In his latest attempt to find something to be mad about, Morrissey has aimed his ire at Wikipedia for allegedly claiming he was in Manchester bands the Nosebleeds and Slaughter and the Dogs before forming the Smiths.
Unless you're new here, you probably assumed right that the disgraced frontman ranted about the free encyclopedia on his website: "I did not ever join the Nosebleeds and I have no connection whatsoever with Slaughter and the Dogs," he wrote. "Is there anyone at Wikipedia intelligent enough to set the record straight? Probably not."
Like many things Moz says, it may not be wise to take it fully at face value, especially since some remember his short Nosebleeds tenure. As Stereogum points out, Johnny Rogan's book Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance retells the story through Moz and Marr's mutual friend Stephen Pomfret. In it, he claimed that Morrissey replaced vocalist Ed Banger at the same time Billy Duffy (who would eventually move onto the Cult) replaced guitarist Vin Reilly.
"I tried to persuade Morrissey to buy some equipment because we were spending a fortune on guitars and amplifiers," he said. "He bought a microphone for £8. I thought, 'That's not quite what I had in mind, Steven!' He said, 'That's all I can afford!'"
The book also claims that Moz and Duffy co-wrote the songs "The Living Jukebox," "Toytown Massacre" and "(I Think) I'm Ready for the Electric Chair," which obviously all track as Morrissey song titles.
Despite this — and an NME review of a Nosebleeds show where Moz was the vocalist — Morrissey claimed in his own book Autobiography that he only played a "one-off" gig in an unnamed band with Duffy and the "rhythm section" of the Nosebleeds: "I am lumbered with this miscued name in private sufferance forevermore," he wrote.
As for his ties to Slaughter and the Dogs, the band's Mick Rossi claimed in John Robb's 2006 book Punk Rock that they recorded some demos after Wayne Barrett-McGrath's departure.
"I've got four demo tracks that I recorded with Morrissey on vocals round at my mam's house, songs that never come out," he said. "He was very shy, very introverted, not like he is now. He was singing more conventionally than he would have to later on in the Smiths, when he tended to sing and flow into the chorus, not like in a typical song where there are separate bits."
Morrissey? Lying and overexagerating? In this economy? Who knows. Either way, someone should fill him in on how Wikipedia works.