Are you sure?
Have you seen the footage of the mayhem morrissey caused in the 90s simply by playing in a city, How quickly he sold out MSG? All this was done with little to no media attention, these days he has the internet to spread the word, the main stream media advertising him, even if it's bad press.
But most of all he didn't have to rely on acting like a an utter imbecile to get the press, he also had a better class of fan back then. Today's morrissey fans are a joke, his fan base is largely considered to be the worst in music biz - certainly some of the most stupid, they used to be considerd, bright and trendy with a smattering of in know football yobs Let's not forget the over relience on the Latino fan base, it pays his way but it's f***ed his music almost completely. Simple lyrics for the English as second language posse (most American Mexicans can't even speak English, let alone actual Mexicans )
It's with remembering even in the 90s he sold out virtually every UK venue he played. So this so called record breaking tour that out sells anything that went before is BS. He barely sold out Hollywood bowl both nights, I expect The Smiths could sell it out for a week or at least rival Depech Mode, who make morrissey look like a busker in terms of audience and they haven't used their south American fan base in such a obvious and cynical way.
I think morrissey has some good new songs but God has his 'brand' suffered and the really sad part is its his insecurity that has lead him to this, he could have just carrued making intelligent songs and he would have still had a big audience. But he seems so desperate now. All this Trump type behavior, so far from what he once was.
