Re: Morrissey and his Mexican followers (or on the contingencies of morrissey fans)
> In regard to earlier messages...
> This has nothing to do with "Mexican" followers, rather, it has
> to do with wannabe rockabillies, a lot of which happen to be
> Mexican-Americans living in California. It's just a fad, it'll die out. I
> have no idea how "regular," Morrissey fans are, since I never
> really mingled too much with that crowd outside of the club circuit (...
> and my misconception led me to believe they fell into five categories:
> literate, erudite people; girls (you could say crazy girls as well, as you
> can see that from reading this site); the regular subculture kid (in this
> case anglophile, which could range from any subculture of English decent,
> of course, with a mix of Americana into it); the "regular" guy;
> those with ambivalent sexuality). In the club circuit you get a mix of
> everything, since at venues that play such music you get a mix of
> everything that's British, which would lead you to the assumption that
> subculture kids would mostly be Morrissey fans. Upon going to Morrissey
> show, however, you immediately notice that such an assumption may not be
> completely accurate.
> So what you get is this kind of paradoxical binary relation of Morrissey
> fans -- the wannabe rockabillies who don't know any better, and who
> probably do not listen to any other music outside this spectrum (you can
> even say they're reminiscent of the so called "punks" you see in
> the club circuit), a lot of which happen to be Mexican, as they run in
> packs and use this marginal status as a invocation for the change in his
> fan base (as marginality does have the power to create change). You also
> get these neurotic fans (internet people) on the opposite spectrum who are
> pushing for the same thing.
> I don't know what to say about this. Morrissey obviously transcends and
> confuses the fans' identities. One could go as far as to say that
> Morrissey fans ultimately lack self-identity. Listening and repeating his
> words are a usage of language, but if you don't know this language, you
> have no identity. Do you guys get the point I'm trying to get at? (If you
> still don't, just read some posts with references to things Morrissey
> says.)
> ... just some quick thoughts.
> -d
I think I do see your point, and for the most part I agree. I know what you mean about the Rockabilly's (who most likely don't even know what true rockabilly is),who dress this way because it's an easy enough look to emulate, it looks 'cool' and since Moz sported a similar look at one point they can relate to that.
However, Morrissey seems to influence his bands in very different ways which translates into many kinds of different subculture cliques. In other words, there's no single archetypical Morrissey/Smith fan, there are several which I think is somewhat unusual for a rock/alternative star. I don't know that all of his fans have self-identity problems, I think for any 'star', there are fans who really have this problem, they dress, act, and take on the perceived personality of their idol. But certainly Moz's fans do not share this problem with say the hard core followers of Greatful Dead or Madonna. I find that a certain 'type' of person or personality is drawn to Morrissey and his music but it's not something that can be spotted yards away. He has a very broad fan base and I think this makes him all the more interesting, as are the 'people watching' at his shows. Thank you for your input, it's interesting to get different points of views on this topic.
