Morrissey fires management team after Johnny Marr refutes claims of “ignoring” The Smiths reunion offer
Morrissey has fired his management team following Johnny Marr‘s statement refuting several claims regarding The Smiths earlier this week.
The former Smiths singer took to his website to announce that he had parted ways with his management, but offered no further details. He wrote on September 19: “Morrissey has severed all connections with Red Light Management/Pete Galli Management.”
It’s the latest move Morrissey has made following a string of claims he made regarding The Smiths and Johnny Marr. Late last month, Morrissey said that Marr had “ignored” a lucrative offer from AEG Entertainment Group to reunite the band. Morrissey claimed at the time that he had agreed to the offer, which would’ve seen The Smiths tour “throughout 2025”.
Last week, he followed up with another post on his website alleging that a Smiths ‘Greatest Hits’ album had been “blocked” by the guitarist. But according to Morrissey, that’s not all – the singer wrote that the greatest hits album was to be accompanied by a ‘Hand In Glove’ reissue that were both scheduled for release this year alongside “a deluxe box release of The Smiths’ first album” and “a new 7-inch” of their 1992 track ‘This Charming Man’.
Then on September 15, Morrissey claimed that Marr now owns all of the “trademark rights and Intellectual Property” of The Smiths, and can tour as a band without him: “This action was done without any consultation to Morrissey, and without allowing Morrissey the standard opportunity of ‘objection’.”
Marr and his management team on Tuesday (September 17) put all of Morrissey’s claims to rest in a single statement. In the statement, Marr’s management said that Marr had reached out to Morrissey in 2018 via representatives after a third party had attempted to use the Smiths name. “A failure to respond” led to Marr registering the trademark himself, but there was a subsequent agreement with Morrissey’s lawyers that the trademark was “held for the mutual benefit” of both parties.
Marr also said in a statement that he had not “ignored” an offer to reunite The Smiths, he had rejected it. He also rejected the ‘Greatest Hits’ album “given the number already in existence”.
Earlier this month, Morrissey claimed that he is being “gagged” over the release of his album ‘Bonfire Of The Teenagers’, which he recorded between 2020 and 2021 and remains unreleased. The album’s title track is a song he says is about “England’s 9/11”, the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017.
Bad blood between Morrissey and Marr has been festering for a number of years now, particularly over their difference in political views. Morrissey recently said his former band’s popularity had not waned as it was all about “a refusal to surrender to enemy propaganda”, and also told fans that he felt that he had been “deleted” from the “essence” and history of The Smiths.
Back in 2019, Marr spoke to NME about whether or not he was worried about people viewing the music and legacy of The Smiths differently given the controversy surrounding Morrissey’s political beliefs and statements.
“I don’t think you can change history,” he said. “I’ve said that before. I’m not worried. It’s got nothing to do with my world or my life. The songs are out there for people to judge, relate to and hear. I think that’s all going to be forgotten in a few weeks, as these things inevitably are – for better or worse. It’s always been that way. I understand the issue, but I’m used to stuff coming and going.”
Later, in early 2022, Johnny Marr opened up further about his spat with Morrissey, saying that he felt he had to “defend [himself]”. It came after Morrissey asked Marr to stop mentioning him when giving interviews.
Recently, KISS’ Gene Simmons weighed in on the rift between Marr and Morrissey, describing the latter as “a great artist”, while simultaneously saying that the general public wouldn’t know who Marr is.
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Surej Singh
NME
