Aileen Dillane

A push and a shove and the land is ours: Morrissey's counter-hegemonic stance(s) on social class

We explore how the singer Morrissey has represented the struggles of the proletariat in creative and provocative ways, inviting a deep textual reading that reveals a complex counter-hegemonic stance on the issue of social class. A champion of the ‘Other’ in a variety of guises, Morrissey is revealed in this article as a raconteur of the marginalized working class. We illustrate this through a detailed semiotic, musical and contextual reading of one particular song; ‘Interesting Drug’. We reveal tensions in Morrisseys representations of the proletariat. Specifically, Morrisseys romantic, nostalgia-laden, oversimplification of the working-class hero of an earlier era seems some distance from the ‘real’ proletariat struggle for representation in the places that count. However, in providing both collective places and intimate spaces in which to reflect, his music becomes counter-hegemonic as he hands power back to the individual to make the music meaningful in whatever way he or she wishes.

“I sing out to the youth of the slums”: Morrissey and Class Disgust

Abstract In this article, we examine “The Slum Mums,” a song that was written by popular music icon Morrissey about the contempt felt for lone female mothers in the UK under the New Labour government. We hold that the song pre-empted the intensification of gendered and classed disgust discourses which have become even more prevalent in the UK and elsewhere in the current age of austerity. The article demonstrates that popular music can be an important site of counter-hegemonic discourse. Our approach is socio-cultural and contextual and we are also concerned with tracking the emotional and somatic responses this song is capable of generating, particularly in terms of registering an uncomfortable awareness of the realities of gendered discourses of class disgust.

Saying Hello to the Lunatic Men: A Critical Reading of ‘Love is Lost’

Pierrot the clown is a recurring figure in David Bowie’s oeuvre. In this article we examine Bowie’s use of Pierrot in his self-directed homemade video for the single release of ‘Love is Lost’ (2013). The article demonstrates how an understanding of Pierrot (and all he represents), as well as Bowie’s engagement with avant-garde Jewish composers and artists, is vital to interpreting ‘Love is Lost’. We provide a reading of Bowie’s use of Pierrot as an avatar for everyman, for creativity and for the struggles over identities.