Morrissey (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780826418661)

Morrissey is arguably the greatest disturbance popular music has ever known. Even more than the choreographed carelessness of punk and the hyperbolic gestures of glam rock and the New Romantics, Morrissey's early bookish ineptitude, his celebration of the ordinary, and his subversive endorsement of celibacy, abstinence and rock 'n' roll revolutionized the world of British pop. As a solo artist, too, he consistently adopts the outsider's perspective and dares us to confront uncomfortable subjects. In his brilliant book, Gavin Hopps examines the work of this compelling performer, whose intelligence, humour, suffering and awkwardness have fascinated audiences around the world for the last 25 years.

Hopps traces the trajectory of Morrissey's career and outlines the contours and contradictions of the singer's elusive persona. The book illuminates Morrissey's coyness (how can he remain a mystery when he tells us too much?), his dramatized melancholy (surely more of a radical existential protest than the gimmick some believe it to be), and his complex attitudes towards loneliness and alienation, as well as his intriguing sense of the religious.

Author: Gavin Hopps
ISBN-10: 082641866X
ISBN-13: 9780826418661
Publisher: Continuum
Language: English
Published: 06/01/2009
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 7.70h x 5.10w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 05/04/2009 pg. 45
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2009 pg. 236