Morrissey says "Hitler was Left wing," he's taking 'SPIN' to court & more in new interview

Morrissey said he would no longer speak to the press but he has just granted an interview for his own website, Morrissey Central. Interviewer John Riggers is throwing softballs — “I Wish You Lonely and Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up On The Stage are your best ever songs. David Bowie was not writing great songs at this period of his career” — but Morrissey still manages to get in some modern classic headscratcher quotes. In talking about Brexit he says:

And as far as racism goes, the modern Loony Left seem to forget that Hitler was Left wing! But of course, we are all called racist now, and the word is actually meaningless. It’s just a way of changing the subject. When someone calls you racist, what they are saying is ”hmm, you actually have a point, and I don’t know how to answer it, so perhaps if I distract you by calling you a bigot we’ll both forget how enlightened your comment was.”

Moz also says he’s taking SPIN to court, perhaps over their April 3 article, titled “Morrissey Launches Site to Host His Own Terrible Opinions.” He says:

I will be interested to see how they explain themselves in court. It’s unfortunate to take any publication to court, but sometimes you must, and this is one of those times because otherwise the press can succeed in dictating an ugly view, which they fully realize can place you in danger.

As before, Morrissey spends a lot of time railing against the press and the music industry. When asked about comparisons to David Bowie…

JOHN: People associate you with one another, yet I’m not sure why.

MORRISSEY: I am surprised that people whose entire life has been the music industry manage to live as long as they do. There’s something mentally crushing about persistently placing yourself before people for their approval. As a matter of fact, I absolutely love to sing. You’d never guess, would you?

And here’s one about the Der Spiegel interview:

JOHN: You had a bad time with Der Speigel newspaper in Germany. I heard the tapes and the interviewer sounded agreeable and happy with you, but then she wrote an ugly piece. What is the point of this, do you think?

MORRISSEY: Genuine hate? Well, I think a lot of writers are genuinely embarrassed to say ”I really enjoy your music, and you are unique and you look great” – this is thought not to be useful journalism. In order to be thought to be a good writer it seems to me that you must bury your subject. This is also true of biography. You must write with no forgiveness about pop artists who probably saved your life at some stage.

It’s a long interview and he talks a lot about animal rights, why he doesn’t listen to The Smiths or his early solo albums, his plans for his next album, and lots more. And on the subject of retirement (his 59th birthday is May 22), he says “Unfortunately I cannot retire from myself! If I could, I would!”