Morrissey, still on top of his game

Where would bands like The Killers, Radiohead and The Decemberists be if Morrissey and The Smiths had not first paved way for alternative and indie rock? And if the tortured genius was as influential as critics claim he was, why can’t he find a record deal?

We don’t hear much about Morrissey anymore — the man who Rolling Stone credited as a one of the greatest singers of all time, in front of B.B. King and the continually popular Steven Tyler. Morrissey has had a series of ups and downs in his solo career, and well, the rain falls hard on him once again as he can’t find any label to sign his new album. The always sorrowful ex-Smiths vocalist has an entire album written and ready to record but stands at a halt with nobody to sign him because he refuses to record independently.

For fans of the 52-year-old pope of mope who followed his 25 years of productive solo work, this must come as a surprise. Pitchfork lauded the 2009 album Years of Refusal as a “gratifying shock: It’s his most vital, entertaining and savage record…” Years of Refusal was even compared to Vauxhall and I, one of Morrissey’s three number-one solo records.

Maybe Mozzer’s troubles stem from his inability to adapt to changing times, much like many older artists. He worries in a Pitchfork interview that top-charts are fixed, that “Internet People Power” has washed away the importance of a professional music press and that labels only are willing to sign new artists who somehow skyrocket to the top.

“I am still stuck in the dream of an album that sells well not because of marketing, but because people like the songs,” he said to Pitchfork.

In his infamously contradictory fashion, Moz was quoted in 2009 saying that he didn’t want to go on making music much longer for fear of losing dignity and said, “There has to be a point where you’ve said enough, I think” to Filter.

Regardless, Morrissey debuted three new solo tracks to BBC Radio earlier this summer, the best of which is the track “Action Is My Middle Name.” Listeners expecting more depressing and witty lyrics layered over an indie-pop type of track won’t be disappointed.

But everyone has a date with an undertaker, as Morrissey warns, and he’s doing his best to avoid his. A U.S. and Mexico tour has been scheduled to begin in November, and Morrissey might treat  audiences with unheard material from his to-be recorded album.

Evidently, Morrissey has more to say and write about, and maybe the more record companies ignore him, the closer he’ll get, however that works in his twisted fantasy.