Morrissey has never been one to master the art of the subtweet, and that much remains true on his Instagram, where he decided to shade the brother duo band Sparks after four years of silence.
The disgraced ex-Smiths singer posted a throwback roundup of pictures yesterday (March 25), with the last one being a note from Ron and Russell Mael. It reads, "Morrissey, Here's the cassette of demos that we worked up in some very rough form. Hope that you enjoy them. Have been trying to phone you for about a week to let you know they were on the way, but without any luck. So, hope the tape reaches you somewhere. Give a call when you do receive it. Talk to you soon."
Wholesome, right? Apparently not! In the post caption, Moz wrote, "A nice note from Ron and Russell Mael — before they turned into headless Palisades savages who threw their old friends into hot molten lava for sexy kicks," whatever that means.
The breakdown between the three longtime friends seems to have been caused by Morrissey's spiraling right-wing political views. Russell told the Press Association [via NME] in 2018, "I'm totally in agreement with anybody being disillusioned [with Morrissey] because I am as well. It seemed so inconsistent, all these perspectives that he has on those various issues, just stupid, dumb kind of things. I obviously don't agree with any of these things. They're just so ill-conceived and wrong."
Moz clapped back three years later in an interview with his nephew, saying that comment didn't bother him since he's "quite used to it."
He continued: "I stood by Sparks for many years and I promoted them in my own humble way whenever I could, and they were famously people without opinions so I was surprised that they kicked me in the teeth. It came across as an almost fiendish ingratitude."
Since he usually elaborates on his sour feelings on his website, let's hope more context is coming to Morrissey Central soon, if only for entertainment value.