Being somewhat new to "all things Moz", when I watch videos of his shows and the effect he had on fans especially from the early 90's, I've wondered why Morrissey didn't become more of a huge star at that time given his obvious charisma and talent. I am sure that this issue has been discussed ad infinitum elsewhere on this forum so if some kind soul would like to point me to a thread that has some insightful discussion about the reasons why, I'd appreciate it - or if somebody wants to answer here, that's fine too though I'm not sure I want open up that particular can of worms and totally derail this thread
The reality was that in '92 Moz gave it a damn good push. He did a lot of MTV type stuff and in-stores in the States, a ton of interviews and
Your Arsenal was a genuinely great album to be pushing and touring with. And he got close, I think
Arsenal entered at #21 in America (back in the days when charts meant something) and got nominated for a Grammy. But ultimately Morrissey is/was just too polarizing to be a mainstream star, and the voice, well you either love it or loathe it.
I think if he'd toured the States with
Vauxhall he may have even got closer but at the time he was too busy tooling around with Jake, LOL. I tell you what though it was a great time to be a Morrissey fan, maybe the best, especially after the disappointment that was
Kill Uncle. The band sounded great, I think of it as their 'Meat is Murder' period. I'll always maintain that The Smiths were at their best live around '85 and I think '92 was the zenith for Morrissey solo.
The Hollywood Bowl sold out quicker than The Beatles, he was beating merchandising records set by U2, (the merch was actually great back then) it was genuine Morrissey mania and he covers it quite well in
Autobiography.
And Morrissey looked f***en fantastic, the quiff never better, the lame shirts in full ascendance and the interviews around the time were stellar too. The TV performances were on point but the reaction on the Leno show was the best in '92, especially Jay getting a signed copy of the album, LOL.
From a record company standpoint I don't know if there was anything much more that could have been done. Probably a bit more horse trading to get his singles played on the radio, but y'know I'm happy that he didn't get much bigger as far as audience size goes. Howie Klein at Sire commented around the time that it was like he was the world's largest cult and I think that is a pretty appropriate space for Morrissey to occupy.