Morrissey biography

Cultural historian Julian Stringer notes that the Smiths and Morrissey were a product of and a reaction against Thatcherism, and that their rise to fame "can be seen as the only sustained response that white, English pop/rock music was able to make against the Conservative Government's appropriation of white, English national identity; and that being the case, it is not really surprising that the response is utterly riddled with contradiction." Other scholars have responded favourably to Morrissey's work, including academic symposia at various universities including University of Limerick and Manchester Metropolitan University. Gavin Hopps, a research fellow and literary scholar at the University of St. Andrews, wrote a full-length academic study of Morrissey's work, calling him comparable to Oscar Wilde, John Betjeman, and Philip Larkin, and noting similarities between Morrissey and Samuel Beckett. The British Food Journal featured an article in 2008 that applied Morrissey's lyrics to building positive business relationships. A major book of academic essays edited by Eoin Devereux, Aileen Dillane and Martin Power, Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities, which focuses on Morrissey's solo career, was published in 2011.

A Los Angeles Times critic wrote that Morrissey "patented the template for modern indie rock" and that many bands playing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival "would not be there - or at least, would not sound the same - were it not for him." Similarly, the critic Steven Wells called Morrissey "the man who more or less invented indie" and an artist "who more than anybody else personifies" indie culture. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic writes that the Smiths and Morrissey "inspired every band of note" in the Britpop era, including Suede, Blur, Oasis, and Pulp. Other major artists including Jeff Buckley and Radiohead Brandon Flowers of the American Rock band The Killers has revealed his admiration for Morrissey on several different occasions and admits that his interest for writing songs about murder such as "Jenny Was A Friend of Mine" and "Midnight Show" traces back to Morrissey singing about loving "the romance of crime" in the song Sister I'm A Poet. Flowers quoted "I studied that line a lot. And it's kind of embedded in me."

Bibliography

Morrissey, Steven Patrick, James Dean is Not Dead, Babylon Books, 1983.
Morrissey, Steven Patrick, Exit Smiling, Babylon Books, 1998 (reprint).
Morrissey, Steven Patrick, The New York Dolls, Babylon Books, 1981.
Turner, Jeff; Bushell, Gary; Morrissey, Steven Patrick (introduction), Cockney Reject, John Black Publishing, 2005.
Visconti, Tony; Morrissey, Steven Patrick (introduction), The Autobiography, Harper Collins Entertainment, 2007.
Willians, John; Thomas, Caron; Morrissey, Steven Patrick (introduction), Marc Bolan: Wilderness of the Mind, Xanadu, 1992.