“The worst year of my life concludes with the best album of my life,” Morrissey said, pulling no punches in the announcement of his new album, Bonfire of the Teenagers. Moz announced the 11-track LP on his website, saying that the record had been completed in Los Angeles with no release date set.
The reason why there’s no release date? “Morrissey is unsigned. The album is available to the highest (or lowest) bidder,” it said on his site.
The singer revealed that BMG had dropped him in a November 2020 update on his website, titled “BMG Dumps Morrissey,” noting, “BMG have appointed a new executive who does not want another Morrissey album. Instead, the new BMG Executive has announced new plans for ‘diversity’ within BMG’s artist roster, and all projected BMG Morrissey releases/reissues have been scrapped.
The voluble singer’s last album, I Am Not a Dog on a Chain, came out in 2020.
Morrissey has hardly been silent lately. Most recently was the announcement that he was working with A$AP Rocky on his new record.
Before that was The Simpsons’ kerfuffle, which found the singer clapping back at the beloved cartoon for its, well, cartoonish portrayal of him — or someone like Morrissey. The show’s son, “Panic on the Streets of Springfield” (yes, it’s a play on the Smiths song “Panic”), is a duet featuring Quilloughby (the fake Moz voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch).
Morrissey claimed he’d sue the show if he had the money. The Simpsons also portrayed the fictional version of him with a few extra pounds.
Along with the completed album, however, comes more news. Fans can catch Morrissey during his Las Vegas residency debuting June 26 – July 4 at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Bonfire of the Teenagers track listing:
1 I AM VERONICA
2 REBELS WITHOUT APPLAUSE
3 KEROUAC’S CRACK
4 HA HA HARLEM
5 I LIVE IN OBLIVION
6 BONFIRE OF TEENAGERS
7 MY FUNERAL
8 DIANA DORS
9 I EX-LOVE YOU
10 SURE ENOUGH, THE TELEPHONE RINGS
11 SAINT IN A STAINED-GLASS WINDOW