The record labels should be called out for their cowardice and treachery. It is one thing to persecute a man for his vices but here, Morrissey is being discriminated against for his for virtues, for the crime of loving his country.

Record labels aren't passing on Bonfire because they don't think it will be profitable. Morrissey has enough fans that even a bad album would still turn a profit but now that Bonfire is "controversial", there will be more people checking it out to see what all the fuss was about.

Morrissey has been effectively blacklisted from the music industry for political reasons and it is in the public interest for people to know because the feelings expressed by Moz in the title track are shared by millions of ordinary Britons. So I applaud Morrissey bringing this matter to the attention of the public. By doing so, the labels now have to justify why they won't release Bonfire.

Whether you agree with Morrissey politically or not, it takes a high degree of moral fortitude for Morrissey to stick to his guns on this issue. Many "anti-establishment" bands would have caved to whatever demand just to get on with it. Only someone of sincere conviction would put their career on hold for years out of principle.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Of course. Why he’s so stupid that he believes that he either has to sell his soul and be overly commercial or be completely self-destructive and wreck his career, is where he primarily loses me.

that’s alright.

But how cool that you understand everything about him! I’d love to see his face if you tell him.

If you think I do?

 

[Gregor Samsa]

If you think I do?

Of course you don’t understand everything about Moz. None of us do. Very few are silly enough to claim they do. Luckily.

 

[gordyboy9]

64% of her fan base are between 18 and 44

did you say on here you were working as a platform engineer in los angeles.

 

[Surface]

did you say on here you were working as a platform engineer in los angeles.

Nope never said that, although I did post from my hols in Canada a few weeks ago, maybe you're confused

 

[gordyboy9]

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

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

vesper its what they do,if its written by miss fiona its garbage and anthing M says its lies.
let them have their posts,as long as theyr unhappy.
as for fans we will just keep going like we always do.

 

[gordyboy9]

All the things Morrissey said here are things he has been keeping inside for years. The record labels should be called out for their cowardice and treachery. It is one thing to persecute a man for his vices but here, Morrissey is being discriminated against for his for virtues, for the crime of loving his country.

Record labels aren't passing on Bonfire because they don't think it will be profitable. Morrissey has enough fans that even a bad album would still turn a profit but now that Bonfire is "controversial", there will be more people checking it out to see what all the fuss was about.

Morrissey has been effectively blacklisted from the music industry for political reasons and it is in the public interest for people to know because the feelings expressed by Moz in the title track are shared by millions of ordinary Britons. So I applaud Morrissey bringing this matter to the attention of the public. By doing so, the labels now have to justify why they won't release Bonfire.

Whether you agree with Morrissey politically or not, it takes a high degree of moral fortitude for Morrissey to stick to his guns on this issue. Many "anti-establishment" bands would have caved to whatever demand just to get on with it. Only someone of sincere conviction would put their career on hold for years out of principle.

i mentioned this in an earlier post about him performing bonfire in the north of england,it was loudly cheered by the crowd,there was a defiance in the crowd,why are these record companies so scared,we will get to the stage where the cancellers cancel each other.

 

[Surface]

i mentioned this in an earlier post about him performing bonfire in the north of england,it was loudly cheered by the crowd,there was a defiance in the crowd,why are these record companies so scared,we will get to the stage where the cancellers cancel each other.

Which of those northern gigs did you go to Gordy, I was at the Manchester Apollo one.

 

[goinghome]

What else could she have meant by "they [the industry] would rather hear the sound of silence than let me sing those songs"? Or "you step one foot out of their line and boom, you're not just off-key, you're plunged into a black hole of censorship"?

To see if her claim about magazines shunning her was valid, I google'd her. She got a sympathetic interview with The Culture Vulture, so she hasn't been completely blacklisted, but reading it, it looks like she has definitely been paying a steep price for voicing her opinions. Kudos to her, but at the same time she shouldn't be surprised. She has J.K. Rowling's views but lacks Rowling's money and prestige, and she said those things anyway. What did she think would happen?

I'm not qualified to know whether Bandcamp had legal standing to kick her off, but I assume they cite clauses in their contracts whenever they take action against an artist. As Morrissey himself has admitted, the artist rarely reads the fine print.

People are being kicked off online perches for all kinds of reasons. Another casualty is the Cradle news site which gets millions of views but is sympathetic to Palestine - https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/09/metas-role-in-israels-digital-proxy-war-on-the-cradle/

 

[goinghome]

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?

How desperately bored would most of this community be without Morrissey sharing his prolonged series of unfortunate events to rail about? Unthinkable...

It's often been noted that Morrissey stands out for repeatedly making explicit, in music and words, the process and challenges of being an artist. Funny how the drama is treated like it's always the first time.

Morrissey claims new album has been ‘gagged’ over song about 2017 Manchester bombing

Morrissey has claimed that his new album Bonfire of Teenagers has not been released due to record label concerns over the title track, which is about the 2017 terror attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester that killed 22 people.

www.independent.ie

 

[DaveJCarr]

People are being kicked off online perches for all kinds of reasons. Another casualty is the Cradle news site which gets millions of views but is sympathetic to Palestine - https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/09/metas-role-in-israels-digital-proxy-war-on-the-cradle/

As vociferously as some of us might object to a a corporation or platform holders decision to platform awardee platform a certain organization person, or whatever, they remain private companies and can do whatever they want according to the terms they set and according to the principle they want to uphold. Facebook is not a government actor, neither is Instagram or any of the other social media sites, however vital role they might play in masquerading as the public square, they're not public square.

I know there are folks on both sides of, the political spectrum that want to transform private shareholding corporations into state actors somehow, or make them subject to the same ability not to restrict the platform or promote whatever voices they want, but that is a tricky sticky and dangerous path in my view. That puts us one step away from me not being able to block someone who I perceived to be being abusive or bothersome to my various Internet presences because the platform, having been restricted in its ability to determine which speech is allowable, must then allow everything and also restrict individual users ability to restrict other people access to their pages and presences.

Would you, someone who is very concerned about hate speech and moderation want to live in a world where these platforms didn't have any ability to say this not going fly in our corner of the street, or take away your ability to block, ignore or mute certain pests?

 

[DaveJCarr]

By doing so, the labels now have to justify why they won't release Bonfire.

The labels don't have to justify anything, not to me, not to you, not to anyone outside of maybe the corporate bosses and the shareholders.

But, for the sake of extrapolation, let's say they did and came out and said something like

"yeah we have no problem with the album's lyrics sentiments etc. We just don't find Morrissey to be someone who we can rely upon to abide by label requests to not promote artists who are under different labels. We don't think that the example he set of naming shaming and encouraging his fans to engage in public pressure campaign on capiitol is an indicator of someone we want to deal with.

If you look at his track record over the past decade, ( or really nearly his entire career) anytime a label does something that is not 100% to his absolute satisfaction, it's only a matter of time before he puts that label on blast, regardless of how much support we havs provided, ideas we've entertained, and how much success that we had with previous releases. For all of those reasons, we chose not to deal with him at this point."

If they said something that, would you believe them? Or must it always be that Morrissey is silenced and blacklisted because of what he has to say?

 

[thejusticecode]

Has Morrissey been asked about Taylor Swift yet?

 

[Lucifer Sam]

People are being kicked off online perches for all kinds of reasons. Another casualty is the Cradle news site which gets millions of views but is sympathetic to Palestine - https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/09/metas-role-in-israels-digital-proxy-war-on-the-cradle/

That is true, but an "online perch" (or a record label, for that matter) is ultimately a private entity and not obligated to facilitate anyone's freedom of speech. Freedom of association exists too. I think this is what Morrissey and Louise Distras are failing to understand. If worse comes to worst, you can always go busking on the streets or hand out sticky notes—or self-release your music. A true artist is willing to face hardship, obscurity, or ostracization for the art's sake. Nietzsche considered his niche status as proof of his genius; Blake took it more or less in stride: was Jesus not reviled and put to death by his contemporaries?

 

[Leroy]

Is it just me or does anyone else think it's time for Morrissey to grow up? He's not being censored, it's just that the world doesn't work in the way he wants it to. He's so unlikeable now. It saddens me enormously.