Just in case True To You is blocked by your ISP, here are a random sampling of comments. Outside of his withering attacks on royalty, animal cruelty, Assad, and other things he hates-- and has hated and railed against in public for nearly 30 years-- almost all of his other comments are in the tone of the following:
August...
"The rich experience of our recent tour of Italy, Turkey, Israel and Greece has thankfully matched the terrific responses we had received in Asia and South America earlier this year - a year that, to my amazement, has become the most successful of my touring life. How, exactly? And why? Once again, all I can offer is the sore throat of thanks to everyone who bought tickets and who supported us along the way."
I just might die with a smile on my face, after all.
undiminished, with a heart that longs for light
June...
I express my very sincere thanks to all of you who attended our shows of April and May - all of which were fantastic, and often beyond belief. My gratitude, I realize, could never be enough.
I have never in my life experienced a crowd such as that of Jakarta, who sang each song so loudly that their voices caught all of the onstage microphones and warped the sound into a mad bellow of love. Later, backstage, we were numbed by the joy that Jakarta had given us.
I fell in love anew with Japan.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, far away from tabloid Britain, the moon retains its friendly silence, and the world is all before you.
In reverent spirit, keenly alive
March...
Thank you for an incredible tour of South America. It has been the best tour of my life. Nothing I had previously experienced prepared me for the love shown to me by the people of Chile, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. The excitement of the Brazilian audiences was almost heart-stopping. After all these years, to still be a part of people's hope is astounding to me. It's one thing to be valued, but to be loved is an entirely different experience.
Thanks also to the police in Peru, Brazil and Colombia who escorted me around (as custodians, I should add.) I am grateful.
My love for the band goes through the roof. All we have is yours.
December 2011...
(After Mexico) I am anchored, delighted, and pale with gratitude. ... The audiences were the most loving (and loud) that I have ever experienced.
I am very grateful to our new agency, William Morris Endeavor, for their astounding efforts to make this recent tour so enjoyable and triumphant. No management, no label, no promotion … all that we have are fantastic ticket sales. Which means you. And there is no greater thing worth having.
I have the most magnificent live crew on the planet. If I said my thanks forever it would not be long enough.
And his professional status, as a singer without a label? This, from a June Interview...
There was a seven-year hiatus between Maladjusted (1997) and You Are the Quarry (2004). Why was that?
It happened because of what’s happening to me right now – no interest from any record label. There is nothing I can do about it, and I no longer worry about it. I don’t have management or any form of publicist, so this troubadour existence is too challenging for labels, I suppose. Whatever will be, will be.
Best tours ever...reverent spirit, keenly alive...grateful to audiences...numb with joy..."I no longer worry about" not having a record label, "whatever will be, will be"...
Boy, what a f***ing grouch!
As usual, Morrissey has the clearest view of the landscape. In an October 2011 interview Morrissey summed up the matter very succinctly:
Ryan: Some of your comments in the media have been top drawer as of late. Some newspapers have taken issue with some of your comments.
Morrissey: Well, they always do... They MUST!
Ryan: We found you to be quite the gentlemen. Have you been misunderstood in any of your statements?
Morrissey: I think I am officially ‘Mad Morrissey’ now, and everything I say must be ridiculed because that’s one way of NOT dealing with the contents of the actual comment. The Guardian is now like the Sun was in the 1970s: completely intolerant and full of contradictions. With the riots recently the media are obsessed with punishment as solution, but no-one has the intelligence to ask why the people did what they did. We live in very dumbed-down times. Everything - news media, music, music magazines - are presented with the assumption that the people as a whole are utterly thick, so therefore when I say, as I have, that the so-called royals are the most dysfunctional and unpleasant family in British history, no-one asks me why I think this. They simply print ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’. Oh, I could go on. And do, often.
I encourage anyone who thinks Morrissey is an angry old man to go back and review the rest of his public comments from the last year or two. Yes, there are the scathing attacks on royalty, the record industry, the Beckhams, and all the rest, but there are just as many, if not more, expressions of thanks, happiness, surprise, delight, curiosity, high spirits, and-- oh yeah-- love.
And in this time of reduced media visibility and no record label, what's the image of Morrissey we've seen most often? The one our incredibly uptight, dour, mad-as-hell curmudgeon has chosen to put out in the world? Right, this one: