The history of the relationship between Morrissey and 'Morrissey-Solo'

[Maurice E]

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about the reasons behind David T being told to leave the concert last night. I think it would be useful to set out the history of the relationship between Morrissey and the website. Plenty of people seem to think Morrissey's crew booted him out simply because of some unflattering comments about the new songs by anonymous posters published on the site.
I don't have a thorough/complete understanding of the relationship so please correct me or add in extra stuff.

• About 10 years ago, Morrissey credited this website on one of his compilations.
• In an interview with Janice Long (possibly in 2002) Morrissey described this website as 'a great site'
• At a signing session, possibly in or around 2003, David Tseng was actually allowed (or even asked) to take photographs of the fans whilst Morrissey signed their records, CDs etc. He, arguably, had therefore won over the confidence of the Morrissey camp.
  
• A few years later (I can't remember when exactly) David T published a rumour that Morrissey hadn't paid people in his touring party
  
• After this was published, Morrissey threatened David T with legal action
  
• Pretty much ever since then, Morrissey has referred to this site as 'so low'

I'm sure there are gaps here, and I might've got some things wrong, but the idea that David T was booted out simply for publishing some criticism of the three new songs is nonsense.
For what it's worth, I do think it was a slightly ill advised thing for Morrisey's crew to do (and I wasn't particularly impressed by the F*** Morrissey solo t-shirts), but you need to appreciate the history of the relationship to understand why it happened.

 

[maynardmorrissey]

• A few years later (I can't remember when exactly) David T published a rumour that Morrissey hadn't paid people in his touring party (mainly crew, possibly band)
• After this was published, Morrissey threatened David T with legal action
• Pretty much ever since then, Morrissey has referred to this site as 'so low'

Oh, that's news to me. Thanx for pointing that out!
Now the whole thing makes much more sense to me.

 

[kyleleonard]

Yeah, I've read about the rumour about him not paying his crew, apart from that I never really wondered why he called this place 'SoLow', though.

 

[2-J]

It seems that Boz has become aware of criticism of the current band on here, through facebook? And was upset by it. From various postings that have been made here. I'm not saying that's the only factor by any means, but it could be a recent contributing factor.

Btw this http://www.morrissey-solo.com/rumors/03/04/27/1615232.shtml is the 'crew not paid' story, I remember when it was posted. April 28 2003,

And this was the news story about Morrissey's reaction http://www.morrissey-solo.com/features/03/05/07/0515236.shtml i.e. to threaten the site / davidt with legal action.

 

[Amy]

Wasn't there some story about DavidT publishing a private (and very inflammatory) email between Morrissey and his manager on here in 2006? Followed by more threats of legal action and hostility.

 

[2-J]

Wasn't there some story about DavidT publishing a private (and very inflammatory) email between Morrissey and his manager on here in 2006? Followed by more threats of legal action and hostility.

I remember some anonymous person posted a leaked, apparently genuine email from Morrissey to his manager complaining about a recent singles chart position and lack of record company promotion.

 

[Amy]

I remember some anonymous person posted a leaked, apparently genuine email from Morrissey to his manager complaining about a recent singles chart position and lack of record company promotion.

It was taken down rather hastily, wasn't it? I'm sure Morrissey got the lawyers involved again.

Edit: Here's the link from the main page story, with "original content removed" at the request of Morrissey's lawyer.
http://www.morrissey-solo.com/comments.pl?sid=23770&cid=225255

 

[Girl-with-the-Thorn]

It seems that Boz has become aware of criticism of the current band on here, through facebook? And was upset by it. From various postings that have been made here. I'm not saying that's the only factor by any means, but it could be a recent contributing factor.

Btw this http://www.morrissey-solo.com/rumors/03/04/27/1615232.shtml is the 'crew not paid' story, I remember when it was posted. April 28 2003,

And this was the news story about Morrissey's reaction http://www.morrissey-solo.com/features/03/05/07/0515236.shtml i.e. to threaten the site / davidt with legal action.

Err...wow. I've seen the whole debacle mentioned a few times since I joined, but never realised it went that far. Nice to have a bit more context to the whole thing though.

 

[Skylarker]

Well, if people work for you, pay them. If you don't, and it becomes public knowledge, don't shoot the messenger.

Anyway, at least there's only been one reported instance of someone that was involved firsthand with Morrissey being cheated out of pay. So it shouldn't be too hard to laugh it all off as hearsay, right?

Oh...wait...

 

[Harsh Truth]

It was taken down rather hastily, wasn't it? I'm sure Morrissey got the lawyers involved again.

Edit: Here's the link from the main page story, with "original content removed" at the request of Morrissey's lawyer.
http://www.morrissey-solo.com/comments.pl?sid=23770&cid=225255

I remember a (near) exact quote from this alleged e-mail - Morrissey: "My time is now!"

 

[peptastic]

Thanks for clearing that up.
The David Brett blogs made it seem Moz just hated the guy for his appearance.

But that was still a long time ago to be wearing tshirts and throwing people out of shows only now.
Why not just leave it at the lawsuit and interview remark?

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Err...wow. I've seen the whole debacle mentioned a few times since I joined, but never realised it went that far. Nice to have a bit more context to the whole thing though.

After reading it in it's original context it does seem like a dick move. If David really wanted to know the answer of who got paid or not I'm sure he had enough private channels to get to the bottom of it, which makes it all seem more like shit-stirring than information releasing for the greater good. But 8 years later it hardly seems like something worthy of "You know what you did." Maybe he is a troll or a secret blogger or a number of other things. Who knows.

 

[bhops]

From being a longtime browser and (very) occasional poster on this site I thinkl it was the story about the unpaid crew that blew up David's relationship with Morrissey. You have to remember that when Morrissey believed that a former manager had stolen him out of money he directed that information to this very site. He used Solo to let his fans know that this guy had stiffed him for money.

But that is pattern of Morrissey. He reminds me a little bit of own description of Bowie in 'The Importance of Being Morrissey.'

"You have to worship at the alter of David if you want to be involved." Hmmm sound like anyone we know?

On the other hand I'm not Morrrissey so I can't say how much this has all affected him, but he seems to have taken that particular story very badly. I guess it didn't help that supposed members of the crew then posted up on this site about the veracity of the story.

Generally though it's just sad. David I hope you at least had a nice trip to Scandanavia, it's a very beautiful part of the world.

 

[Skylarker]

From being a longtime browser and (very) occasional poster on this site I thinkl it was the story about the unpaid crew that blew up David's relationship with Morrissey. You have to remember that when Morrissey believed that a former manager had stolen him out of money he directed that information to this very site. He used Solo to let his fans know that this guy had stiffed him for money.

But that is pattern of Morrissey. He reminds me a little bit of own description of Bowie in 'The Importance of Being Morrissey.'

"You have to worship at the alter of David if you want to be involved." Hmmm sound like anyone we know?

On the other hand I'm not Morrrissey so I can't say how much this has all affected him, but he seems to have taken that particular story very badly. I guess it didn't help that supposed members of the crew then posted up on this site about the veracity of the story.

Generally though it's just sad. David I hope you at least had a nice trip to Scandanavia, it's a very beautiful part of the world.

Great post.

 

[anon x]

Threads like this one : http://www.morrissey-solo.com/threa...V-Parlophone-Singles-88-95-(2009)-3CD-Box-Set can't help M's opinion of this site.

 

[Skylarker]

Threads like this one : http://www.morrissey-solo.com/threa...V-Parlophone-Singles-88-95-(2009)-3CD-Box-Set can't help M's opinion of this site.

And releasing the same song 81 times and expecting us to buy it every single time in every format can't help our opinion of him.

 

[davidt]

From being a longtime browser and (very) occasional poster on this site I thinkl it was the story about the unpaid crew that blew up David's relationship with Morrissey. You have to remember that when Morrissey believed that a former manager had stolen him out of money he directed that information to this very site. He used Solo to let his fans know that this guy had stiffed him for money.

But that is pattern of Morrissey. He reminds me a little bit of own description of Bowie in 'The Importance of Being Morrissey.'

"You have to worship at the alter of David if you want to be involved." Hmmm sound like anyone we know?

On the other hand I'm not Morrrissey so I can't say how much this has all affected him, but he seems to have taken that particular story very badly. I guess it didn't help that supposed members of the crew then posted up on this site about the veracity of the story.

Generally though it's just sad. David I hope you at least had a nice trip to Scandanavia, it's a very beautiful part of the world.

bhops has the deeper details right. When I first published the rumor it was a question, I asked for clarification and didn't name Morrissey as the person not paying. I actually thought it was someone like a tour manager as the example Morrissey previously had issues with.

I had worked very hard on the site during that 2002 tour on the site, investing a lot of my time (without pay, as always) so it was disappointing to hear that there may have been some shenanigans with how it was run.

Anyway, let's say posting the rumor was a mistake (which I don't feel it was). I really don't think anyone could run a site like this everyday for almost 15 years now without making some. Don't forget there is a human behind it all.

Thanks bhops, it is indeed beautiful here.

 

[Stoney Hando]

bhops has the deeper details right. When I first published the rumor it was a question, I asked for clarification and didn't name Morrissey as the person not paying. I actually thought it was someone like a tour manager as the example Morrissey previously had issues with.

I had worked very hard on the site during that 2002 tour on the site, investing a lot of my time (without pay, as always) so it was disappointing to hear that there may have been some shenanigans with how it was run.

Anyway, let's say posting the rumor was a mistake (which I don't feel it was). I really don't think anyone could run a site like this everyday for almost 15 years now without making some. Don't forget there is a human behind it all.

Thanks bhops, it is indeed beautiful here.

Oh, you call yourself human, do you? Have you even looked at some of the threads posted on your website? Are you not embarrassed? Dare you try to clean it up, just a tad? Your Terms of Service are a joke because you don't even follow them. Do you have any comment on the illegal trade business that your website harbors? Have you even bothered to think about the "humans" that you've banned (outside your little dork click) and that have been tormented for no good reason? You got what you deserved. Oh, the irony. Banned from Moz concerts, you'd have to be a pretty big prick for that. No refund needed. You've lost your way. You have failed. You tried to run this website like a "news site" except you have zero ethics and you don't really even know what news is. You say you believe in "free speech" but not in the forums. You had absolutely no business posting certain things on this website, none at all, but you still did.

At what point, are you going to realize, the person who you apparently adore hates you and the parody of yourself that you've become?

 

[inourbritches]

At what point, are you going to realize, the person who you apparently adore hates you and the parody of yourself that you've become?

If Morrissey wishes to assess self parodies he should look a little closer to home first, at the ever-increasing distance between what he practices and what he preaches. His growing fascistic tendencies, tantrums, racist outbursts and hypocrisy have been a cause of concern with fans for some time, and that would remain the case if this site disappeared tomorrow. Allowing the exchange of information on his behaviour and the declining quality of his musical output is something Morrissey and his crew seem keen to avoid. However, while ejecting people from concerts may be within his remit, ejecting ideas from thinking people's heads is not.

 

[Canny]

Oh, you call yourself human, do you?

'Stoney Hando' is the name of a racist skinhead character from the film Romper Stomper, so it's no surprise that he doesn't regard Tseng as human.