Morrissey has accused Capitol Records of shelving his album while promoting Sam Smith’s records.
All four of the ‘Unholy’ hitmakers records – including last month’s ‘Gloria’ – have been released via the label, but the former Smiths star has hit out over is unreleased LP ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’.
Writing on his own website, Morrissey ranted: “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.”
The 63-year-old singer – who was dropped by BMG in 2020 – “voluntarily” left Capitol, as well as his management company, in December 2022 after signing a deal with the the previous year and has accused them of refusing to release his 14th solo LP ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ or return the records to him.
A statement on his website earlier this month read: “Morrissey is ‘too diverse’ for Universal Music Group. 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.
“Although Morrissey officially signed to Capitol Records Los Angeles, there has been no mention of Morrissey on Capitol’s website or on their Artists roster.
“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.”
The ‘Big Mouth Strikes Again’ hitmaker had planned to release ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ this month but announced in November it had been delayed, with no new release date offered.
A brief statement at the time read: “‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ is no longer scheduled for a February release, as stated by this site.
“Its fate is exclusively in the hands of Capitol Records (Los Angeles).”