Here is a small section of the introduction called: “It’s Morrissey’s town, we just live in it”
Upon self-reflection it has been noted that the power of music has helped shape the identities of individuals. Through my research, I would like to find out whether or not others have been affected by music in this way, particularly through imaginary fan communities whereby these people can come together and converse about their music taste. This is very important when listening to a particular artist or band, as the way in which these people can relate to each other is solely surrounding this particular significance.
I felt the need to cover this topic as it seems to have become increasingly important over the recent years. Not only are the youth of today subjected to music from every angle at every given opportunity but the cable and satellite television advancements have meant that music is evermore a part of people’s lives.
If we look back over the last century, mainstream music listening has evolved greatly, from the Punk Era to Ska and then onto Britpop and cool Britannia in the 1990s, this involved a closeness and recognition to the British individuality, this era involved a lot of union jack imagery and therefore progressed to an identification with something that had been long since lost.
Identity is something that seems to be created from an external source and from a sociologist’s point of view this subjectification to society comes from our need to belong, through possible avenues such as “socialization”. A big part of this, especially when growing up, is through music. The music that you listen to seems to shape you for the better or worse.
I am going to use the idea of Morrissey fans as my main research. This is because Morrissey and the Smiths had a great impact on society especially during the 1980s, the Thatcher years and so on. The Smith’s album “Meat is Murder” was seen to have converted many people to vegetarianism, the album cover is very reminiscent of the visual art that the Smith’s used to get their opinion across, for this album they used a solider with a helmet on with the inscription of “Meat is Murder” on it, almost as though it is comparable to fighting a war: see Appendix Two. Morrissey wrote songs about a lot of political issues of the time “Margaret on the guillotine” being one such song, concerning the eradication of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister at the time. He also wrote about racial issues, in songs such as “The National Front Disco”, even politically incorrect songs for example: “You’re the one for me, fatty”. During his reign in the Smiths during 1980s, Morrissey brought about a huge amount of controversy, as he was one of the only music artists of the time to use these topics of concern in his popular music songs, before, this was virtually unheard of.
The music of Morrissey can be classified as “Indie” or “Alternative”. Although Morrissey has had several record company changes and is no longer on an independent record label, ‘indie’ also refers to style, attitude and a music genre. This is significant to my research, especially concerning identity and individuality as the “indie” music scene has always been seen as an individual and autonomous type of music despite whether or not the record company is independent.
Steven Patrick Morrissey was born on 22 May 1959 in Manchester, England. Born to Irish immigrant parents he had an insight into being different and unique from an early age. He has expressed this by saying “When young, I instantly excluded the human race in favour of pop music” (Hawkins, 2002) something his fans can relate to in a lot of respects and therefore already creating an individuality and identity of their own. He began his career in 1984 with the indie band “The Smiths”. As soon as they hit the popular music scene, their influence was greater than any other band around at that particular time. From their very first album onwards, their stance on politics and day-to-day living such as schooling and employment was very apparent. Morrissey’s lyrics were such that they broke down the daily lifestyle and put it into perspective for many young and some older people. The lyrics “I was looking for a job and then I found a job and heaven knows I’m miserable now” in the song “Heaven Knows I’m miserable now” rang true for many young people looking for employment at the time. The 1980s was in particular a very difficult time to find work and as it was scarce, the employment that was found was not always up to expectation and could be very grueling and dissatisfying. The Smiths also covered issues such as the moors murders in their song “Suffer little Children” and other crime issues in songs such as “Shoplifters of the world unite” and “Panic” which is a song concerning the mainstream, British pop music scene of the time. Through these songs, many people were connected with something which they had not ordinarily ever heard in music. It was a great eye opener and identity was created through the understanding of these sensitive subjects and the want for change. . “Listeners past and present, have reported with remarkable consistency that music does arouse feelings and emotions in them” (Meyer 1956) Meyer points out that throughout his research he has found an overwhelming correlation between listening to a particular music and the emotional impact it may have. He looks into the importance of musical meanings as references to life and the expression that it can have on an individual’s outlook on their own living. This portrays in detail, the evidence that I am looking into surrounding music and its effect on identity and the emotion.