Morrissey has released a new song about the awful suicide bombing at Ariana Grande’s 2017 Manchester concert, and he’s rather crudely titled it ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’. He’s also taken a less-than-subtle dig at Oasis in the song.
The Smiths icon debuted ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ at a show last week, telling the audience it was about “England’s 9/11.” “Obviously in jolly old England, most people won’t talk about it… but I will,” he said.
The song discusses a female fan attending Grande’s infamous concert: “Oh, you should’ve seen her leave for the arena / On the way, she turned and waved and smiled: ‘Goodbye,'” Morrissey sings.
The Oasis jibe soon arrives. The Britpop band’s classic 1995 hit ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ swiftly became a fierce anthem for Manchester and Mancunians following the concert bombing; Liam Gallagher even performed it at One Love Manchester, the event organised by Grande in the aftermath of the attack.
“And the silly people sing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ / And the morons sing and sway: ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ / I can assure you I will look back in anger ’till the day I die.
Irate, bitter, unsubtle – ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ is straight from the Morrissey playbook. There’s certainly nothing wrong with his overall sentiment, but the use of “morons” and “silly” to describe grieving crowds sounds ill-informed.
Morrissey and the Gallagher brothers have previous together. Back in 2017, Liam wished the singer a “Miserable Xmas” on Twitter, although he did also quote several lines from Smiths songs in follow-up tweets.
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Morrissey is currently hosting a Las Vegas residency (someone had to do it in Adele’s absence I guess), and is set to return to the U.K. for a headline tour later this year (further information here). He’s also very notably said the upcoming shows will have “no rules, regulations, or restrictions” regarding COVID-19.
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Check out ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ by Morrissey:
