Why Pamper Life's Complexities?: Essays on the Smiths (Music and Society)

ISBN 10: 0719078415 / ISBN 13: 9780719078415

Published by Manchester University Press, 2010

About this Item

In this, the first academic text devoted to The Smiths, writers from a range of perspectives set out to consider the cultural significance and enduring appeal of one of the most influential and controversial bands of recent decades. Editor(s): Campbell, Sean; Coulter, Colin. Series Editor(s): Martin, Peter. Series: Music and Society. Num Pages: 272 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: AVH; JFC. Category: (UF) Further/Higher Education. Dimension: 232 x 157 x 21. Weight in Grams: 440. . 2010. 1st Edition. paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780719078415

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Why Pamper Life's Complexities?: Essays on the Smiths (Music and Society)
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0719078415
• ISBN 13: 9780719078415
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

For five short years in the 1980s, a four-piece Manchester band released a collection of records that had undeniably profound effects on the landscape of popular music and beyond. Today, public and critical appreciation of The Smiths is at its height, yet the most important British band after The Beatles have rarely been subject to sustained academic scrutiny. Why pamper life’s complexities?: Essays on The Smiths seeks to remedy this by bringing together diverse research disciplines to place the band in a series of enlightening social, cultural and political contexts as never before.

Topics covered by the essays range from class, sexuality, Catholicism, Thatcherism, regional and national identities, to cinema, musical poetics, suicide and fandom. Lyrics, interviews, the city of Manchester, cultural iconography and the cult of Morrissey are all considered anew. The essays breach the standard confines of music history, rock biography and pop culture studies to give a sustained critical analysis of the band that is timely and illuminating.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of sociology, literature, geography, cultural and media studies. It is also intended for a wider audience of those interested in the enduring appeal of one of the most complex and controversial bands. Accessible and original, these essays will help to contextualise the lasting cultural legacy of The Smiths.

About the Authors

Colin Coulter is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Colin Coulter is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.