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Capitol Records super happy with Sam Smith’s satanism but still shelving Morrissey’s new album, says Morrissey

By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 14 February 2023

Morrissey has had another dig at Universal Music’s Capitol Records, which was going to release his new album ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ and then wasn’t.

While it’s not clear exactly why Capitol bailed on the Morrissey record – though we can possibly guess – he reckons that if the Universal label can invest time in promoting Sam Smith’s satanism, it should be able to deliver his new album to some streaming platforms.

Morrissey announced a deal with Capitol in the US last year which was meant to result in the LA base of the Universal label releasing ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ this month.

That deal overtly excluded the UK though, where – of course – Morrissey is now generally deemed too controversial, or at least too annoying, to want to work with. Plus, more specifically, there had been criticism about the album’s title track and its references to the 2017 bombing of the Manchester Arena

However, despite that deal in the US, by November the release of ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ was on hold. The following month Morrissey announced he was no longer working with Capitol. And then last week a post on his official website read: “Capitol Records (Los Angeles) will not, after all, release Morrissey’s 2021 album ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’. At the same time, Capitol Records (Los Angeles) are holding on to the album”.

Why would Capital US sign a deal to release the Morrissey record and then not do so? “Morrissey has said that although he does not believe that Capitol Records in Los Angeles signed ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ in order to sabotage it, he is quickly coming around to that belief”, last week’s post added.

Meanwhile, Capitol Records on both sides of the Atlantic is busy promoting new Sam Smith album ‘Gloria’, the promo of which has involved performances at both the recent Grammy Awards and BRIT Awards. The former saw Smith annoy various right-wing politicians, pundits and tedious outrage-for-hire types in the US because he wore a devil-lite costume, prompting criticism that his performance was somehow satanic.

Also noting that vaccine maker Pfizer was a sponsor of this year’s Grammys – and referencing an entirely unrelated news story in New Mexico – Republican Congress member Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted: “The Grammy’s featured Sam Smith’s demonic performance and was sponsored by Pfizer. And the Satanic Church now has an abortion clinic in NM that requires its patients to perform a satanic ritual before services. American Christians need to get to work”.

Alluding to all that nonsense, the latest Capitol-dissing posting on Morrissey’s website reads thus: “Capitol Records (Los Angeles) proudly promotes Sam Smith’s ‘satanism’; yet they consider the honest truth of Morrissey’s factual ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ to be their biggest threat and they will not release it despite their contractual obligation and promise to do so”.

So, I think that means if Marjorie and her Christian buddies of America really want to stand up to Satan, they should buy the rights in the Morrissey album from Capitol and get it streaming on Spotify as soon as possible. Which doesn’t sound quite right, but then again God does famously work in very mysterious ways.