Morrissey has said that he’s starting to think that his former label Capitol Records is intentionally “sabotaging” his new album, ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’.
Morrissey “voluntarily” left the record label, as well as his management, just before Christmas 2022 after signing with it the previous year. He was dropped by BMG in 2020, months after he released his latest album, ‘I Am Not A Dog On A Chain’.
Today (February 7) Morrissey has claimed on his website that Capitol is refusing to release ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ or to return the album to him. His statement also implied that he believes that the label signed him for the express purpose of sabotaging the album’s release.
“Morrissey is ‘too diverse’ for Universal Music Group,” the statement read. “Capitol Records (Los Angeles) will not, after all, release Morrissey’s 2021 album ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’. At the same time, Capitol Records (Los Angeles) are holding on to the album.
“Although Morrissey officially signed to Capitol Records Los Angeles, there has been no mention of Morrissey on Capitol’s website or on their Artists roster.
“Morrissey 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.”
NME has approached Capitol Records for comment.
Morrissey performing in 2020. Credit: Jo Hale/Redferns
The site then linked to a Medium post by the writer Fiona Dodwell about why Morrissey’s unsigned status “proves a lack of true diversity in music”.
“He has been continuously criticised and crucified in the press for being frank and outspoken. Seen in this light, it seems being ‘diverse’ nowadays really means to conform – or face being rejected. You can be diverse, but only this way, not that way,’ the small print seems to say,” wrote Dodwell.
The article shared Morrissey’s previously expressed views on diversity initiatives in the arts and wider culture. Morrissey said recently that diversity “is just another word for conformity”.
He also recently hit back at “cancel vultures” who believed that Miley Cyrus was asked to be taken off a song that they had worked on together due to his political views.
“Miley knew everything about me when she arrived to sing ‘I Am Veronica’ almost two years ago; she walked into the studio already singing the song. She volunteered. I did not ask her to get involved. Her professionalism was astounding, her vocals a joy to behold,” wrote Morrissey in his ‘When You Are The Quarry’ blog post.
He then proceeded to explain that Cyrus asked to be removed due to “reasons unconnected to me, having had a major clash with a key figure in ‘the circle’. I cannot give any details about the private fight because it is private, after all,” he wrote.
Morrissey is set to embark on a European headline tour next month, which will conclude with a date at London’s Eventim Apollo. See the full itinerary below and buy your tickets here.
MARCH
08– Paris Salle Pleyel, France
09 – Paris Salle Pleyel, France
12 – Lyon Amphitheatre, France
13 – Strasbourg Salle Erasme, France
15 – Antwerp Stadsschouwburg Theatre, Belgium
16 – Brussels Bozar Theatre, Belgium
19 – Eventim Apollo, London
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