Morrissey Central "WHEN YOU ARE THE QUARRY" (January 6, 2023)

by MORRISSEY

I am aware that the ludicrous 'Morrissey is Far Right' attributions have very recently wiggled back into minor vogue on all of the usual gossip sites. This rush is, I am assured, in view of Miley Cyrus wanting to be removed from 'I Am Veronica', and suddenly the very dated rehash of "This is because of Morrissey's political views" wobbles out - delighting those for whom I am a book that under no circumstances can they stop reading. My friends are fully aware of a certain aim to put me out of circulation, which has inexplicably become relentless even though the entire point of Cancel Culture is to never again acknowledge whomever has been cancelled. You cannot constantly vomit out the same regurgitated "he should not be listened to" dirge year after year, because YOU are displaying an obsession that you urge others to avoid. I had secretly hoped that the glorious benefit of being cancelled would be that I could never again receive a bad review, because even to give me yet another oh-so-predictable bad review confirms that I am not, after all, cancelled. But the Cancel Vultures write only in headlines; they do not answer questions; their darts aim only for the inspired elite of perceptive intelligence. The Vultures are usually chief exponents of the hate and harassment which they themselves define as justification for Cancellation of others. Cancel Vultures are unknowable blanks, and they only attack those of whom they are most jealous - because others don't count. They will not forgive you for being alive, but they will not square up to you face-to-face because they would be forced to look into your eyes … where the wordless truth resides. Worst of all, Cancel Vultures cannot ever apologize for being wrong. This would be worse than death. I have been invited onto U.S. and U.K television news outlets to discuss the situation with Miley and 'Bonfire of teenagers', but of course, there's no point. In truth, Miley has backed off for reasons unconnected to me, having had a major clash with a key figure in 'the circle'. I cannot give any details about the private fight because … it is private, after all.

Miley knew everything about me when she arrived to sing 'I Am Veronica' almost two years ago; she walked into the studio already singing the song. She volunteered. I did not ask her to get involved. Her professionalism was astounding, her vocals a joy to behold. Every minute that I spent with Miley was loving and funny. She asked if she could be in the 'Veronica' video. I was very honored. She told me that Morrissey songs are on 24-hour rotation in her house, and she had frequently been photographed in Morrissey t-shirts. Miley came into my world; I did not venture towards hers. I was eternally thankful, and even now, I remain so.

The campaign to destroy my career was originally led by four male individuals in Britain, each of whom have prominent positions on social media - and they have full unedited access to the Legacy Media. At some point, each one of them had hopes of a candle-lit friendship with me, and this did not happen. Their rage for attention then took a different turn. They want some form of Wikipedia mention as well as a future personal Index reference in 'Who Killed Morrissey?'. Yes, staggeringly, that is their goal.

Although the Left changed and deserted me many years ago, I am most certainly not Far Right, and I have not ever met anyone who claims to be Far Right. My politics are straightforward: I recognize realities. Some realities horrify me, and some do not, but I accept that I was not created so that others might gratify me and delight me with all that they think and do - what a turgid life that would be. I've been offended all of my life, and it has strengthened me, and I am glad. I wouldn't have the journey any other way. Only by hearing the opinions of others can we form truly rational views, and therefore we must never accept a beehive society that refuses to reflect a variety of views.

I am therefore sorry to report to some of you that I am absolutely not Far Right. If your wearisome echo disapproves of me not being Far Right, I wish you the hope that you deny yourself. Britain's 'Question Time' has thrown the red carpet my way six times asking me to appear on television to discuss the Left-Right divide, but I have always refused, and not least of all because I am sick to death of a debate that can never possibly resolve itself. I also refuse because I am apolitical, and if nothing else, I know my place.

I do not care very much about myself - and I never have. But the crucial point about 'Music as Art' is evident in life-changing music that has always happened before anyone expected it. The very best examples are the Sex Pistols, David Bowie, the Ramones, the Velvet Underground, Alice Cooper, and even the Dolls and Iggy: no one saw these monoliths coming, therefore the people discovered them before the industry had time to halt the fun. Now, alas, music cannot happen unless it adheres to strict industry guidelines, and this falsely assures the listening public that things could not possibly be better than they currently are. The infantilised world is delighted to stream music, but if they were asked to walk 50 yards to a record shop to access those very songs … they wouldn't bother to. However, the connection between the music industry and Cancel Vultures is that they both agree that their main job is to stop singers and bands from saying anything important. Respecting equal freedom for those that you control … is not freedom. Music as Art has now been destroyed because it expands public opinion, and thus, with the current Top 100 downloads … no bubbles can ever rise. Songs once kept listeners occupied for years, but this has been replaced by suspiciously instant stardom for anyone obedient enough to agree that babies are naturally born through the left ear. Proper artists need not apply. Imagination must be paralyzed, and saying nothing whatsoever is the only pathway to all music awards. Look for yourself.

Following Britain's 9/11 abomination at the Manchester Arena, Miley was asked to take part in the Don't Look Back In Anger event, and she refused. I asked her why she had refused, and she said "I am not into all that."

I write these words mainly for (but not directly about) my audience - who are the best and most incredible audience that anyone could dream of, and perhaps many onlookers are jealous of this fact. I have not ever voted for a political party in my life, and I have not ever joined a political party, and I have not ever attended a political rally. On the political stage, I do not exist: you have never seen me there and you never shall. I therefore do not mind in the least if you join the Morrissey haters - there is always the likelihood that I'd feel exactly the same way about you. But if you join forces with the Cancel Vultures, your only aim is to numb time, and your eyes are dead.

5 January 2023

WHEN YOU ARE THE QUARRY - MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY - MORRISSEY CENTRAL - WHEN YOU ARE THE QUARRY

MESSAGES FROM MORRISSEY on MORRISSEY CENTRAL

www.morrisseycentral.com

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Member @Cornflakes reminded us that Miley Cyrus actually did attend the One Love Manchester event.
For clarity:
May 22, 2017 - Bombing.
May 25, 2017 - spontaneously sung after a minutes silence in the city.
May 27, 2017 - sung during the Courteeners et al gig @ Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
June 4, 2017 - One Love Manchester concert.
September 9, 2017 - We Are Manchester benefit.
All featured "Don't Look Back In Anger".
It should be noted the "We Are Manchester" event was predominantly Manchester bands and there is no online evidence to support Miley Cyrus was invited/involved with said.

First Central image by Stephen Shames.
Second Central image by Esparza.
Regards,
FWD.

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Media items:

• NME: "Morrissey hits back at “cancel vultures” suggesting Miley Cyrus dropped off collab due to his political views" - January 6, 2023
• Stereogum: "Morrissey Posts Lengthy Statement About His Politics, “Cancel Vultures,” & Miley Cyrus Dropping Off His Song" - January 6, 2023

 

[Anonymous]

I am most certainly not Far Right, and I have not ever met anyone who claims to be Far Right. My politics are straightforward: I recognize realities. Some realities horrify me, and some do not, but I accept that I was not created so that others might gratify me and delight me with all that they think and do - what a turgid life that would be. I've been offended all of my life, and it has strengthened me, and I am glad. I wouldn't have the journey any other way. Only by hearing the opinions of others can we form truly rational views, and therefore we must never accept a beehive society that refuses to reflect a variety of views.

He couldn´t be clearer here. He´s basically saying he doesn´t think people like AMW are far right and he thinks people like her have a legitimate point of view that shouldn´t be labelled and shouldn´t be silenced. He´s advocating for free speech - on the left and on the right. He´s advocating for the opposite of ´cancel culture´, and the cancel culture mind set.
He´s bloody brave.

and does that include people having views he doesnt like in response to the views of the likes of AMW and himself and Inforwars? "A society that refuses to reflect a variety of views". Goes both ways me thinks.

 

[Jeffrey7777]

What is a "candle-lit friendship"?

Possibly a friendship that can easily be destroyed by the smallest breath of air.

 

[Stephen Hofmann]

Well, she very clearly has a hatred of Muslim immigration into the UK - so for me, that makes her worse, as a politician. (I do believe there are debates that need to be had about immigration - the fact that England's second city is now majority non-white seems bizarre to me - but the way AMW has gone about her political career over the last 12 years suggests that nobody should take her remotely seriously.)

As for the leaders of the 3 main political parties, my instinct is that Keir Starmer will manage the inevitable ongoing decline of this country certainly with more kindness and empathy than Sunak or whoever succeeds Sunak in the Tory party. And the Lib Dems are (mostly) irrelevant.

The only political leader who's ever excited me in my life (I'm in my 50s) is Corbyn, and that was because of (most of) his policies, not his qualities as a leader.

Corbyn frightened me. Corbyn flirted with IRA support..........just like Moz did (for which, he never had any comeback, strangely).

 

[gashonthenail]

Which means?

He´s suggesting that the 4 people in question wanted to be his close friend, maybe more. Admired him / loved him / worhsipped him / wanted to marry him. Take your pick.

 

[Anonymous]

Amy what other artist do you like, most have been on several labels. You can't be this naive?

Not to this extent at all. And none to my knowledge have had the same extensive history of attacking labels publicly, almost every label he has ever worked with. If you were a label responsible for a business would you sign him considering this history of bad public relations with every label he has touched? It's like going to church every sunday but then writing all the time saying the religion is rubbish publicly. He is entitled to say what he wants and I don't see anyone stopping him from posting the sh*t that appears on his official page but he surely can't be surprised he don't get a job interview from the very industry he continually expresses hate for.

 

[Stephen Hofmann]

Hasn’t really helped himself with his attitude on the live front either - his gig tickets have long been lottery tickets, and his setlist quality control is often bizarre.

I noted with bafflement the fact that Black Cloud got revived last year, but his affection for The Loop has always left me scratching my head. Who has ever been in a queue for a Moz gig thinking: “Oooh I hope he plays that nothingy rockabilly one tonight”?

Me for one. It's a great track.

 

[Lucifer Sam]

AMW comes across as really dangerous in this interview. I´m not saying in any way that I agree with everything she says or has said. I don´t agree with everything she says about Islam. But is she dangeous / far right? I don´t think so. She is simply an articulate woman with a point of view. Are some of those views challenging? Obviously. But that´s good, isn´t it? To hear views that are challenging.

Unfortunately, I think she is far-right at this point. But she is certainly articulate and thoughtful. I had never heard of her until Morrissey mentioned her, and I listened to her debate at the Oxford Union. What a performance. So smart and impassioned. If the left had any sanity, she would have remained on the left where she started. Some of the fault is her own, though. I know she requires a coalition to get anywhere, but some bedfellows should be avoided. When she's sharing a stage with the likes of Katie Hopkins, she (Waters) has clearly been too consumed by her (justifiable) antipathy toward Islam, and is making common cause with people who would constitute an Anglo Taliban if they ever had their way.

 

[Famous when dead]

May 22, 2017 - Bombing.
May 25, 2017 - spontaneously sung after a minutes silence in the city.
May 27, 2017 - sung during the Courteeners et al gig @ Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
June 4, 2017 - One Love Manchester concert.
September 9, 2017 - We Are Manchester benefit.
All featured "Don't Look Back In Anger".
Further, there is not an iota of online information to support Miley being considered or involved in Noel's We Are Manchester event - which is slightly odd given her fan base.
FWD.

 

[Anonymous]

Who does not complain about work, lazy coworker, horrible boss everyone has gripes. His work effects so many, his art and his choice to ensure it gets out his way. Again most artist have been on multiple labels as they don't really care about the artist or the music. Just the money.

you have a problem with a business caring about the money? I'm sure the owners of most live music venues care little for most of the artists that perform there. It is not their business to do so, their business is to make a profit from the company they run and employ a workforce. Without that business the product won't exist.

 

[Surface]

Yes, something he has done since 1985.

As I said, I don’t give a f***, he’s the one moaning about his career

 

[Anonymous]

I looked at Dave Haslam's twitter and it says he wrote a book about Sylvia Plath? Why do people think that some association with Sylvia Plath is some mark of highbrow intellectualism? I took a class on her and had to read The Bell Jar, which was kind of interesting, and then read her poetry, which was not.

who said it was the mark of some "highbrow intellectualism"?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, something he has done since 1985.

and the reason he can't get his work out there. No manager, no label, no PR agent. No one wants to touch him.

 

[BrummieBoy]

A lazy analysis. Rebels has almost 450,000 listeners on Spotify which, without any promotion, is pretty decent.
And actually comparable to Bobby’s or It’s Over’s numbers before the album was released.

Informative.

If Morrissey still had professional management they would probably have explained this to him.

I was interested to see Ms Dodwell posted this tweet a day before Morrissey's latest 'analysis' and wondered if her musings had informed some of his subsequent 'cancel culture' comments.

Given his complaints are being covered by The Guardian, there's very little reaction on Twitter. Perhaps he is also being 'de-amplified' as a trending topic on Social Media too. Will Elon order the release of 'Twitterfiles: The Cancellation Of Morrissey"?

As you state, 450k is a healthy streaming response to an unadvertised release but because that won't provide a financial return of any significance compared to physical sales, Morrissey isn't impressed.

Taylor Swift has single-handedly revitalised vinyl as a sales medium. One has to wonder why Morrissey hasn't twigged that he could monetise his core niche audience by that route and organised releases as vinyl only. Instead he is simultaneously bewailing the absence of corporate promotion to foist him onto 'clueless consumers' as a 'trending artist' on streaming playlists whilst dismissing such listeners as insincere and inconsequential.

He could build a reasonable profitability model based on using online streaming and 'troll outrage P.R' to flog vinyl and concert tickets but he is trapped in delusional thinking, believing he is owed a huge audience because he believes he is some kind of A-List 'icon', rather than a C-List legacy act.

Tweets like this one from Fiona Dodwell are unlikely to help him ground and centre his 'persona' in consensus reality, especially given the fact she was 'granted an audience ' with Morrissey recently, I think his bizarre outburst that claims he is 'quarry' is probably partly due to him responding to this tweet.

He is bizarrely complaining that he is being excluded from a 'streaming payola' system run by corporate cartels whilst denouncing streaming as morally bankrupt.

Is he on Tik-Tok yet?

Morrissey had a good innings as a trivial mass-market 'FMCG lifestyle audio accessory' but he's now considered gauche, detrop, totally infra-dig. Fashion, in music as elsewhere, is irrational. Style, however, is impervious to fashion's machinations. As Taylor Swift is proving on every possible level.

Morrissey has the resources to assemble an excellent marketing team and strategy but putting your own Reputation on the line takes guts: what's to stop him re-recording 'Bonfire Of Teenagers' in France this month and guerilla releasing it as 'Bonfire Of Teenagers (Morrissey'sVersion) ?

Taylor Swift doesn't just whine about the music industry, she reshapes it according to her principles. It's not clear to me what exactly is stopping multi-millionaire Morrissey from doing something similar, albeit in a niche, C-List way.

Put up. Or shut up, Steven...

Kind regards

BB

Taylor Swift propels UK vinyl sales past CDs for first time in 35 years Exclusive: Midnights LP purchases push UK record sales above 5.5m in 2022 in ‘watershed moment’ for vinyl revival

 

[gashonthenail]

Unfortunately, I think she is far-right at this point. But she is certainly articulate and thoughtful. I had never heard of her until Morrissey mentioned her, and I listened to her debate at the Oxford Union. What a performance. So smart and impassioned. If the left had any sanity, she would have remained on the left where she started. Some of the fault is her own, though. I know she requires a coalition to get anywhere, but some bedfellows should be avoided. When she's sharing a stage with the likes of Katie Hopkins, she (Waters) has clearly been too consumed by her (justifiable) antipathy toward Islam, and is making common cause with people who would constitute an Anglo Taliban if they ever had their way.

I suppose ultimately I´m just not sure if such labels are helpful.
In the UK most people would support the idea of the National Health Service. The NHS is fundamentally a left idea. Maybe even a far left / socialist idea. But it´s a great idea, and a beautiful one.
Most people in the UK would also support controls on immigration. So does that mean most people are far right on this topic? People I think are driven by what they think is best for them and their loved ones, for society, and what makes common sense. Not whether an idea is left or right. Or far left or far right.

 

[Anonymous]

Would you want to live in a country that was majority Muslim? I wouldn´t. And many Muslims wouldn´t. Especially women and gay Muslims.
AMW comes across as really dangerous in this interview. I´m not saying in any way that I agree with everything she says or has said. I don´t agree with everything she says about Islam. But is she dangeous / far right? I don´t think so. She is simply an articulate woman with a point of view. Are some of those views challenging? Obviously. But that´s good, isn´t it? To hear views that are challenging.

Can you succeed in politics by telling the truth? It´s an interesting question. If by ´truth´ we mean ´saying what you really believe´.

Can you succeed in the music business by telling the truth?

You may want to do more research into this alleged non far right person.

“For a start the immigration will have to stop, the immigration from Islamic countries has to stop entirely, that is just the way it is. A lot of people need to be deported. Many mosques need to be closed down. It really has to get tough.”
AMW
“We are becoming an Islamic state […] the EU agreed to turn Europe into an Arabian Islamic continent, in return for trade, essentially […] My thinking is we need to reduce their birthrates now.”
AMW
“We are having our countries taken from us, because we are made to feel guilty about our very existence.”
AMW
“The only reason that the mass migration into white Europe is happening on the scale that it’s happening is to disempower white people, to make us a minority and therefore unable to wield political power”.
AMW

 

[Anonymous]

Corbyn frightened me. Corbyn flirted with IRA support..........just like Moz did (for which, he never had any comeback, strangely).

not quite. Corbyn as did Blair as did Clinton as did many Tory MPs since and still doing so in relation to Sinn Fein. It was about talking. The peace process would never have happened if people had never sat down with each other and talked.

 

[Anonymous]

He´s suggesting that the 4 people in question wanted to be his close friend, maybe more. Admired him / loved him / worhsipped him / wanted to marry him. Take your pick.

But he doesnt know who they are? He just knows they are men, definitley not women and prominent on social media. Spoken by someone who knows little about how social media works.

 

[Johnny Tapia]

“and I have not ever attended a political rally.”

"Red Wedge Tour", Newcastle City Hall: January 31st, 1986 - Sproutology

Set Listing 01. Dublin 02. Cruel A recording of this performance is believed...

www.sproutology.co.uk

 

[Richard The Fourth]

God bless you Morrissey, Stirling words.

 

[gashonthenail]

“and I have not ever attended a political rally.”

"Red Wedge Tour", Newcastle City Hall: January 31st, 1986 - Sproutology

Set Listing 01. Dublin 02. Cruel A recording of this performance is believed...

www.sproutology.co.uk

That was a concert, not a rally.
The idea he is apolitical though is clearly nonsense.