Morrissey claims unreleased solo album is “modern version” of ‘The Queen Is Dead’
Morrissey has once again talked up his unreleased album, Bonfire of Teenagers, hailing it as “the modern version” of The Smiths‘ 1986 album The Queen is Dead.
Despite being completed many years ago, the LP has so far been kept under wraps due to a lengthy dispute with his former record label, Capitol. The album was thought to have been recorded between 2020 and 2021, but in 2022, Morrissey parted ways with Capitol Records. However, in April of this year, he bought the rights to Bonfire of Teenagers, giving him the option to publish it independently.
The album’s title track is claimed to have addressed the Manchester bombing in 2017 at an Ariana Grande concert, where 22 people tragically died. While the song spoke of a fan being “vapourised”, it also took aim at the Gallagher brothers and their track ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, which became a unifying anthem for the people of Manchester in the wake of the attack.
Since his departure from Capitol Records, he has made several public statements criticising them, in which he claims to be a victim of the attack on free speech. Amidst his criticism of Capitol Records and labels at large, he has yet to confirm whether or not the record will be released in the future.
In a recent interview with Fiona Dodwell on Medium, he said, “There are two albums, as you know,” the other record being Without Music, The World Dies.
Morrissey then claimed: “Labels say that they are both fantastic high-quality pop albums but they say that they can’t release them because they don’t want the wrath of The Guardian making their lives hell. The harassment campaign against me by The Guardian is worldwide knowledge now, and it is effective in the sense that labels do not want to become involved with this Gotcha! Journalism.”
Clarifying what the term ‘Gotcha! Journalism’ means, he added: “It is a form of very annoying student politics where certain publications choose their enemies and they then decide that everything that is said by Morrissey, or whoever, must look like a problem. For this reason alone I am somewhat blacklisted in England.”
Morrissey blames cancel culture for his album being unreleased
The singer then claimed that “free speech has been criminalised throughout England and Ireland” before turning his attention to cancel culture which he labelled “the modern version of lynching”. Morrissey added, “It is not a dramatic exaggeration to say that people who are cancelled are privately pushed to the point of suicide.”
Morrissey then said that cancel culture is a drain on the cultural fabric of a country, alleging it leads to people consuming the same content and sharing a universal political opinion. “This can never happen! Bonfire of Teenagers is the modern version of The Queen is Dead but the fact that no label will release it is an indication of how childlike and frightened the music industry has become,” he concluded.
At this stage, it remains unclear whether Bonfire of Teenagers or Without Music, The World Dies will be released.
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