Fiona Dodwell: "Morrissey: Capitol, Censorship And The Silencing Of Art" (June 15, 2023)

Morrissey: Capitol, Censorship And The Silencing Of Art.

Excerpt:
"With the situation being as it currently stands, it appears to many that Capitol Records signed Morrissey’s album to sink it, leaving many wondering why such an act would be of benefit to anyone. It hasn’t escaped Morrissey’s notice – nor his legion of fans worldwide who have been watching the unfolding drama with keen interest – that Capitol subsidiary Harvest Records were also the ones responsible for pulling Morrissey’s 2014 album, World Peace Is None Of Your Business from circulation, essentially abandoning the project and cutting it short."

Morrissey: Capitol, Censorship And The Silencing Of Art

Opinion by Fiona Dodwell On the singer’s website, Central, Morrissey recently posted a brief statement regarding his album, Bonfire Of Teenagers and the way that Capitol Records have left the album…

gabfest.co.uk

Didn't want to say it, but sure enough - there's of course a new FiDo article

 

[Snarffsnarff]

Maybe the albums not very good, I mean I don't think much of Jack's crack or whatever or the others

 

[Anonymous]

If Morrissey wants to enjoy his freedom of speech and avoid his art being censored he has two options.

1) Anonymously leak the album
2)Re-record the songs and self release

Unfortunately he will do neither, as all he's interested in is money and chart positions.

 

[Baggins]

This is not an issue of Art being censored. It's a contractual issue. I can't believe Moz and his freakishly fervent PR / journalist / hired hand / sixth form writer are conflating the two things. It's all very pathetic, and undignified.

 

[klaus]

he's dug himself quite the ditch here, especially with SER manning branding/socials/website and FIDO writing all of that repetitive nonsense over and over again. can't someone in camp morrissey pull the plug on this approach? this story is old but it goes on??? self-fulfilling prophecy? i think he does have choices but it's a matter of him choosing his own adventure here:

1. keep complaining and wait for the right label to swoop in and temporarily save him (the current never ending cycle)
2. self release his own versions of BOT and WMTWD (e.g. taylor's version)
3. write another book in the queer goth genre (i.e. grocery list of the lost or my to-do list got lost)
4. keep touring and release high quality multiple live compilations (e.g. pearl jam's live albums)

a proper manager would keep SER away from morrissey's social media/website/design and send FIDO to a how-to-write bootcamp or to push around a trolly at tesco collecting items for morrissey's pantry.

 

[klaus]

BOT t-shirt now $20 fire sale

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

I think great art can be made while living well. I just was referring to the Dodwell claim that record companies don't want to release good and daring art because they're scared of controversy. Granting that for the sake of argument, then if a musician wants to get his songs out there, he'd have to sacrifice the big payday by going independent. That's if this is all about integrity and not money, as Dodwell (wrongly) thinks it is.

Yeah, I don’t read her articles. So you could be right that Fiona’s wrong on this. Though money can be about integrity, in relation to the way people treat themselves, what it means to them. I just think Morrissey doesn’t like change, for various reasons, which is what it comes down to.

No, but he's notoriously chart-obsessed and that's the kind of the thing I imagine him pestering his record company with. Going by Autobiography, I think he perversely enjoys having record company enemies to tilt against.

I think we all like an enemy, real or imagined to reinforce our principles.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

"They scurry about in their hushed meetings, deciding what will be allowed and what must be destroyed."

Paranoid nonsense.

"It hasn’t escaped Morrissey’s notice – nor his legion of fans worldwide who have been watching the unfolding drama with keen interest – that Capitol subsidiary Harvest Records were also the ones responsible for pulling Morrissey’s 2014 album, World Peace.."

I'm surprised it escaped Capitol's notice that Morrissey and his band frequently wore "F@ck Harvest" T shirts.

Yeah, I’m surprised Capitol signed him after the Harvest fiasco. Did they intentionally sign him just to not release BoT? It’s not like money would really be an issue if a few of the higher ups simply wanted to f u c k M over. It’s all very odd, from both sides.

 

[Mayfly]

Can someone please add a yawning emoji?
I mean, that cycle of MC posts lashing out at Capitol LA for sabotaging the release of BOT, promptly followed by a FiDo blog reiterating the same facts, we have all read and heard this before.
Not saying that there shouldn’t be a reflection on new forms of censorship.

 

[Nobody Knows Me]

Every time this comes up I think back to the James saga of the late 80s when Sire wouldn't release their record. There's a long version, but wiki sums it up thus:

"Low on money and lacking coverage and promotion, the band recorded their second album, Strip-mine, attempting a more conventional song structure in an attempt to please Sire. The album almost went unreleased, but after a slight remix to sound more radio-friendly, Sire released it in September 1988, over a year after its initial completion. However the album only reached number 90.[8] After finding a clause for ending their contract, the band left Sire.[6]".

I remember reading an interview at the time (about 1989) that their contract had a clause allowing them to leave if their record went unreleased for a specified period. It did, so they did (to Rough Trade of all places). As a keen follower of pop lore, and at the time of James, surely Mr Morrissey would have been aware of this and inserted such a clause?

 

[Uncleskinny]

Is that the 94th time now? f***ing hell. Pack it in. You have to give her credit for pulling the same old turd out of the U-bend and back into the shitter

 

[Mozzer1980]

The last sentence of Dudwell's article:

We owe you everything, we love you, we need you.

would be much more honest if it was first person singular, surely?

Perhaps Fiona identifies as "WE" and not "I".
Anyway, I agree with the merits of that last sentence.

 

[gordyboy9]

Is that the 94th time now? f***ing hell. Pack it in. You have to give her credit for pulling the same old turd out of the U-bend and back into the shitter

everytime she writes something you come out with the same old claptrap so its pot kettle black on your part.

 

[Crisstti]

"They scurry about in their hushed meetings, deciding what will be allowed and what must be destroyed."

Paranoid nonsense.

"It hasn’t escaped Morrissey’s notice – nor his legion of fans worldwide who have been watching the unfolding drama with keen interest – that Capitol subsidiary Harvest Records were also the ones responsible for pulling Morrissey’s 2014 album, World Peace.."

I'm surprised it escaped Capitol's notice that Morrissey and his band frequently wore "F@ck Harvest" T shirts.

Well maybe it didn’t!

 

[BrokenFrame]

Is that the 94th time now? f***ing hell. Pack it in. You have to give her credit for pulling the same old turd out of the U-bend and back into the shitter

Thanks for that lovely image.

 

[Crisstti]

We have the internet now. An artist can have their work be more available than at any point in the past, and ever since Lily Allen, unknowns using social media channels have become famous. Morrissey is already famous and could've chosen to self-release his work and his legion of fans would get to hear it, if that's what your concern is. He signed with a record company because he wants promotion and chart placement and the money to live out of luxury hotels. If the record companies are censorious gatekeepers, then obviously you can't have it both ways. If it really is all about "authentic, meaningful art" then maybe you have to be a Van Gogh or a Verlaine, and be willing to suffer for your art and possibly be the poet who dies in the gutter. But surely his royalties from his 40-yr span could buy him a comfortable little villa in the north of Italy.

Surely Morrissey makes most of his money from live shows nowadays?

 

[gordyboy9]

just watched a 90 minute documentary on phone hacking,the mirror group hacked thousands of celebrities and what you would call normal peoples phones and medical records and yet the most outspoken singer in the uk was never even thought worthy enough to hack,then again did M even have a phone,they could have hacked his fax machine.

 

[Robert Phoenix]

The world is full of albums, some we know about, some we don't, that have been binned before release due to record company politics, tax writeoffs, and more, that simply never get released. Half of this article is veering on "oh noes! cancel culture! Wokeness killed my Morrissey LP!", when its more likely that - if we're really honest about it - Moz is not a huge selling artist, and has a commercial profile similar to say Van Morrison in 2004 : a guy who was once in a good band, whose been solo for ages, and is now trading off the legacy of How Good He Once Was. If he was 'new', and this was his debut selection of songs, nobody would be interested. He'd sell a reasonable amount if it was released, but not enough to excite a record company.

The idea that corporate gatekeepers are blocking it is laughable, paranoid nonsense. Maybe 30 years ago that was the point. Moz could self-release, create his own label, and go for it. But he'd rather get a cheque for a significant sum of money off a company and let them do the work than do it himself.

I'm not really sure it's "paranoid nonsense."

Capitol knew that "BOT" wasn't going to sell 100,000 copies. They knew that Miley was on the album and that might be a problem with her label. They knew the name of the album was going to be controversial. They knew working with Morrissey could be "difficult." After knowing all of these things, higher-ups at Capitol heard the album and still signed him.

Capitol could / should just give Morrissey the rights to the album so he could shop it around or, self-release and write-off their expenses. They are writing it off regardless of what they do. But, since Capitol is silent, all we have is Morrissey's version of events. It is also bad business for Capitol if they bin "BOT" because it sends a message to other bands who have the potential to sell a lot of albums. If you are, The 1975 or Interpol, do you think you would want to be associated with a label that could just bin your work without explanation?

I'm not attacking your comment, but I do think that Capitol knew very well of what they were getting and Morrissey deserves to release "BOT" on his terms....and at some point in the contract negotiations...Capitol agreed to his terms. What changed?

 

[neckdeep]

Insane.

Censorship : the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, music, news, etc

The word censorship implies someone is stopping his music from being heard, full-stop. He's doing that himself. Boo-f***ing-who. Release your own album, you dinosaur. You want promotion? Go for it. Buy whatever marketing you like. Hell, press up some autographed records available at shows for a ton of money...you'll get it. No one is stopping Morrissey from placing all his music up for download on his site. No one is silencing him. It seems he wants a solid record deal with plenty of money, promotion and praise. Those days are gone. Grow up old man.

 

[Uncleskinny]

Insane.

Censorship : the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, music, news, etc

The word censorship implies someone is stopping his music from being heard, full-stop. He's doing that himself. Boo-f***ing-who. Release your own album, you dinosaur. You want promotion? Go for it. Buy whatever marketing you like. Hell, press up some autographed records available at shows for a ton of money...you'll get it. No one is stopping Morrissey from placing all his music up for download on his site. No one is silencing him. It seems he wants a solid record deal with plenty of money, promotion and praise. Those days are gone. Grow up old man.

Yup. I've told you hundreds of times before. He won't spend his own money when he can spend somebody else's.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Yup. I've told you hundreds of times before.

He won't spend his own money when he can spend somebody else's.

smart man.