Morrissey claims new album has been ‘gagged’ over song about 2017 Manchester bombing

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

Morrissey has claimed that his new album Bonfire of Teenagers has not been released due to record label concerns over the title track, which is about the 2017 terror attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester that killed 22 people.

The former The Smiths singer, 65, says he finished recording the album in May 2021.

He has been performing the song “Bonfire of Teenagers” live since 2022. The lyrics include references to a teenage girl being “vaporized” and to fans singing the Oasis anthem “Don’t Look Back In Anger” on the streets outside Manchester Arena. Of this, Morrissey sings: “The silly people sing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ / And the morons swing and say ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ / I can assure you I will look back in anger ’til the day I die.”

In a new interview with The Telegraph, conducted by email, Morrissey explained: “The Manchester Arena bombing was our 9/11. But, in this sad country of ours, to understand the full meaning of the attack is to be guilty, and this is why the ‘don’t look back in anger’ command always struck me as derisive and not at all words of social harmony.”

Morrissey had initially planned to release the album through Capitol Records, but they parted ways in December 2022.

He told The Telegraph that he bought the rights to the album back in April this year, but alleged that subsequently “every major label in London has refused [it] whilst also admitting that it is a masterpiece.

“And although there is nothing insulting or antagonistic in the title track, label bosses say they are worried that The Guardian would make their lives hell if they supported any such social awareness.”

He added that he had no intention of removing the controversial song or changing the name of the album, saying: “We are still in the grip of Idiot Culture, it’s everywhere you look. Naturally I’m one of the first to be gagged since my entire life has relied on free speech.

“No, I wouldn’t remove the title song because I wouldn’t abandon the murdered kids of Manchester. Their spirits cry out every single day for remembrance and recognition.”

He went on to call Bonfire of Teenagers “the best album of my life” and argued that “the madly insane efforts to silence the album are somehow indications of its power. Otherwise, who would bother to get so overheated about an inconspicuous recluse?”

Last week, Morrissey claimed that guitarist Johnny Marr ignored a “lucrative” offer to reunite The Smiths.

He told The Telegraph about the matter: “I think I made my point without turning it into the war of the worlds … which, of course, I easily could.”