Morrissey: âMy whole life has relied on free speech â naturally, Iâm gaggedâ
The forthright singerâs âmasterpieceâ Bonfire of Teenagers was finished in 2021. He reveals the âidiot cultureâ blocking its release
James Hall9 September 2024 ⢠5:29pm
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Morrissey: âThe BeKind crew will smash your face in if you disagree with themâ
âIt is almost four years old now. The madly insane efforts to silence the album are somehow indications of its power,â Morrissey tells me. âOtherwise, who would bother to get so overheated about an inconspicuous recluse?â
âThe albumâ in question is Bonfire of Teenagers, the former Smiths singerâs 14th solo album that he completed back in May 2021, when Britain was emerging from its third Covid lockdown, but has yet to see the light of day. The lost album was set to feature contributions from craggy rocker Iggy Pop, half of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and, tantalisingly, Tennessee pop superstar Miley Cyrus. The âinconspicuous recluseâ is Morrissey himself. Heâs being disingenuous, of course.
The 65-year-old may not have released an album since 2020 and is currently without a record deal but he can still garner global headlines with a single dashed-off post on his website, as witnessed by last monthâs revelation about a proposed Smiths reunion. And âoverheatedâ? Well, thatâs one word to describe the deeply controversial saga surrounding Bonfire of Teenagersâ 1,200-day delay.
That weâre communicating at all is a surprise. Morrissey hasnât engaged with the mainstream British press for years, and his disdain for print journalists is well-documented. But he has chosen to talk to me about what he has called âthe best album of [his] lifeâ. By turns bullish and withering, the bequiffed bard of 1980s bedrooms â and latterly indieâs divisive elder statesman â pulls no punches in our interaction.
The reason for Bonfire of Teenagersâ delay is remarkably clear. The albumâs title track is about the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack, when a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured over a thousand more after a concert by American pop star Ariana Grande. Morrissey sings of a fan being âvapourisedâ and the song ends with an unsettling repeated coda to âGo easy on the killerâ, which appears to be a comment on the British justice system (the bomber Salman Abedi died on the night).
Manchester-born Morrissey has written contentious tracks about local tragedies before â in 1984 he co-wrote Suffer Little Children about the Moors murders. But this song is dark and, to many, tasteless. Online debates over whether the ballad represents powerful-if-uncomfortable storytelling or crass sonic clickbait have been ongoing since its live debut, which was filmed, in 2022.
Morrissey, unsurprisingly, sits in the former camp. In a lengthy email sent from his Los Angeles home, he says heâs being âgaggedâ and that what he calls âIdiot Cultureâ is preventing his albumâs release. Would he consider simply removing the controversial track and releasing a 10-song album under a different name? No, he says.
âControversial means intelligent, doesnât it? We are still in the grip of Idiot Culture, itâs everywhere you look. Naturally Iâm one of the first to be gagged since my entire life has relied on free speech,â he tells me. âNo, I wouldnât remove the title song because I wouldnât abandon the murdered kids of Manchester. Their spirits cry out every single day for remembrance and recognition.â Nor, he writes, would he consider self-releasing the album.
In the title track, he criticises Mancuniansâ adoption of Oasisâs Donât Look Back in Anger as an anthem of solidarity as they mourned. âAnd the morons sing and sway: âDonât Look Back in Angerâ, I can assure you I will look back in anger âtil the day I die,â Morrissey sings. He suggests the songâs use underplayed the severity of the event. âThe Manchester Arena bombing was our 9/11. But, in this sad country of ours, to understand the full meaning of the attack is to be guilty, and this is why the âdonât look back in angerâ command always struck me as derisive and not at all words of social harmony,â he says. Morons, though. You can see the problem.
The Smiths: (from left) Johnny Marr, Morrissey, Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke Credit: Chalkie Davies/Getty Images
But Morrissey seems determined not to change anything. âOnce you edit yourself or self-censor then the idiots have won. There is no arts media anymore in England, therefore thereâs no one to whom I can sit and talk about this. The fact is, genuine artists in England are now being held hostage by people who object to any manner of alternative opinion,â he says. âThe biggest monsters are the #BeKind crewâ â a social media movement promoting empathy â âwho will smash your face in if you disagree with them.â
Bonfire of Teenagers was produced by Grammy-winner Andrew Watt, industry hot property who produced the Rolling Stonesâ comeback album last year. âThe album has an astounding production by Andrew Watt, who is in himself a miracle. He is an untouchable genius of music production. All of the songs and musicianship are sensational,â says Morrissey. Not having heard the whole album, I canât comment.
But certainly its first single, Rebels Without Applause, released in 2022, sounded fresh and lively, with a strong melody with nods to ex-Smiths members Johnny Marrâs jangly guitar and the late Andy Rourkeâs bouncy basslines. Guest cameos from Iggy Pop, Chad Smith and Flea from the Chili Peppers and â temporarily, it turns out â Cyrus only adds to the albumâs mystique.
âEvery major label in London has refused Bonfire of Teenagers whilst also admitting that it is a masterpiece,â Morrissey says. âAnd although there is nothing insulting or antagonistic in the title track, label bosses say they are worried that The Guardian would make their lives hell if they supported any such social awareness.â Ah, The Guardian, with whom Morrissey has a long-running beef. In 2019 he claimed he was the victim of an âinexhaustible hate campaignâ after it ran a piece saying fans felt betrayed by his support for former far-Right political party For Britain and myriad other controversial comments.
Morrissey: âOnce you edit yourself or self-censor then the idiots have wonâ Credit: Larry Marano/Shutterstock
Morrissey then performed at the Hollywood Bowl in a vest saying âF___ the Guardianâ. Little seems to have changed. âAs we all know The Guardian could find something hateful and offensive in Five Go To Smugglerâs Top. I think all woke reactions are usually the revenge of the unloved. Have you noticed? They persecute anyone who can successfully argue against them,â he says.
Bonfireâs labyrinthine backstory is just the latest chapter in one of rockâs most enduring tales. Formed in Manchester in 1982, The Smiths were the greatest guitar band of their generation, releasing four studio albums that reached either number one or two in the charts â staggering success at a time when indie music was an underground concern. Through empathetic, wry and romantic songs such as This Charming Man, Panic and There is a Light That Never Goes Out, Morrissey became a spokesman for the teenaged dispossessed. The band split up in 1987.
Since then, Morrisseyâs successful solo career â 11 top five albums including three number ones â has been interspersed with prickly, provocative or inflammatory comments about everything from immigration to the âshockingâ treatment of far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Hence the Guardian issue and disengagement with the press. Others have a more relaxed take. Billy Duffy, guitarist in The Cult, was in a pre-fame Manchester band with Morrissey called The Nosebleeds. Talking to me in LA last October, Duffy said he hasnât joined the âcancel Morrisseyâ brigade. âI like to think of myself as a libertarian so Iâm not really getting a pitchfork out just yet. Thereâs a bit too much of that going on at the moment,â Duffy said.
Bonfireâs labyrinthine backstory is just the latest chapter in one of rockâs most enduring tales
On announcing Bonfire of Teenagers in 2021, Morrissey admitted that he didnât have a record deal, having been dropped by BMG in 2020. The album, he wrote, was âavailable to the highest (or lowest) bidderâ. In stepped Capitol Records, part of the worldâs biggest label Universal Music Group. Morrissey announced a February 2023 release date in all global territories bar the UK.
But in late 2022, Morrissey said Capitol was no longer scheduling a February 2023 release. Then, that Christmas, Morrissey announced that heâd âvoluntarilyâ parted company with both Capitol and his management team. He also said that Cyrus â a huge Smiths fan â had asked for her backing vocals to be removed from her track I Am Veronica. Weeks later, Morrissey said that Capitol wouldnât be releasing Bonfire at all but was âholding on toâ the album all the same. His website announced: âMorrissey has said that although he does not believe that Capitol Records in Los Angeles signed Bonfire of Teenagers in order to sabotage it, he is quickly coming around to that belief.â
In terms of Cyrus, leaked emails suggest that Morrissey ruffled feathers by going public with her involvement against her managementâs wishes. Morrissey, however, wrote on his website that she ultimately âbacked off for reasons unconnected to me, having had a major clash with a key figure âin the circleââ. Regarding the album, fans leapt on Morrisseyâs âsabotageâ comment.
Universal Music CEO David Joseph (with Jessie Ware), who Morrissey has accused of scuppering the release of Bonfire of Teenagers Credit: Getty
âKidnappedâ, some cried. Others noted that pop royalty Grande is signed to Universal-owned Republic Records, and wondered whether Universal was sitting on the album so as not to risk upsetting her due to the title track. Morrissey goes even further to me, claiming that a senior executive within Universal â his own record label â tried to quash the album. âDavid Joseph [the chairman and CEO of Universal Music UK] urged Capitol Records in Los Angeles not to release Bonfire of Teenagers,â he writes. I put this specific allegation to Universal, including to Joseph via a direct email. They didnât reply.
With the album in limbo, things got surreal. Morrissey accused Capitol of prioritising label-mate Sam Smithâs âsatanismâ over his own work after Smith wore devil horns during a Brit Awards performance. Then last October a light aircraft flew over Capitolâs famous cylindrical LA head office pulling the banner: âRelease Mozâs âBonfire of Teenagersâ!â The plane was hired by Georgia-based Morrissey superfan Travis Gravel at a cost of around $2,000. âThe purpose of the stunt was to draw awareness to the importance of the album being released,â Gravel says. So delayed is the album that last year Morrissey even recorded what would be his 15th solo album, Without Music The World Dies, a title that needs no interpretation.
There are signs, however, of movement. In April, after what Morrissey called âa long, hard, bloody warâ, he bought Bonfire of Teenagers back off Capitol. In June he told fans: âFor those of you 85 and over who are still waiting for Bonfire of Teenagers to be released, good news is finally within our graspâ. I suspect it will come out eventually although, as yet, Morrissey remains unsigned. The controversy will be colossal. Still, superfan Gravel canât wait: âI am holding out hope that Morrissey will use a plane photo for the album gatefold.â
Smiths fans had another piece of news dangled in front of them recently. In late August Morrissey revealed that promoter AEG approached him and Marr in June with a âlucrativeâ offer to reform their much-loved band for a 2025 world tour â a proposal to which Morrissey said âyesâ but Marr apparently ignored. Morrissey then pointedly compared his own imminent âlargely sold outâ US tour to Marrâs recent tour as âa special guest to New Orderâ (Marr is actually about to do a co-headlining US tour with James). On this situation, Morrissey is remaining tight-lipped.
âI think I made my point without turning it into the war of the worlds⌠which, of course, I easily could,â he says. Funnily, I donât doubt that for a moment.
