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Morrissey charging fans for signed music albums — but they’re not even his

Morrissey performs on stage at Manchester Arena on July 28, 2012 in Manchester, United Kingdom. Neil H Kitson/Redferns via Getty Images

Morrissey has upset many of his dedicated fans once again in a recent attempt to keep the paycheques flowing.

On Saturday, during the former Smiths frontman’s show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, a shocked concert-goer shared a picture of the merchandise stand pointing out a unique and expensive piece of Morrissey memorabilia.

Along with two of his own albums — which were priced at US$200 — the 60-year-old had signed a variety of much-beloved 1970s records by other artists and was offering them to his fans at a whopping amount of $300 apiece.

The steeply-priced vinyl records included Lou Reed‘s Transformer (1972), Raw Power (1973) by Iggy & the Stooges, David Bowie‘s Aladdin Sane (1973) and Patti Smith‘s Horses (1975).

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Each album included Morrissey’s signature along with the year (2019), and the message: “loves David,” “loves Patti,” or “loves Iggy [Pop],” depending on the album.

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While the photo of the items was shared by a number of outlets, including NME, Exclaim and Spin, exactly how many fans purchased one of the records is unclear.

There was at least one fan, though, who said they purchased a signed copy of Horses, sharing a picture of the record to Instagram.

“A pretty phenomenal addition to my vinyl collection last night at the @hollywoodbowl #Morrissey show,” they wrote.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4JigREAHjW/

“My favourite singer signs my favorite album of my other favorite singer. Mind blown!”

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What was clear, however, was that a large number of the Bigmouth Strikes Again rocker’s followers were either upset by the stunt, humoured or both, with many of them expressing disappointment over social media.

Here’s what some Twitter users had to say:

https://twitter.com/roberthamwriter/status/1188566294460682240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1188566294460682240&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fexclaim.ca%2Fmusic%2Farticle%2Fmorrissey_signed_other_peoples_albums_to_sell_as_merch

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https://twitter.com/typejunky/status/1188854007869128709

https://twitter.com/WolfgangDikface/status/1188845765105541121

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Morrissey is selling signed copies of other people’s albums for a small fortune at his shows,” one user tweeted. “He really has reached peak t**t,” they concluded.

Global News has reached out to a representative of Morrissey seeking comment on the matter.

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Morrissey is at the tail end of a North American tour, which includes special guest act Interpol.

The tour came in support of his latest solo album, California Son (2019), which was comprised of a variety of different cover songs.

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The album was received poorly by a number of outlets — most notably by British outlet the Guardian, which has criticized the singer’s far-right political views in the past — prompting Morrissey to wear a “F**k the Guardian” T-shirt onstage during his L.A. performance.

The shirts in question were even being sold at the merch booth for $35.

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Earlier this month, after it was postponed for nearly half a year, Morrissey concluded the Canadian leg of the tour.

This year marked the first time in more than 15 years that the star performed in Canada after a longstanding boycott against the nation.

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Currently, Morrissey has no scheduled concerts following Monday night’s final stop on the California Son tour.

For updates and additional information, you can visit the official Morrissey website.

adam.wallis@globalnews.ca

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