Silence of the Mozzer - Moz strangely silent around release of new album

[Anonymous]

The point is it's all shit on British TV now that Morrissey wouldn't go anywhere near. Graham Norton? Alan Carr???
It's all crap.
I think Moz would prefer to keep his dignity and let the album find its own audience.

 

[Agharta]

The only point of him appearing on TV is if he has a kickass new song (I mean one which actually has a proper tune and decent words that fit). Otherwise, why bother?

Imagine him singing any of Whale Face Is Not Your Missus on national prime time television? The stomach boggles.

 

[Anonymous]

The only point of him appearing on TV is if he has a kickass new song (I mean one which actually has a proper tune and decent words that fit). Otherwise, why bother?

"A kickass new song"? What are you, five years old?
Why would he go anywhere near British TV? It's wall-to-wall crap. Same with British music/film/drama/art now. It would be a waste of Morrissey's time and energy.

 

[Anonymous]

He could always go on Jools Holland again and be surrounded by boring no-marks while Jools plays embarrassing boogie-woogie horror over his songs.
Or he could just say 'f*** it' to the shithole that is British media/culture now and relax in Switzerland.
Tough choice!

 

[2-J]

could you see him on this morning, graham norton, Alan carr

In a word, yes.

Plus there's radio. Radio 2 and 6Music would have had him.

Sometimes his interviews are awkward but they still make for great / remarkable tv.

 

[Houdini]

He hates television interviews. The only reason he'd do them would be to please a record company.
And he would only want to please a record company if he was on good terms with them.
Now as some of you may have noticed he 'disappeared' when Harvest failed to get any of the first three singles on the radio (or anywhere...).
After that there was no way they were going to get any cooperation from Morrissey on the promotion of World Peace.

 

[Uncleskinny]

Now as some of you may have noticed he 'disappeared' when Harvest failed to get any of the first three singles on the radio (or anywhere...).

So...Harvest failed? Let's examine this. They Tweeted here there and everywhere, set up a special account, publicised every release variant...whereas Moz...did nothing. Contrary to previous occasions, where there were magazine interviews, tv appearances. Are You seriously suggesting that it is his WISH that the record do badly? Ridiculous. Harvest could not have done any more. There may be a reason for Moz's no-shows. I hope he's OK.

P.

 

[2-J]

Yeah I must agree with Uncleskinny... if Moz did fall out with Harvest, it seems he fell out with them before full promo had even really begun.

 

[Houdini]

No, the idea of releasing 3 singles prior to the album's release surely wasn't Morrissey's. He's a traditionalist and would have preferred the standard route.
He reluctantly gave in, then when this mess was the result (no impact whatsoever of any of the three) he naturally blamed Harvest.
I'm not saying it was wise of him to abandon the ship, I'm just trying to explain his silence.

 

[justsmithsandmorrissey]

The point is it's all shit on British TV now that Morrissey wouldn't go anywhere near. Graham Norton? Alan Carr???
It's all crap.
I think Moz would prefer to keep his dignity and let the album find its own audience.

You're so wrong, they wouldn't have moz anywhere near their shows, it's simple as that. For what hes said over the last few years, eatin meat same as pedophilia, the constant ramblings about the royals and especially kate Middleton who's adored over here (not by me I must say) he's gone too far for most people's liking, like I said before, the choice is no longer his. I doubt his fax machine would have been overloaded with invites to UK chat shows. Morrisseys f***ed things up for himself.
Plus they wanna see ed sheeran, Cheryl cole & the likes, people would switch off if morrissey was on.

 

[Maurice E Maher]

No, the idea of releasing 3 singles prior to the album's release surely wasn't Morrissey's. He's a traditionalist and would have preferred the standard route.
He reluctantly gave in, then when this mess was the result (no impact whatsoever of any of the three) he naturally blamed Harvest.

That's not really true at all. There was some initial confusion. Radio didn't really take to the single World Peace - picked up a few plays, but Istanbul was treated like a proper single. A-listed at 6 music and XfM, C-listed at Radio 2 and Absolute. His recent first singles off albums have been A-listed at Radio 2 which makes a huge difference (UK's biggest station). You can't blame R2 for not A-listing Istanbul. It's a bit grungey for them but they're sure to play Staircase loads if/when it gets released. Just needs a nice little radio-friendly edit (chop off a verse, bring the flamenco solo forward to a middle eight etc).

 

[Agharta]

"A kickass new song"? What are you, five years old?
Why would he go anywhere near British TV? It's wall-to-wall crap. Same with British music/film/drama/art now. It would be a waste of Morrissey's time and energy.

Nothing wrong with using the word kickass when it comes to music. How ancient are you?

Truth is, none of the songs on the new album would stand up to the scrutiny of a TV performance, such is their weak-as-pissness.

Whats so different about television now compared to the past? It's always been shite, but likewise it's always been a great marketing platform for musicians.

 

[Chickpea]

He reluctantly gave in, then when this mess was the result (no impact whatsoever of any of the three) he naturally blamed Harvest.

Honest question: Do we have any actually evidence that Morrissey has "blamed Harvest" for anything? I keep seeing this mentioned, but as far as I know, there hasn't been a single public word from him since the album's release aside from his Elaine Stritch remembrance.

I'm not saying it would be inconsistent with his history of blaming labels/promoters/etc., but it seems unfair to make this assumption when there's no evidence of it actually being the case. He may very well know that his silence (whatever the cause) has had a negative effect on sales—we don't know. I just can't imagine Morrissey intentionally trying to sabotage his own album, especially this one at this time.

No, the idea of releasing 3 singles prior to the album's release surely wasn't Morrissey's. He's a traditionalist and would have preferred the standard route.

I do agree with this, but I would imagine this (or at the very least, that there would be no physical singles released) was stipulated in his contract with Harvest. He had to have known…

 

[Bluebirds]

So...Harvest failed? Let's examine this. They Tweeted here there and everywhere, set up a special account, publicised every release variant...whereas Moz...did nothing. Contrary to previous occasions, where there were magazine interviews, tv appearances. Are You seriously suggesting that it is his WISH that the record do badly? Ridiculous. Harvest could not have done any more. There may be a reason for Moz's no-shows. I hope he's OK.

P.

I was watching a programme about "Ponce, I mean Prince" this weekend and allowed myself a wry smile when one of the contributors said - an artist will never blame themselves when their record sales start to decline but will usually have a pop at the record label.

I guess it's something to do with rampant egotism?

 

[Bluebirds]

Nothing wrong with using the word kickass when it comes to music. How ancient are you?

Truth is, none of the songs on the new album would stand up to the scrutiny of a TV performance, such is their weak-as-pissness.

Whats so different about television now compared to the past? It's always been shite, but likewise it's always been a great marketing platform for musicians.

There's not really many platforms for music appearances on mainstream TV in the UK for music apart from Jools Holland, Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton. I could only see Morrissey doing one of those shows nowadays and I don't think its on at the moment.

 

[Houdini]

... C-listed at Radio 2 and Absolute. His recent first singles off albums have been A-listed at Radio 2 which makes a huge difference (UK's biggest station)

Exactly, Morrissey returns after 5 years with 3 new singles and only the 2nd one gets... C-listed by Radio 2. Of course he is furious.

I do agree with this, but I would imagine this (or at the very least, that there would be no physical singles released) was stipulated in his contract with Harvest. He had to have known…

He did know, and he provided videos for them. What he did not know was that they would sink without a trace.

 

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong with using the word kickass when it comes to music.

Not if you're five years old, no.

 

[Stoned]

Sooner or later he needs to let us know what's been happening , he cant just disappear and that is it....unless his bad health is forcing him to do so. Let's just hope for the best!!

Cheers Moz

 

[2-J]

I still think the idea that one of the mainstream chat shows in the UK wouldn't have him on is bollocks... he is still a household name, eminently recognisable, it would still make for good tv. They are not going out live so supposing he said something akin to the paedophilia comment it could just be taken out seamlessly (as was the "David Showie" comment years ago when he was promoting Quarry on Jonathan Ross).

 

[Detritus]

What he did not know was that they would sink without a trace.

And whose fault is that?

Regardless of whether Harvest could have done a better job promoting the album, as some have suggested, at least they promoted it at all. If Morrissey wanted his singles and album to perform well commercially, then he should have worked with the label to promote the album. A few scattered updates on TTY that only fans will see doesn't cut it. I just don't understand this persecution narrative some fans subscribe to (often perpetuated by Morrissey himself), wherein Morrissey is always done in by the supposed ineffectuality of everyone around him.

The fact of the matter is that Morrissey did the bare minimum to promote the album in a significant, visible way and now he is reaping what was sown. Whether the lack of promotion on his end was due to illness, obstinancy, or something else entirely is immaterial; it takes two to tango, and ultimately Morrissey shares the responsibility for any perceived shortcomings in the album's promotional campaign and chart performance.