posted by davidt on Tuesday January 05 2010, @11:00AM
goinghome writes:
The importance of Irish music-making in England is the subject of Sean Campbell's 'Irish Blood English Heart: Second Generation Irish Musicians in England' (Cork University Press, May) which uses case studies of such musicians as John Lydon, Shane MacGowan and Morrissey to highlight the ways in which second-generation Irish have contributed to popular culture in the UK.

Amazon Product Description -
"This is the first full account of second-generation Irish music-making in England. Individual musicians covered include Shane MacGowan, Cait O'Riordan, Kevin Rowland, Morrissey and Johnny Marr. The book challenges the current invisibility of the second-generation Irish in accounts of ethnicity in England. It explores the complexity and diversity of second-generation Irish identities and experience. Previous accounts have tended to view this generation as an indistinguishable part of the host population. This book takes a more nuanced approach, locating the English-born offspring of Irish migrants in a hyphenated 'Irish-Englishness' that cannot be reduced to either dimension, and which facilitates a flexible identification with both. The book draws attention to the productivity of second-generation Irish creative figures, highlighting the diverse ways in which this generation has helped shaped popular music in England. Existing accounts have neglected to consider this generation's cultural agency, stressing only the impact of the host culture on the migrant group, and thereby overlooking the highly creative ways in which the second-generation have acted upon the host culture. The book explores the creative work of second-generation Irish musicians, drawing on original interviews that the author has conducted with Shane MacGowan, Cait O'Riordan, Kevin Rowland and Johnny Marr. A vast amount of literature has been published on these musicians. However, there has been scarcely any consideration of their work from a specifically second-generation Irish perspective. The book develops innovative analyses of these musicians, presenting their work as a set of interventions and negotiations within the Anglo-Irish interface."

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  • It sounds like a dire exercise in intellectual masturbation with the added benefit of being able to flog a few copies to the 'gullible Morrissey fans' who'll buy anything.

    bailiffwithbadbreath -- Tuesday January 05 2010, @12:38PM (#348730)
    (User #23316 Info)
  • The list is endless. One could certainly find more prominent and important musicians than Kevin Rowlands, not to be rude. How about James Paul McCartney for one, he hasn't done too badly for himself.
    Anonymous -- Tuesday January 05 2010, @01:05PM (#348732)
  • they were born in England. Totally irrelevant. So they had a bit of irish music, country and western as well as the usual rock'n roll of the fifties in their upbringing and probably ate bacon, cabbage and potatoes for dinner. So did I, I'm 2nd gen Irish too but my aunts and uncles lives in Ireland didn't mean a gnats cock to me or my siblings. How far back do we go? Roman Empire? Africa? What a load of bollocks.
    Anonymous -- Tuesday January 05 2010, @01:06PM (#348733)
  • Southpaw Grammar: The school of hard knocks
    Anonymous -- Tuesday January 05 2010, @04:35PM (#348749)
  • bullshit (Score:2, Insightful)

    My parents aren't from England, there from Ireland i was born in England but im a completely different person to them because what makes them Irish is because they were born there and when they went out the house they were surrounded by other Irish people, i wasn't i was surounded by English people... so it doesnt have quite the effect you think it does really, most people on the planet have decent from somewhere else so really its just about where you were born.
    Carly_mc -- Tuesday January 05 2010, @07:47PM (#348757)
    (User #22638 Info)
    "Im smart enough to know how stupid i am"
  • Typical (Score:1, Informative)

    Why is it whenever a new book is announced on this site the knee jerk reaction is to denounce it before having read a single sentence and shower the author with abuse?

    There have been some pointless books over the years (*cough, David Bret*) but equally there've been many which have contained either previously unknown information about Morrissey or thought-provoking theories about the meaning of his work.

    For what it's worth, this sounds like an interesting socialogical pop study and the fact that Johnny Marr has given an interview is in itself a point of interest since he has always spoken about how his and Morrissey's shared Irish ancestry was important to the formation of The Smiths.

    There's no need for all this negativity. If the book proves to be good, buy it, if not then ignore. And if it really upsets you then try and write one yourself and get it published (a la "It should have been me... everybody knows, everybody says so...")

    P.S. I am not Sean Campbell.

    Anonymous -- Wednesday January 06 2010, @03:14AM (#348762)
    • Re:Typical by goinghome (Score:1) Wednesday January 06 2010, @02:07PM
  • Funny (Score:1, Insightful)

    "The book develops innovative analyses of these musicians, presenting their work as a set of interventions and negotiations within the Anglo-Irish interface."

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, what a load of crap.
    Anonymous -- Wednesday January 06 2010, @06:34AM (#348765)
    • Re:Funny by Anonymous (Score:0) Wednesday January 06 2010, @12:58PM
  • Now i have no Irish relation, but alot of what Morrissey says i thought to, so it's not neccesserily 'oh he's got such an Irish mind'!
    Anonymous -- Wednesday January 06 2010, @06:45AM (#348766)
  • ... who have no understanding of this book's subject and why it is relevant.

    Excerpt from Morrissey interview, Hot Press 1984

    His voice is soft with an almost imperceptible light North of England flatness. He is a second generation Irishman, Manchester born and raised. "I find Ireland fascinating. Maybe I shouldn't say this," he laughs, considering the fact that he's going to be quoted in an Irish paper. "Oh, I'll say it anyway, it's one of the most Catholic countries in the world but it's also one of the most repressed, and I think it's quite sad. But to me it's an immensely attractive place, obviously, with having Irish parents as everyone in the group has, we're all deeply imbedded there. I mean most of the people that I ever cared about in literature came from Ireland, for some totally unfathomable reason."

    Anonymous -- Wednesday January 06 2010, @11:53AM (#348776)
  • Some time back, Johnny Rogan did a lecture tour on 'The role of the 2nd Generation Irish in popular music', including case studies of Morrissey, John Lydon, Shane McGowan, Kevin Rowland and Kate Bush. I remember it also ran as a 6 or 8 part series in one of the Irish papers. Are Campbell and Rogan related, by any chance?
    Anonymous -- Friday January 08 2010, @04:54AM (#348883)


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