Morrissey has claimed that he has been “deleted” from the “essence” and history of The Smiths in a new post.
Taking to his official website Morrissey Central yesterday (January 11), the singer-songwriter defended his role in his former band amid numerous reports that – according to him – have downplayed his contributions.
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“There is also an obvious media shift to delete me from being the central essence of The Smiths,” he began, “but this cannot work because I invented the group name, the song-titles, the album titles, the artwork, the vocal melodies, and all of the lyrical sentiments came from my heart.
“And so it’s a bit like saying Mick Jagger had nothing to do with the Stones.”
Morrissey continued: “Several news sites now claim that the initial meeting at Rough Trade Records was with ‘Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke,’ even though Andy wasn’t even a committed band member at that point. The meeting, of course, was Morrissey and Marr.
“Even Geoff Travis [Rough Trade founder] has now suddenly decided that he ‘can’t remember who was with Johnny,’ even though Geoff looked me squarely in the eye on that very day and said ‘we’d like to release [The Smiths’ 1983 debut single] ‘Hand In Glove’ immediately,’ and he then more importantly said to me that his name was Geoff with a G, not Jeff with a J. The hounds are snapping!”
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Quoting the aforementioned song, he concluded the post: “Hand in glove, I stake my claim! I’ll fight to the last breath!” The vocalist gave the message the title ‘CANCEL CULTURE BEGINS AT HOME’.
Morrissey, who rarely gives press interviews, uses his Morrissey Central site regularly to share his thoughts, post tributes, mark certain anniversaries and more.
Back in October, he took to the platform to accuse the CEO of Capitol Records of trying to derail his solo career.
The label teamed up with Morrissey in 2022 to release his album ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’, which the singer had called “the best album of my life”. By December of that year, however, Morrissey had cut ties with Capitol.
During an appearance on Good Day New York last autumn, Morrissey said Capitol was willing to give ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ back to him “for a certain price”.
His most recent studio effort was 2020’s ‘I Am Not A Dog On A Chain’. In February 2023, he revealed that he’d recorded a new LP titled ‘Without Music The World Dies’ and had been appealing for labels or “private investors” to release the project.
In early 2022, Johnny Marr opened up about his spat with Morrissey, saying that he felt he had to “defend [himself]”. It came after Morrissey asked Marr to stop mentioning him when giving interviews.
Last May saw Morrissey pay tribute to former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke following the news of his death.