Morrissey can moan all he wants about a media blackout — his recent work isn’t worth hearing

For all his complaints about an “Iron Curtain” against his sold-out O2 show in London (which was reviewed by The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, and numerous outlets including this one) to referencing the Third Reich when the BBC refused to play Notre-Dame (which did not appear in the charts), Morrissey has done well for himself following the release of Make-Up is a Lie. Never has so much self-worth been achieved by so little of value. There is a severe lack of quality to Morrissey’s latest. Never a good sign when your third single is a Roxy Music cover. A damning indictment on the rest of the material, not strong enough to be released ahead of the album’s launch date. That, or a suggestion from The Smiths’ former frontman to buy before you try. Either way, the so-called media blackout Moz is experiencing now isn’t just not happening, it’s also not worth anyone getting up in arms about.  

Morrissey wonders “why people can’t simply be honest about these things?” and yet has not been honest himself. Peaking at 67 on the singles streaming charts is where the times are, rightly or wrongly. Selling records is no longer the leading distributor but Morrissey shows himself to be as out of touch as that disturbed relative who would believe foul play is at hand over the Notre Dame Cathedral fire. That’s Morrissey, too. The only person censoring Morrissey is himself. By constantly moaning about a media blackout he is trying to generate coverage with out-there statements. The Third Reich has featured in one statement, he coined the term “Bigmarr Strikes Again” in response to an upcoming BBC broadcast featuring Johnny Marr in a new deleted post.  

But what Morrissey perhaps didn’t expect is that, beyond the Morrissey forums and a few outlets throwing a coin into the Suedehead singer slot machine to see if it’d prove a hit, he hasn’t received much in the way of headlines. The media blackout is not because Morrissey is an enemy of the mainstream but that the mainstream has passed him by. This does not make him any less of a performer but it does indicate that he is now for the niche crowd. The O2 hosted Devo and The B-52s this year. A niche crowd is still a big crowd in this climate. Coverage of Morrissey, by the metric of this website, just isn’t sticking. You can see the likes of Consequence and Stereogum covering Morrissey and he appears often on their social media channels, often being mocked for cancelling shows or making bizarre statements. But it doesn’t click outside of a few fans or those wanting to mock the formerly great songwriter.  

But much like moaning about chart placement, it’s all old hat for Morrissey. What mattered thirty years ago no longer appears all that interesting now. You can chart as high as you like on the album sales chart, it matters not to the average listener. Those who want to listen to Morrissey’s new work are either established fans or those who enjoy the lacklustre offerings of artists who peaked in the 1990s. That’s coming from an I Am Not a Dog on a Chain fan, too. Morrissey is probably, accidentally, becoming a bit of a social media darling. He has entered into a niche layer that sees his reactions used as GIFs on social media. He is also fodder for a quick hit piece because the day is quiet. Not this, this is different. It’s not pointing and laughing at Morrissey for cancelling a show because he didn’t get enough sleep. Dave Grohl once returned to a show later in the day after falling off the stage. Bob Dylan had one of his best performances while suffering a fairly bad flu. 

All that to say, Morrissey needs to get over himself. He, like his ex-bandmate Johnny Marr and a host of other big hitmakers in the 1980s must accept the change of the times. When speaking with Pulp guitarist Mark Webber about the band’s album hitting number one, he seemed nonplussed about the experience. Times have changed and topping the charts does not present the financial stability it did thirty years ago. Even then a place in the charts, be it at number one or 67, means absolutely nothing other than volume. Some of the worst songs have topped the charts. Robson and Jerome managed it. This is not an indicator of which songs are best just what songs have captured the public mood that week. It’s a lesser metric now, the hypernormalisation of the charts.  

It does not matter one bit whether Morrissey enters the charts. If he is confident that his work can give him the foundation to tour, then that should be enough. It’s clearly enough, though he twists his own truth from time to time. He can sell out The O2 in London under the guise of it being his only show that year in the UK. He can then announce a tour that’ll no doubt struggle to sell out entirely. This, again, is not a problem because of Morrissey but a matter of where music is now at. Gorillaz hardly sold out their shows on the UK tour but the stadiums were fairly packed. This obsession with selling out, being on top, it’s an era of work that has completely passed the new generation by but some stick with it because it’s the only metric of success available to them. It’s the comparison.  

For Morrissey, who has not topped the album charts since Ringleader of the Tormentors in 2006, he should still be pleased with how his niche projects, poorly made at that, are still making their way up the charts. Make-Up is a Lie made it to third place, as did I Am Not a Dog on a Chain. Considering Make-Up is a Lie released the same week as Harry Styles’ new album and a dominating chart performance from Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving, third place for a new release is strong. But Morrissey wouldn’t want you to think that. He believes he’s been frozen out. The fact is, there are metrics at play that are simply out of his and his fans’ control. Consider that The Essential by Michael Jackson and an Oasis compilation album have been floating around the Top 10 for years and it really destroys the chart credibility. Why worry about it? Worry about the quality of your work, first, Moz.