Fiona Dodwell: "A Rebel Without Promo" (January 5, 2023)

Not sure it's that cloak & dagger (first link)
Not sure responses were of the type being sought (IG comments - second link).
FWD.

 

[Akpom]

It’s not paranoia, there really has been suppression. Rebels was released in the quietest week ever for new releases, all the weekly new music playlists on streaming services were the shortest they’d been all year with some crap Christmas songs included - yet they declined to put Morrissey’s single on any of them.
The new release playlists are where exposure is at these days not radio plays.

 

[gashonthenail]

I wish he'd do an interview like that, too, the Bowie / Newsnight one.

But presumably he knows he'd get asked about his political views (unless he tried to negotiate an interview where that was off the table, but then any such interview would just get mocked) - and he's clearly not comfortable being asked about that stuff by any kind of proper journalist. (Even one who wasn't out to stitch him up.) Hence we end up with sub-standard things like the Dodwell chat.

I've said it before, but pretty much the only "interview" thing I can see working for Morrissey at this point is a Louis Theroux hour-long documentary recorded at his hotel or whatever. Theroux would challenge him on his views, of course, but it could also end up being more funny / playful / eccentric...

(Alternatively, some kind of Netflix one-off that's just one of his live shows with a tiny bit of backstage stuff interwoven: imagine if one his recent UK shows had been professionally recorded!)

Yes, for sure. It is for this reason that I have always thought his endorsement of AMW and FB was a mistake. Because it demeaned and belittled him as an artist. Art resides in ambiguity. Committing as an artist is problematic. Sartre found that out when he committed to Marxism. As an artist getting involved in the political is one thing. All art is political at some level. But getting involved in the party political is another thing entirely. It has diminished Morrissey as an artist, of that there is no doubt. He does seem to have understood that. Hence, we are back to the idea he is apolitical. This is where he should stay.
But he will at some point need to answer that question: So do you stand by what you said about AMW and FB? Or do you regret it?

 

[Lionsy]

I wish he'd do an interview like that, too, the Bowie / Newsnight one.

But presumably he knows he'd get asked about his political views (unless he tried to negotiate an interview where that was off the table, but then any such interview would just get mocked) - and he's clearly not comfortable being asked about that stuff by any kind of proper journalist. (Even one who wasn't out to stitch him up.) Hence we end up with sub-standard things like the Dodwell chat.

I've said it before, but pretty much the only "interview" thing I can see working for Morrissey at this point is a Louis Theroux hour-long documentary recorded at his hotel or whatever. Theroux would challenge him on his views, of course, but it could also end up being more funny / playful / eccentric...

(Alternatively, some kind of Netflix one-off that's just one of his live shows with a tiny bit of backstage stuff interwoven: imagine if one his recent UK shows had been professionally recorded!)

I wish he'd do that too, but I also wish he would just confront those questions in a mainstream TV interview too

A Theroux interview would be perfect for him I think - The little one he did with Judi Dench recently was so nice to watch... that sort of feel and setting would suit him perfectly

 

[Anonmous]

I believe Capitol is now likely to release the reissues in plain brown paper bags....

Exactly just like John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Two Virgins.

 

[ThePoliticalRevolution]

Exactly just like John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Two Virgins.

Yoko's twitter feed brings me so much joy. I recommend everyone give her a follow.

 

[Emotional Guide Dog]

Morrissey would be a perfect guest to have on Graham Norton or James Corden's shows. I'm not commenting on the quality, or lack of quality, of them but they get to a point where all the guests are on stage at once. So he could do that and if he decided not to play, they could talk to someone else.

 

[A Man Escaped]

If he ever consented to doing a TV interview, I imagine it would consist of a close up shot of his head and shoulders, with the interviewer speaking to him off camera. It would be the only way to avoid all the elephants in the room.

 

[goinghome]

It’s not paranoia, there really has been suppression. Rebels was released in the quietest week ever for new releases, all the weekly new music playlists on streaming services were the shortest they’d been all year with some crap Christmas songs included - yet they declined to put Morrissey’s single on any of them.
The new release playlists are where exposure is at these days not radio plays.

This sounds true to me. We're missing some key information to make sense of why the single did not roar, as it could have, but whimpered. The usual vorsprung durch technik for launch propulsion was missing, for one or more reasons.

 

[Lionsy]

elephants in the room? that would be a little distracting.

Quite the interesting watch though

Dull question getting asked.... uugh... OH ELEPHANTS!

 

[anonymous]

A lot of people here wish Morrissey would "self-release." I'm sure the wanker does it all the time!

 

[blah blah]

Moz really does all this to himself, and hides behind the "true artist" statement. We could have his own Instagram, twitter, Facebook, website, etc but he never does. He could support this website which has supported him, but he chooses not to.
He really had some momentum to finish 22, but instead of giving more, he gives less with cancelled and short shows.
I have been a fan since 85, and I have never seen an artist sabotage himself more than Morrissey does. It just how he is and has always been. To expect different is just unfounded hope.

 

[Morrissey-so-old.com]

Keep thinking it says A Rebel Without Porno.

 

[Morrissey-so-old.com]

Moz really does all this to himself, and hides behind the "true artist" statement. We could have his own Instagram, twitter, Facebook, website, etc but he never does. He could support this website which has supported him, but he chooses not to.
He really had some momentum to finish 22, but instead of giving more, he gives less with cancelled and short shows.
I have been a fan since 85, and I have never seen an artist sabotage himself more than Morrissey does. It just how he is and has always been. To expect different is just unfounded hope.

It’s not his fault it’s everyone else’s fault according to him. I completely agree he totally sabotages himself, I think he does it intentionally so he can forever play the victim.

 

[Lionsy]

Moz really does all this to himself, and hides behind the "true artist" statement. We could have his own Instagram, twitter, Facebook, website, etc but he never does. He could support this website which has supported him, but he chooses not to.
He really had some momentum to finish 22, but instead of giving more, he gives less with cancelled and short shows.
I have been a fan since 85, and I have never seen an artist sabotage himself more than Morrissey does. It just how he is and has always been. To expect different is just unfounded hope.

Just for a brief second I tried to imagine Moz posting a thread on here and it was quite reminiscent of the big bang!

In the first few femtoseconds, Uncleskinny made billions of expletive filled posts directed at him, under the immense internal pressure Morrissey exploded into multiple Sam's and Fiona's who forever filled the forum with gaseous particles and so called dark matter culturally sensitive matter (best not make the situation worse for him).

What I'm trying to say is, I'm creating a new religion and you're all invited!

 

[j*e*t]

If he ever consented to doing a TV interview, I imagine it would consist of a close up shot of his head and shoulders, with the interviewer speaking to him off camera. It would be the only way to avoid all the elephants in the room.

I have a similar idea, inspired by watching the Alain Delon film Che gioia vivere last night, of an interview in a confessional box. Picture it: dimly lit, with perhaps a shaft of light across his eyes; the voice is almost everything; and the interviewer is barely glimpsed through a grille. Has this ever been done?

 

[j*e*t]

It’s not paranoia, there really has been suppression. Rebels was released in the quietest week ever for new releases, all the weekly new music playlists on streaming services were the shortest they’d been all year with some crap Christmas songs included - yet they declined to put Morrissey’s single on any of them.
The new release playlists are where exposure is at these days not radio plays.

Has anyone questioned why Iggy Pop hasn't played Rebels in the nearly ten hours of his BBC Radio 6 Sunday afternoon show since its release? He certainly plays almost anything! I doubt if it would have made much difference if he had played Rebels, though. Of my own top 300 new songs in English of 2022 (mainly melodic indie music but ranging from heavyish metal to the lightest pop) only nine made the UK top 100 singles chart, and just two of those are by British artists. Over the year I did notice a number of bands thanking various radio stations for playing their singles, but the exposure didn't result in chart placings.

 

[BookishBoy]

Has anyone questioned why Iggy Pop hasn't played Rebels in the nearly ten hours of his BBC Radio 6 Sunday afternoon show since its release? He certainly plays almost anything! I doubt if it would have made much difference if he had played Rebels, though. Of my own top 300 new songs in English of 2022 (mainly melodic indie music but ranging from heavyish metal to the lightest pop) only nine made the UK top 100 singles chart, and just two of those are by British artists. Over the year I did notice a number of bands thanking various radio stations for playing their singles, but the exposure didn't result in chart placings.

I strongly suspect that 6 Music has an informal policy of not playing anything new by Morrissey these days, because of his apparent views.

(On the basis that their typical listener would be somewhat more progressive / liberal / educated than a typical Radio 2 listener, for example, and hence more likely to take offence and complain.)

 

[j*e*t]

I strongly suspect that 6 Music has an informal policy of not playing anything new by Morrissey these days, because of his apparent views.

(On the basis that their typical listener would be somewhat more progressive / liberal / educated than a typical Radio 2 listener, for example, and hence more likely to take offence and complain.)

Maybe. You think Iggy would agree to that? So much for being a punk rocker! And Iggy features on the Bonfire album, too! I did notice in the recent Kevin Armstrong interview that I linked to in another thread that Kevin, who has worked with Iggy a lot, said he sent a copy of a new song that Iggy hadn't realised Kevin had released, and after that Iggy did play it on his show.

 

[Vegan]

While I think it's a terrific track it sounds like Moz in the 80s. It's not going to charm the young brats who are accustomed to auto-tune. A superb singer with brilliant phrasing they can't even comprehend.

 

[Famous when dead]

6 Music has relegated Iggy to "B list" himself.
FWD.