JED: Wow, it's really good to have you here.
MORRISSEY: I'm very pleased to be here.

J: You are? (laughs)
M: I really am very pleased to be here.

J: Morrissey is here at 106.7 KROQ and he brought me a copy of his album Maladjusted which I have been listening to and...
M: ... and you don't like it (laughs).

J: Well, I listen to this and I'm worried about you.
M: Please... please be worried, everybody is. It's a good sign.

J. Man, I'm worried about you. First of all, the name of the album is "Maladjusted" and then you've got this song "Ambitious Outsiders" which sounds like this evil child-murdering-incorporated NAMBLA theme song type.
M: Not quite, not quite. But it's creeping towards it, definitely. But a great song, I think, I'm very proud of it.

J: Yeah, eerie as hell...
M: Well, I like music to be slightly dangerous. I do — I like it to be pushed. There's not really much point making safe music, I don't think.

J: Well there's nothing safe about this album.
M: It's not safe. It's still "walking the plank" and happy to be there.

J: But I'm sitting here thinking something like "Alma Matters" could be on more radio stations...
M: God, I hope so. It's been a long time. It's about time something different happened. And I just hope, I just hope.

J: Can you forgive me if I said that? Because it sounds like the most uplifting song on the record.
M: It's very uplifting, I'm very pleased and no, not a sell-out I don't think. So I just have very high hopes, I really do, for this album.

J: Everybody's gonna want to know if you're touring and we'll come back and talk about that in a little bit. Your songs are such a mystery and I almost hate to ask you this kind of stuff...
M: A mystery to me as much as anybody else. I can anticipate the question... (laughs)

J: OK, well, you're the only guy I can ask about so many of these things.
M: Well, you should ask the question anyway. (laughs)

J: And you're free to say, "Well, it can mean whatever you want it to mean!"
M: Well... it really does mean something specific. I think it means that we should be pleased and proud of the female side of our character, of our nature. Or if we're female, we should be proud of the male side of our character and give it just as much import as the other side. So, everything's fine, it doesn't matter how you behave.

J: OK, this is "Alma Matters", new from the Maladjusted album by Morrissey that comes out — do you know when this comes out?
M: Yeah — August the 12th.

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"Alma Matters", "What Difference Does It Make?" played

end part 1