Final Paper Prompt

I was thinking of doing the critical profile personality piece for my final paper and I thought that a really fascinating person to do it on would be Morrissey. In the past few years, Morrissey has become exceedingly relevant again and has since himself become perhaps more popular, at least in the States, than he has even been in his career and he has also continued to be in the news for his often highly controversial and highly quotable statements. His visibility has also been raised by all the bands that have cropped in the wake of the Smiths and which profess their undying love for the man and his music; these bands are at the cutting edge of music today and they have brought even more wide renown to the formerly “Cult” singer.
I have been a big fan of Morrissey for a long time and feel that he is a unique figure in popular culture in the way that he has synthesized his influences, from as disparate sources as Oscar Wilde and Richard Burton, and made them into something new. He is especially irregular when considered in the framework of modern popular music where most male singers do not croon as he often does, especially in his late work, nor do they write from third-gender standpoints or from such a seemingly “blues-oblivious” viewpoint. He also is a singer who continues to be visible through regular album releases and tours with a good amount of drama always surrounding him though he also manages a great mystique about him, especially in regards to his sexuality and private life.



A few sources:

Goddard, Simon. Mozipedia: The Encyclopaedia of "Morrissey" and the "Smiths". Sheffield: Ebury Press, 2009.

Woods, Paul. Morrissey in Conversation: The Essential Interviews. London: Plexus Publishing, 2007