Another year of Morrissey playing shows, canceling shows, and not releasing an album is coming to an end. His self-proclaimed “best album” Bonfire Of Teenagers has been in the works since 2020, but he’s said no one will release it because of its controversial title track and because free speech is “criminalized.” He’s also been marding with Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, as the former bandmates exchanged statements about the notion of a reunion tour and a reissue. He also fired his management. And today Morrissey’s mad at Wikipedia.

Taking to his official site, Moz has posted a missive under the title “Madness”:

“Wikipedia confidently list me as an ex-member of Slaughter And The Dogs, and an ex-member of The Nosebleeds. I did not ever join The Nosebleeds and I have no connection whatsoever with Slaughter And The Dogs. Is there anyone at Wikipedia intelligent enough to set the record straight? Probably not.”

That worked. Someone has already slightly edited Morrissey’s and the Nosebleeds’ Wikis. But is the singer’s claim accurate?

The story of the short-lived Manchester punk band the Nosebleeds (previously Ed Banger And The Nosebleeds) was recounted in Johnny Rogan’s Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance. In the 1992 book, Stephen Pomfret, a mutual friend of Steven Morrissey and Johnny Marr who was there when the two future Smiths met in May 1982, discussed Moz replacing Ed Banger in the band at the same time future Cult guitarist Billy Duffy replaced Vin Reilly. “I tried to persuade Morrissey to buy some equipment because we were spending a fortune on guitars and amplifiers,” Pomfret 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!’”

In the book Morrissey is credited with writing lyrics for the songs “The Living Jukebox,” “Toytown Massacre,” and “(I Think) I’m Ready For The Electric Chair.” Other accounts also mention a song he wrote called “Peppermint Heaven.” According to Duffy’s own website, the new lineup of the Nosebleeds played a total of two local gigs, in 1978, performing the aforementioned new songs. These would have been Morrissey’s first public performances. The second and final one, on 5/8/78 at the New Ritz opening for John Cooper Clarke and Magazine, was reviewed by NME‘s Paul Morley, who called new singer Steve Morrison [sic] “a front man with charisma … who, in his own way, is at least aware that rock’n’roll is about magic, and inspiration.” At this show, Morrissey also was said to have sang a cover of the Shangri-Las’ “Give Him A Great Big Kiss,” and that performance was recreated in the 2017 film England Is Mine, starring Jack Lowden as Morrissey.

“They were absolutely wild, completely out of the woods,” said Reilly (who later played with the Durutti Column) in Rogan’s book. “Morrissey being involved blows my mind.” Duffy further discussed the band in The TJM Story, Tony Davidson’s 2021 book about his Manchester label and rehearsal studio:

“At this time I was good mates with Morrissey as we both liked the New York Dolls and other early punk from that era. It was me who got him into The Nosebleeds as lead singer…

I told them about Morrissey, that he wrote lyrics. I didn’t know if he could sing but he was an interesting character.

When he joined, we didn’t do any Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds songs as Morrissey and I wrote a completely new set. We did loads of rehearsals but only two gigs. The first was for a Rabid Records party and the second was at The Ritz, supporting Magazine. We played six songs. As a band we were together for about six months.”

Edweena Banger also noted, in a 2017 interview with Louder Than War, “I have actually got a tape of one of the songs.”

The story goes that shortly after leaving the Nosebleeds, Morrissey joined — or at least auditioned for — Slaughter And The Dogs, another band from Wythenshawe, Manchester. In John Robb’s 2006 oral history Punk Rock, Slaughter And The Dogs’ Mick Rossi maintained that Morrissey tried out after singer Wayne Barrett-McGrath left the band following its first album Do It Dog Style, and it was recorded. He is quoted:

“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 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.”

None of these recordings seem to be online, though. Everyone except Morrissey could be lying. Morrissey has been wrestling with his legacy as of late; early this year he claimed he was being erased from the Smiths’ origin story. Maybe someone could put him in touch with Mr. Wikipedia?