Released on February 16, 2009 in the UK, and February 17, 2009 in the US, Years of Refusal is Morrissey’s ninth studio album. Upon release, it peaked at number 3 on the UK charts. The album saw two Top 50 singles: 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris' and 'Something Is Squeezing My Skull'.
The cover art for Years of Refusal features Morrissey holding a baby (the photo being by Jake Walters, Morrissey's erstwhile friend). The baby is Sebastien Pesel-Browne, who is the son of Morrissey's then assistant tour manager, Charlie Browne1. A close-up of Morrissey's arm and the baby in a different pose appears inside the album.
The inner-sleeve of the album features a photo of the band members (Boz Boorer, guitar; Jesse Tobias, guitar; Solomon Walker, bass guitar, and Matt Walker, drums) and a 1914 still-life painting of fruit by A. Fuentes, titled "Bodegon Con Jarra de Vino".
The cover font was inspired by the one used on the cover of Herb Alpert's 1964 South Of The Border album.
Of the 12 tracks, guitarist Boz Boorer wrote four2 and former guitarist Alain Whyte wrote five.3 The remaining three tracks (‘All You Need Is Me’; ‘Sorry Doesn't Help’; ‘I'm OK by Myself’) are Jesse Tobias compositions. Notwithstanding the fact that he wrote nearly half the songs on the album, Whyte did not participate in its recording.
Chrissie Hynde provided backing vocals on the album’s US iTunes bonus track, ‘Shame Is The Name’, while the notorious Kristeen Young4 provided additional vocals on ‘That's How People Grow Up’.
Years of Refusal was the last album completed by producer Jerry Finn5 before his untimely death.
In a 2009 interview, German magazine Der Spiegel asked about the cover art for the Years of Refusal album. In response, Morrissey said: "I want to show with that portrait that I've become softer. Sebastien, that's the little one's name, represents that very nicely: the opening of my heart and the protection of the child from the world out there. A lot about me has become more smooth, more relaxed. I never belonged to any gang, I've simply refused to often in my life, I was always at war with the world. Now I'm a lot more tolerant towards myself and towards others than ever before and that was important to me."
There are no etchings on the vinyl editions of this album, but the words "SHAME IS THE NAME" appear between the runout grooves of the UK/Euro CD label artwork (which is a mock-up of a 45rpm record).
Sebastien's mother met Charlie at a Morrissey concert in Boston.
“I have…4 co-writes on the new Morrissey album, the first single of this year, which was, 'That's how people grow up," the next single which is 'I'm Throwing my Arms around Paris', a song called 'One day goodbye will be farewell' and the mighty 'Black Cloud'…”
-Boz Boorer, Adam-Ant.net, July 2008
'Something Is Squeezing My Skull'; 'Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed'; 'When Last I Spoke to Carol'; 'It's Not Your Birthday Anymore'; 'You Were Good in Your Time'
-Indie 103.1 FM – Jonesy's Jukebox Media Page
Kristeen Young is an American singer-songwriter and pianist born in 1975 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Young was the opening act on Morrissey's Greatest Hits tour. During her set at a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on October 23, 2007, some audience members were chanting “Morrissey”. Apparently exasperated by this perceived affront, Young replied “Morrissey gives good head, I mean, er, cunnilingus…”. Young was abruptly fired as Morrissey's opening act.
Remarkably, Morrissey and Young subsequently reconciled, and in 2011 she was once again invited to go on tour with him. On the World Peace Is None Of Your Business tour in 2014, Young was again let go as Morrissey believed she had given him a respiratory infection at a concert in Miami (which caused Morrissey to cancel a number of subsequent concerts). At the time Young insisted that she had no infectious illness (rather, that she had recently suffered an allergic reaction), to no avail.
Jermone Gregory Finn (1969 – 2008), sometimes credited as "Huckle" Jerry Finn, was an American record producer and mix engineer. Finn was known for the warm guitar tone present on albums he produced, as well as the "punchy" sound of his mixes. He was instrumental in developing the polished sound of pop-punk in its second wave of popularity between the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
In July 2008, Finn suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage followed by a massive heart attack. He was taken off of life support on August 9, 2008 after never regaining consciousness, and he died on August 21, 2008.
Morrissey was introduced to Finn via a mutual friend and was effusive about his work:
"He made me feel very confident. He's not easily pleased and he's not prepared to be overwrought. He knows exactly what he wants to do."
-Independent, September 15, 2008