After a decade of straight-up annoying the crap out of everyone with an assortment of racist com ments and getting cuddly with extremist groups, Morrissey is without a record label. Yup, the guy who you were obsessed with in high school because he was good at irony is, ironically enough, having a hard time finding people to get obsessed with his new record, Bonfire Of Teenagers.
On his website, Morrissey Central, Morrissey is quoted as saying, “The worst year of my life concludes with the best album of my life.” And yes, he is quoted. He didn’t just post this, which is a good thing because, for the love of God, Morrissey needs to stop posting. The announcement concludes, “Morrissey is unsigned. The album is available to the highest (or lowest) bidder.”
Fans of Morrissey, a loyal fandom if there ever was one, will also be happy to see the tracklisting for the album. They will surely be delighted to read the song titles “Ha Ha Harlem,” “Rebels Without Applause,” and “Kerouac’s Crack.” No Morrissey fan’s collection is complete without the record that contains the future deep cuts “I Ex-Love You” and “Sure Enough, The Telephone Rings,” both of which sound like songs from The Simpsons episode Moz got pissed about in April.
The full tracklist:
I Am Veronica
Rebels Without Applause
Kerouac’ Crack
Ha Ha Harlem
I Live In Oblivion
Bonfire Of Teenagers
My Funeral
Diana Dors
I Ex-Love You
Sure Enough, The Telephone Rings
Saint In A Stained-Glass Window
The headline is a lie. It isn’t that surprising that Morrissey is having trouble finding a label. For roughly the past decade, he’s been sharing some pretty heinous racist com mentary, casually defending Harvey Weinstein, and offering public support for far-right extremist parties on The Tonight Show. So, yeah, Morrissey’s brand of irony isn’t aging particularly well.
[via Consequence]
120 Comments
I mean, they have labels at Staples.
But they’re out of staples.
I was happy in the haze of a racist rant,Heaven knows I’m miserable nowI was told to shut my my mouth so then I shut my mouthBut Heaven knows I’m miserable now
A winner
Why was there an explanation of the joke in the last paragraph?
The A.V. Club continues to sink to new depths, that’s why.
“The headline is a lie” is a phrase that really should’ve appeared in that Ellie Kemper article from earlier, rather than this one.
It’s the last step before they just remove the jokes entirely and move to nothing but self-righteous screeds.
NO COMEDY PLEASE!
Word count.
As a great admirer of the Smiths and his early solo work, I take no pleasure in saying that yes, Morrissey has demonstrated time and again that he is a racist prick and he deserves to be shunned. Unlike Ellie Kemper, you hacks.
Came here to say the same thing, but you said it better and first.
I actually quite like some of his later work too…Low in Highschool was annoyingly enjoyable.Stupid Morrissey.
For awhile there hit output was getting more bad than good and I was hoping I could finally let him go, but then I really liked his album last year “I am Not a Dog on a Chain” and, lord forgive me, I went right back into his arms.
Spent the Day in Bed with it’s reggae back-up singing at the end sounds like something David Brent would sing. It brought to mind Equality Street. It was embarassing.
Harsh. But also yes.But also I quite like it.
He has an album called ‘Stupid Morrissey’?
Can’t listen to his stuff any more, can’t get past the racism 🙁 I think of some old friends from back in the 1980s who were real Smiths fans, they must be devastated.
Racism? hahahahah!!! The man performs all over the world they cant get enough of him…. The name calling is childish and wrong
He’s just a poor man’s Bowie who was lucky to find The Smiths when he did.
I mean, her family is absolute trash.
I like the idea of Schimkowitz bristling a bit when he reads your last line, mad at the idea that he is taking the flak for something that another person in his organization had done and that he may have had utterly no awareness of (if he doesn’t read his co-workers stuff.)Unless he was the goober that wrote yesterdays bad take (which followed an even more awful take from The Root before that) then it is less funny.
There’s some built-in irony to Schimkowitz getting shit for something of which he very well might not have had any first-hand knowledge. Kind of like the irony at work when people who work for Jim Spanfeller keep writing bizarre takes to try to dunk on others for their own past associations with shitheels:https://www.avclub.com/some-celebrities-have-received-a-new-lesson-on-why-you-1846951839The AV Club has been hot garbage lately even by its own rock-bottom standards is what I’m trying to say.
Racist because he stands against absolute open borders?
Just get a CD Baby account and post it there? If people want his stuff, they will buy it.
I love most of what he has done. Funny how people call him a racist yet all the foreigners in other countries cant get enough of him….. These days if you speak your mind you are labeled a racist. As a matter of fact, hes about the least racist person I know of…. Dont be afraid to speak your mind even if the haters gonna call ya names……. Love to you Morrissey, these people cant get over you they are obsessed….:)
I give you my applause. Well said!
I have a friend who is acquainted with Morrisey. From his stories Morrisey is a guy who thinks he is incredibly personable, while he is an inherent asshat.
Definitely the personification of “never meet your heroes”
I’ve met both Harlan Ellison and Paul Westerberg and while both were as advertised, neither one was the asshat that Morrisey apparently is.
Why do people like to talk down about people they dont know? I mean is it a jealousy thing or is it just plain ignorance?
God, what Mononym isn’t? That girl Halsey, maybe?
Did he participate in a beauty pageant when he was 19 or something?
He was the best Little Miss Vegan ever!
I mean, probably?
No, he makes lots of blatantly racist comments in public.
I suggest a Kickstarter. By which I mean we should start kicking Morrisey and never stop.
I don’t know why I give Morrissey my valuable time when I’d much rather kick him in the eye.
He’s a unfortunate pain in the ass.
I would genuinely like him to know how Joan of Arc felt
Maybe he was only joking when he said [extremely long list of highly problematic statements].
He should really shut his mouth… He goes about things the wrong way.
So sad all the haters come on here to talk crap about him. Hes done more than all of us combined….. God bless you Morrissey people are what they are…
You don’t want a double decker bus to crash into him?
If it’s not love then it’s hatred of Morrissey that will bring us together.
He is worth 50 million I’m sure he can release it himself if need be….
Has anybody mentioned that Morrissey has two S’s?
“Rebels Without Applause” is a good title that will be ultimately wasted on self-pitying drivel, right?I’m guessing that a large part of labels’ reluctance to sign him is based on the fact that he regularly cancels a large number of his gigs. He can just go on bandcamp like anyone else that can’t commit to promotion or otherwise guarantee labels a decent return.
Let’s see…he cancels a lot of his gigs, he makes racist and politically extremist statements, his own fans find him tiresome now, he’s thirty years past his most successful work, he’s a pain in the ass to work with, and (if I remember correctly; have to double check) he won’t allow meat to be served in the venues he plays. I can’t imagine why he’d have trouble finding a label.
Although that was all true when he released an album a mere 14 months ago.
I guess there was just that one last bridge left unburned, but now he’s taken care of it.
Or that cutting edge satire show The Simpsons really did strike the final blow. No wonder he was mad!
A cartoon that makes fun of everything? I wouldn’t put too much into it……
Wonder why you hate him so much? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm……..
But now it’s, you know, more so.
Thats right. I dont understand the hate for the man. I actually admire his honesty and guts to speak his mind in a world where so many are sheep…… And to be honest he should just release it himself hes got the money……. Or start his own label for up and coming bands and him
Maybe that’s why he’s a jerk he hasn’t had a burger in a very long time.
Lets see, he canceled alot of gigs because he had cancer and it requires treatments, hes worth over 50 million so someone must love him. He speaks his mind and people think he’s a racist, yet his biggest fans are in other countries. His music is still as relevant today as it was when it was made, and many of his fans are still spending their money on his music and shows… I think people today are just so afraid to speak their minds or speak their truths they think anyone that does is a racist or a hater… They go along with the people who are offended by everything. Very sad state of affairs …..
He’s really leaning into the parody version of himself lately.
– the AV Club
“The headline is a lie. It isn’t that surprising that Morrisey is having trouble finding a label.”Youdontsay.gif
There is a light, but it sometimes goes out.
Morrissey-bashing lands somewhat more effectively if you spell his name correctly even one of the eleven times you write it in the article.
I hate that he’s putting out, like, an album a year now. Just when he should just stop doing it altogether, he became prolific. I don’t know. I probably won’t bother with this one.
You certainly won’t bother with it if it doesn’t get released.
He’s rich. He’ll put up for free, to be, you know, rebellious. Like Trump’s just cancelled webpage. But you can still buy the merchandise.
I cancelled Morrissey over 20 years ago before cancelling was a thing
Oh look at Mister Hipster here! Cancelling before cancelling existed..
And yet he’s still around and releasing albums. Go figure?
I’ve been more than willing to call out The Simpsons for being well past its sell-by date for a while now, but I saw the clips of them piss-taking Morrissey and it was pretty satisfying.
Seriously, dunno where they got the idea for that episode, but I loved it.
Cartoons are for simple minded people, thats why its lasted as long as it has 🙂
I had no idea that Morrissey was the secret love child of Jay Leno and Joey from Friends.
I’m disappointed that “Hairdresser In A Coma” isn’t on the tracklist.
that’s it! I’m not buying any more of his music since he left this off the latest!!!!I’ve never bought any of his music, but that’s not the point.
Well, maybe we’re being too hard on Morrissey. After all, he did write “Hairdresser In A Coma” at a time in his life when he was very, very sad. And we all know what a distressing time breakfast can be!
Did I mention that I cried?
Yes breakfast can be depressing if you don’t have Lucky Charms when you really really wanted them.
Breakfast has never been the same for me since I went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs…
He’s not racist, he just likes to say incredibly racist things.
Is he turning into Joaquin Phoenix right before our very eyes?
Wow, girlfriend in a coma-level serious bad times for M. Morrissey
I know, I know. It’s serious.
These sort of snarky takedowns work a lot better if you don’t misspell Morrissey’s name nine times, including in the damn headline!
I saw him live a few years back, he shit on Trump openly. From that experience I would say it’s ok to meet your heroes. For the most part, his anti-mainstream views had been tolerable. But his views on immigration and possible support of Britain First are just bad. p.s. I only came here bc of your crap tweet about Ellie Kemper/all actors being rich and racist, which was just stupid.
I’m sure he’s taking it all in stride, he being such an optimist and all.
LOL FUCK MORRISSEY AND FUCK HIS FANS.
Who cares about the least talented member of The Smiths? Instead of that racist prick, lets see what Johnny Marr’s up to…
He was the driving force behind The Smiths. Without his music and guitar playing a song like How soon is now is just some British bloke with a crappy voice. I will admit some of Morrissey’s lyrics with the band were quite good though.
He’s the most famous man in that town he comes from, far more successful than the rest of the band, yet everyone now wants to hate on him? What sad pathetic lives people must have, calling a man a racist who is loved by people all over the world…… Many fans from other countries, he tours all over the world….. So sad how hateful many of his fans have become now…. He speaks his mind which is something people today are afraid of…… Viva Morrissey!!
Marr’s done some mighty work with Matt Johnson:
I’m not just saying this because I abhor him personally, but I’ve always found to be Morrissey a hugely overrated singer, even with the Smiths. I really don’t get the rabid appeal his fanbase seems to have for him.Johnny Marr handles himself perfectly well singing Smiths tunes with his solo group, with the added benefit of being a guitar virtuoso and, by all appearances, seems like a pretty decent dude. I’d much rather see him play live than Morrissey lazily slog his way through a gig that he’d probably be too lazy to show up for anyway.
Happy to see someone else praising Johnny Marr’s solo work. And you’re right, he sings Smiths tunes perfectly fine on his own. So there ya go, we can officially put Morrissey in the bin.
It’s funny; for years people were clamoring for a Smiths reunion, now they’re like, “Nah, we’re good.”
I’m always surprised when I hear about Morrissey since I figure he died.
Coming from a person who hasn’t listened to a Morrissey solo album in probably 20 years, can you shut the fuck up about Morrissey? Is there a Morrissey “news” quota you have to reach each year? Kicking a dead horse is so, so much fun.
There was a moment in the late-ish 80s where if you were a shy, small town teenage misfit boy The Smiths, and Morrissey himself, were an absolute cultural liferaft.
I was, luckily, just very slightly too young for that, picking them up later as just a good band that the older boys seemed to know about. But a friend of mine caught it full-on, and his gradual Kubler-Ross bereavement journey as the grand idol of his youth relentlessly toilets himself with increasingly mediocre albums and contrarian silly-buggers has been a gentle sad trombone in the background of his middle age.
Barry Manilow was that for me, with the caveat that I can still listen to him without cringing.
hahahahahahahah ok. Barry Manilow makes me cringe with all that face lift work hes had done cant even look at him…
[Morrissey’s] offering public support for far-right extremist parties on The Tonight Show.
Wow! I didn’t even know The Tonight Show even had far-right extremist parties!
I just want to say in Junior and HS (late 80’s into 91) I did NOT like The Smiths and was on board with the drunken shenanigans of The Replacements. Sure they were boorish drunks who behaved like lunatics, but they were just light years better then The Smiths.
How shocking that being absolutely horrid to everyone leaves few people on your side. I recently decided that I can’t even listen to his stuff anymore, because it just leaves me feeling so ‘disappointed.’“All your friends and your foes/Would rather die than have to touch you”
I have a couple of albums in my iPod of him that I haven’t listened to in more then a decade. In my defense I like The Smiths and I was buying a shit load of CDs at the time.
He’s always been an arsehole, even before the racism started leaking out. It’s worth seeking out interviews with Tony Wilson to hear some of the stories about him treating people like absolute shit. Wilson happily acknowledged that he was wrong in his initial assessment that “Steven” would never make a pop star in a million years, and that he was a bona fide genius. But he made a key distinction between the artist and the art, and stressed that he loved The Smiths’ work (but not much of his solo work due to the absence of Marr’s melodies) but thought Morrissey was an utter arse.
Hahahaha Clarkson is so much better than Morrissey!!!!!!!!!
Is this the same guy who refused to appear on Kimmel because he was booked with the Duck Dynasty guys and didn’t like they’re treatment of animals?
Wait wait wait, he spouted racist crap on the Tonight Show? How’d that go?
MORRISSEY: Immigrants are taking our jobs.
JIMMY FALLON: *laughs uncontrollably*
Rebels Without Applesauce
Marr > Moz
According to AVClub he should team up with Ellie Kemper right away!
fun fact: the pet shop boys song “miserablism” was written about him
You guys used to be such a good site.Seriously, I loved your stuff, for years. Led me to endless good content. And even if you had just *some* perspective, some openness in your thought content, you could still be good.But there is just, *such* a hardcore, left-wing slant here, that has just gotten more and more brutal. I wish you were the site you used to be. It’s just so, and I’m going to use a word used by people “like you,” here: Toxic. Or really, “vicious.”
And it’s just so frustrating, because any of the things you seem to despise people for, whether it be silly-hardcore allegiance to nonsense ideas, no matter how “far” they go, or racism, or sexism, or authoritarianism, one only has to look at a handful of your headlines to see flagrantly.
And it is just so Antithetical to art. Which you so used to represent and exemplify. Now, it’s just, really, hateful Propaganda.
Do it yourself mate
I would buy an album by W. Morrissey before I’d buy one by Morrissey.Hell, I’d buy an album by nZo before I’d buy one by Morrissey, and that dude isn’t exactly a prince among men himself.
I never listened to the Smiths or Morrissey at the time, and only discovered him, and how good he was, after everyone knew he was a racist douche.Consequently, I’m able to enjoy him without a sense of betrayal, but I sympathise with his long-term fans. I can’t imagine what I’d feel if either Springsteen or Dylan turned out to be undiluted turds.
If?
Them’s fightin’ words – outside, in the alley around the back, now.(I won’t actually be there, but I’m vaguely hoping there’ll be a mugger or a rabid rat or something)