Morrissey's 'Your Arsenal' was released July 27, 1992; read our 1992 cover story with Moz - SPIN

He complained about the same things he is complaining about today, but today he gets shit for it.

SPIN: Why do you think that is? I mean, they must be projecting something onto you.

Morrissey: Well, apart from the actual records and what they convey, I think that there is a great sense that I have been always overlooked. I think that the audience is perfectly aware of this and they feel that I have been enormously shortchanged.

SPIN: By whom?

Morrissey: By the entire music industry and all of their relatives! [Laughs] I’ve been dumped into the “out” tray.

SPIN: Oh, come on. You’re sitting here in this amazing hotel suite.

Morrissey: Yes, and I always have sat in hotels like this, but it’s never been documented and I don’t know why. Last year, for instance, I sold out Madison Square Garden. There was no publicity before the concert, no publicity after the concert, and I thought, “I wonder if many artists in the history of the entire world have ever sold out this venue with no publicity.” The L.A. Forum, too. My experience, my career, if you like, is littered with items like that, and it never, ever gets documented. I wonder why certain people are deliberately neglected. Is it a form of censorship?

SPIN: No, it’s just a form of whether you want to play the game or not.

Morrissey: But that isn’t really fair. If you achieve, you should be recognized in some way.

SPIN: Yes, but you aren’t seen, in the way that George Michael is, with Linda Evangelista at video shoots, or at all those artfully managed arrivals at airports, and that’s the deal, isn’t it?

Morrissey: Yes it is, but the question in my mind is, which scenario is more real and more natural? I think mine is and it always has been. Everything I’ve achieved, I’ve earned, and nobody has handed it to me, and that kind of existence is hard to understand for the music industry. They don’t understand the language of being your own person. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change it. But I just feel anger, because when you repeatedly do things against what seems like all the odds there comes a time when the size of your audience should be recognized and you should be treated accordingly.

SPIN: What form would the attention take?

Morrissey: Well, it would have been nice to have read somewhere, throughout the world, “Morrissey has sold out Madison Square Garden,” and there were no posters and there were no reviews. That would have been nice, but to my knowledge, I’ve never seen anything that pertained to that particular night in history.

SPIN: But this year’s tour is going to be that sort of arena on a regular basis, which is kind of hard to miss.

Morrissey: One hopes. I’m going to wear very bright shirts! For the first time it seems as though it’s completely focused. Not just in my way, but in the way of Sire Records, and that’s what makes it quite fascinating to me, because I’ve never been in that situation before. I’ve always been plowing uphill, and achieving nonetheless, but never feeling the weight of anything at all behind me other than self-determination.
 
Thoughts from Alain...(Facebook post may not be visible due to privacy issues)

"Your Arsenal was released 25 years ago. We were a real band then. I wrote 8 tracks out of 10 on this album. The other 2 were written by Mark Nevin. It also got nominated for a Grammy the only Moz album to do that. I was 25 years old we were young, dumb and finding out what the world was all about. Yes the typical Rock-N-Roll things happened like Gaz and Spencer having an egg fight at Wool Hall whilst recording the album and the ghost pranks I pulled on Spencer keeping him awake at night, effecting his playing on the record. The furniture mountains we created in hotel rooms on tour lol and the odd tv out the hotel window. I never did that btw I wasn't the mad Rock-N-Roller but we were for real. I felt as soon as the next record came along that bond changed as a new rhythm section got brought in. Anyway here are 2 personal photos from that time. One is Morrissey actually listening to the playback of Your The One For Me Fatty and the other one is me in the tour bus during the Your Arsenal tour. I have one dark picture of Mick Ronson. I don't know why I didn't take more pics in the studio that time, a real regret. I'll never forget how amazing he was as a person and as a guitarist. He played all the ebow guitars on Seasick Yet Still Docked. I loved Mick he would lie down on the odd occasion as he was fighting cancer. He died 6 months after we recorded the album. We were all devastated he was a lovely human being. I was upset when he died. He took me in as a brother and he probably saw a naivety in me that might have reminded him of his youth. To me this was the most consistent solo album. The old Smiths fans were not convinced but we gained a huge fan base in America.
The very first song I ever wrote that Moz picked was Pashernate Love and then We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. Morrissey had asked if I could write tunes and I wrote away on a Tascam 4 track cassette player. I would give Morrissey cassettes. I wrote most of those songs in a flat in North Finchley back in 91. Your Arsenal was a great time. Nirvana and Suede hit the scene prior to the Oasis v Blur Brit Pop scene. The 90's was just beginning."
 
Thoughts from Alain...(Facebook post may not be visible due to privacy issues)

"Your Arsenal was released 25 years ago. We were a real band then. I wrote 8 tracks out of 10 on this album. The other 2 were written by Mark Nevin. It also got nominated for a Grammy the only Moz album to do that. I was 25 years old we were young, dumb and finding out what the world was all about. Yes the typical Rock-N-Roll things happened like Gaz and Spencer having an egg fight at Wool Hall whilst recording the album and the ghost pranks I pulled on Spencer keeping him awake at night, effecting his playing on the record. The furniture mountains we created in hotel rooms on tour lol and the odd tv out the hotel window. I never did that btw I wasn't the mad Rock-N-Roller but we were for real. I felt as soon as the next record came along that bond changed as a new rhythm section got brought in. Anyway here are 2 personal photos from that time. One is Morrissey actually listening to the playback of Your The One For Me Fatty and the other one is me in the tour bus during the Your Arsenal tour. I have one dark picture of Mick Ronson. I don't know why I didn't take more pics in the studio that time, a real regret. I'll never forget how amazing he was as a person and as a guitarist. He played all the ebow guitars on Seasick Yet Still Docked. I loved Mick he would lie down on the odd occasion as he was fighting cancer. He died 6 months after we recorded the album. We were all devastated he was a lovely human being. I was upset when he died. He took me in as a brother and he probably saw a naivety in me that might have reminded him of his youth. To me this was the most consistent solo album. The old Smiths fans were not convinced but we gained a huge fan base in America.
The very first song I ever wrote that Moz picked was Pashernate Love and then We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. Morrissey had asked if I could write tunes and I wrote away on a Tascam 4 track cassette player. I would give Morrissey cassettes. I wrote most of those songs in a flat in North Finchley back in 91. Your Arsenal was a great time. Nirvana and Suede hit the scene prior to the Oasis v Blur Brit Pop scene. The 90's was just beginning."

Thanks for sharing Uncleskinny! :thumb:
Much appreciated.
 
I remember it was released at Grand Rapids midnight in a musicstore, surely I wasn't there as a Dutch man, but MTV made a whole item, and even a short intervieuw with Morrissey was aired here in the Netherlands.[and all over europe I guess]

Was at the last Arsenal gig date, Dusseldorf, day after Paris where 'Beethoven was Deaf'' was recorded [as we know also tracks from London, few days earlier were on it]...the venue own security were a bunch of bastards, not even writing about that woman polka rock band that opened.

Those were the days
 
1991/92 was a very good time to be a Morrissey fan. He toured the US extensively in '91 and again in '92 (I saw him 7 times between those 2 tours). Your Arsenal was a return to glory after the misstep that Kill Uncle ultimately was (production-wise mostly - those songs kicked ass live on the KU tour). It's very telling that none of the KU album tracks were ever played live again after that tour (as far as I'm aware anyway). BTW, I'd love to hear "Mute Witness" live again.

But back to nostalgia lane ... I recall countless lonely and heartbroken nights listening to YA, "Seasick, Yet Still Docked" seemed to express everything I felt at the time: "My love is as sharp as a needle in your eye/You must be such a fool to pass me by". Absolutely loved the self-awareness and the bite in that lyric.

... And as stunning as YA was ... in less than 2 years we'd get the masterpiece that was Vauxhall And I.
 
1991/92 was a very good time to be a Morrissey fan. He toured the US extensively in '91 and again in '92 (I saw him 7 times between those 2 tours). Your Arsenal was a return to glory after the misstep that Kill Uncle ultimately was (production-wise mostly - those songs kicked ass live on the KU tour). It's very telling that none of the KU album tracks were ever played live again after that tour (as far as I'm aware anyway). BTW, I'd love to hear "Mute Witness" live again.

But back to nostalgia lane ... I recall countless lonely and heartbroken nights listening to YA, "Seasick, Yet Still Docked" seemed to express everything I felt at the time: "My love is as sharp as a needle in your eye/You must be such a fool to pass me by". Absolutely loved the self-awareness and the bite in that lyric.

... And as stunning as YA was ... in less than 2 years we'd get the masterpiece that was Vauxhall And I.
Before the Internet told me, I never realized I shouldn't like Kill Uncle. I thought it was great and the live versions of the songs were excellent.
 
Thoughts from Alain...(Facebook post may not be visible due to privacy issues)

"Your Arsenal was released 25 years ago. We were a real band then. I wrote 8 tracks out of 10 on this album. The other 2 were written by Mark Nevin. It also got nominated for a Grammy the only Moz album to do that. I was 25 years old we were young, dumb and finding out what the world was all about. Yes the typical Rock-N-Roll things happened like Gaz and Spencer having an egg fight at Wool Hall whilst recording the album and the ghost pranks I pulled on Spencer keeping him awake at night, effecting his playing on the record. The furniture mountains we created in hotel rooms on tour lol and the odd tv out the hotel window. I never did that btw I wasn't the mad Rock-N-Roller but we were for real. I felt as soon as the next record came along that bond changed as a new rhythm section got brought in. Anyway here are 2 personal photos from that time. One is Morrissey actually listening to the playback of Your The One For Me Fatty and the other one is me in the tour bus during the Your Arsenal tour. I have one dark picture of Mick Ronson. I don't know why I didn't take more pics in the studio that time, a real regret. I'll never forget how amazing he was as a person and as a guitarist. He played all the ebow guitars on Seasick Yet Still Docked. I loved Mick he would lie down on the odd occasion as he was fighting cancer. He died 6 months after we recorded the album. We were all devastated he was a lovely human being. I was upset when he died. He took me in as a brother and he probably saw a naivety in me that might have reminded him of his youth. To me this was the most consistent solo album. The old Smiths fans were not convinced but we gained a huge fan base in America.
The very first song I ever wrote that Moz picked was Pashernate Love and then We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. Morrissey had asked if I could write tunes and I wrote away on a Tascam 4 track cassette player. I would give Morrissey cassettes. I wrote most of those songs in a flat in North Finchley back in 91. Your Arsenal was a great time. Nirvana and Suede hit the scene prior to the Oasis v Blur Brit Pop scene. The 90's was just beginning."

Lovely to hear Alain reminisce, Morrissey's second best songwriting partner and top bloke to boot.

Your Arsenal, his best solo album hands down (closely followed by Viva Hate).
Have I mentioned this before? Oh...
 
Thanks for that.
Alain is a pretty good writer, actually. I'd certainly read his biog if he ever cared to write one. Apparently he was an obsessive documenter of later tours, maybe because of that Mick Ronson episode.

We Hate It... was the second track Moz picked, huh? Cool trivia.


Thoughts from Alain...(Facebook post may not be visible due to privacy issues)

"Your Arsenal was released 25 years ago. We were a real band then. I wrote 8 tracks out of 10 on this album. The other 2 were written by Mark Nevin. It also got nominated for a Grammy the only Moz album to do that. I was 25 years old we were young, dumb and finding out what the world was all about. Yes the typical Rock-N-Roll things happened like Gaz and Spencer having an egg fight at Wool Hall whilst recording the album and the ghost pranks I pulled on Spencer keeping him awake at night, effecting his playing on the record. The furniture mountains we created in hotel rooms on tour lol and the odd tv out the hotel window. I never did that btw I wasn't the mad Rock-N-Roller but we were for real. I felt as soon as the next record came along that bond changed as a new rhythm section got brought in. Anyway here are 2 personal photos from that time. One is Morrissey actually listening to the playback of Your The One For Me Fatty and the other one is me in the tour bus during the Your Arsenal tour. I have one dark picture of Mick Ronson. I don't know why I didn't take more pics in the studio that time, a real regret. I'll never forget how amazing he was as a person and as a guitarist. He played all the ebow guitars on Seasick Yet Still Docked. I loved Mick he would lie down on the odd occasion as he was fighting cancer. He died 6 months after we recorded the album. We were all devastated he was a lovely human being. I was upset when he died. He took me in as a brother and he probably saw a naivety in me that might have reminded him of his youth. To me this was the most consistent solo album. The old Smiths fans were not convinced but we gained a huge fan base in America.
The very first song I ever wrote that Moz picked was Pashernate Love and then We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. Morrissey had asked if I could write tunes and I wrote away on a Tascam 4 track cassette player. I would give Morrissey cassettes. I wrote most of those songs in a flat in North Finchley back in 91. Your Arsenal was a great time. Nirvana and Suede hit the scene prior to the Oasis v Blur Brit Pop scene. The 90's was just beginning."
 
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Thanks for that.
Alain is a pretty good writer, actually. I'd certainly read his biog if he ever cared to write one. Apparently he was an obsessive documenter of later tours, maybe because of that Mick Ronson episode.

We Hate It... was the second track Moz picked, huh? Cool trivia.

I believe Pashernate Love was premiered during the Kill Uncle tour in the UK (October 91) and We Hate It on an Amnesty TV special in the UK around Xmas that year
 
Thoughts from Alain...(Facebook post may not be visible due to privacy issues)

"Your Arsenal was released 25 years ago. We were a real band then. I wrote 8 tracks out of 10 on this album. The other 2 were written by Mark Nevin. It also got nominated for a Grammy the only Moz album to do that. I was 25 years old we were young, dumb and finding out what the world was all about. Yes the typical Rock-N-Roll things happened like Gaz and Spencer having an egg fight at Wool Hall whilst recording the album and the ghost pranks I pulled on Spencer keeping him awake at night, effecting his playing on the record. The furniture mountains we created in hotel rooms on tour lol and the odd tv out the hotel window. I never did that btw I wasn't the mad Rock-N-Roller but we were for real. I felt as soon as the next record came along that bond changed as a new rhythm section got brought in. Anyway here are 2 personal photos from that time. One is Morrissey actually listening to the playback of Your The One For Me Fatty and the other one is me in the tour bus during the Your Arsenal tour. I have one dark picture of Mick Ronson. I don't know why I didn't take more pics in the studio that time, a real regret. I'll never forget how amazing he was as a person and as a guitarist. He played all the ebow guitars on Seasick Yet Still Docked. I loved Mick he would lie down on the odd occasion as he was fighting cancer. He died 6 months after we recorded the album. We were all devastated he was a lovely human being. I was upset when he died. He took me in as a brother and he probably saw a naivety in me that might have reminded him of his youth. To me this was the most consistent solo album. The old Smiths fans were not convinced but we gained a huge fan base in America.
The very first song I ever wrote that Moz picked was Pashernate Love and then We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. Morrissey had asked if I could write tunes and I wrote away on a Tascam 4 track cassette player. I would give Morrissey cassettes. I wrote most of those songs in a flat in North Finchley back in 91. Your Arsenal was a great time. Nirvana and Suede hit the scene prior to the Oasis v Blur Brit Pop scene. The 90's was just beginning."
Thanks for sharing Uncle. I loved reading that. Now I'm giddy at the thought of a parallel universe where Suede recruited Alain to make a double album: first album sung by Brett Anderson with music written by Alain and Richard Oakes, with two duets with Moz. Second album sung by Moz with music by Richard Oakes and Alain, with two duets with Brett. Ace!!!! All for £9.99 including a dvd detailing the recording process and ale sessions between Brett and Moz. Dvd 'outtakes' includes footage of Robert Smith asking if he can play a gazoo on one of the tracks.
 
......and We Hate It on an Amnesty TV special in the UK around Xmas that year

That version is absolutely spectacular, and an excellent, pristine-quality version of it circulated some time back on those Never Played Symphonies MP3 compilations.
 
Morrissey had asked if I could write tunes and I wrote away on a Tascam 4 track cassette player. I would give Morrissey cassettes. I wrote most of those songs in a flat in North Finchley back in 91. Your Arsenal was a great time. Nirvana and Suede hit the scene prior to the Oasis v Blur Brit Pop scene. The 90's was just beginning."

Thanks for sharing ... it sounds very quaint and not at all unlike how Johnny Marr would work with Morrissey. Now a collaborator would just send him an mp3 or other digital file to work with.

I was curious about the Tascam recorder Alain mentioned - it might have been a unit like this.

Also, thanks to Morrissey on the Your Arsenal tour for turning me onto Suede with his cover of My Insatiable One. It's a shame his love affair with Brett Anderson/Suede did not continue very long, it would have been amazing for some kind of collaboration between the two.
 
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Thanks for sharing ... it sounds very quaint and not at all unlike how Johnny Marr would work with Morrissey. Now a collaborator would just send him an mp3 or other digital file to work with.

I was curious about the Tascam recorder Alain mentioned - it might have been a unit like this.

Also, thanks to Morrissey on the Your Arsenal tour for turning me onto Suede with his cover of My Insatiable One. It's a shame his love affair with Brett Anderson/Suede did not continue very long, it would have been amazing for some kind of collaboration between the two.

I'd rather have seen the collaboration between morrissey and Bernard come to fruition. That would have been sweet imo. Much as I'd love to envision a morrissey Brett duet I find it hard to imagine there voices working well together
 
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I'd rather have seen the collaboration between morrissey and Bernard come to fruition. That would have been sweet imo. Much as I'd love to envision a morrissey Brett duet I find it hard to imagine there voices working well together

Yeah, I wasn't totally clear on that one. I meant it's too bad his brief friendship with Brett Anderson went badly and it seemed to sour him on Suede. By the time Bernard left Suede (or was forced out based on which story you believe) Morrissey was very happy and secure with his band. I wonder if any kind of collaboration was even considered at the time?

... Given all of that - it's not too late for Bernard to write some music for Morrissey!
 
I wonder if any kind of collaboration was even considered at the time?

... Given all of that - it's not too late for Bernard to write some music for Morrissey!

It wasn't at the time but was in 2004 - Bernard chose to work with Brett again instead.
 
I'd rather have seen the collaboration between morrissey and Bernard come to fruition. That would have been sweet imo. Much as I'd love to envision a morrissey Brett duet I find it hard to imagine there voices working well together

Bernard did send Morrissey the music that later became Yes with McAlmont, but Morrissey passed on it, saying it didn't suit his voice. Later, Morrissey invited Bernard into the band post-Alain, but he said he wasn't interested in touring and playing other people's songs. So a Morrissey/Butler collaboration did come very close to happening.
 
Bernard did send Morrissey the music that later became Yes with McAlmont, but Morrissey passed on it, saying it didn't suit his voice. Later, Morrissey invited Bernard into the band post-Alain, but he said he wasn't interested in touring and playing other people's songs. So a Morrissey/Butler collaboration did come very close to happening.

But would it be such a "bad" thing to play other people's songs if you had the chance or the opportunity, to a future collaboration which could result in songs that were very much belonging to you too?
Maybe he calculated that chance or opportunity was much smaller then he hoped. And Moz could have tried to pursuade him to write songs more suited for his voice.
It's a shame, I think it could have been brilliant.
A missed opportunity on both accounts.
 

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