Next week, the singer-songwriter Morrissey will celebrate his 66th birthday. He has enjoyed a long and fruitful career in music, but at the same time his name has become synonymous with “controversy”. He is the bete noire in an increasingly bland, anodyne and conformist industry.
The music industry is dominated by big and powerful corporations. Consequently, the link between pop music and art has weakened. The record labels are solely motivated by commercial concerns, and this is the reason why he is currently without a recording contract.
He has deliberately cultivated his outsider status, not in a spirit of cynicism or contrarianism, but as a purely artistic principle. Freedom of speech, and freedom of expression includes, as the saying goes, the freedom to say things that others do not want to hear. He makes other people feel uncomfortable, and that is the point. Art exists to challenge. Individuality is scorned in music, and groupthink perpetuates.
It is bizarre to reflect on the amount of abuse and vitriol heaped upon just one artist for daring to express an opinion. It is considered acceptable to share mainstream opinions on political and cultural issues, but it is regarded as unacceptable to deviate or disagree. Modern pop stars resemble clones rather than real people with authentic voices. They are all marketed to fit into narrow boxes.
It is an abhorrent situation which reveals a distinct absence of imagination. The end result is equally distasteful. The product churned out from the record labels does not sound like music at all, rather it is rendered an audible “mush”. These are identical, soulless creations made by computers rather than human beings.
It is obvious that if an industry attempts to create flawless musicians, then the human connection is severed. The whole process is fake and artificial, and alienates the listener. On the other hand, if the industry allows its artists to reveal their human side then the listener can relate and empathise, and the link is strengthened. Morrissey has not deliberately “courted controversy” as the media like to claim, he has just been honest about how he feels about the world. His feelings are shared by many people.
The media are not representative of society, they are not the spokespeople. Sometimes they convince themselves that they understand, and suggest that they reflect our views. However, like the music industry, they are simply a corporate business. They do not exist to enhance our wellbeing, only to make a profit from their product. They are not creative or imaginative people either, most journalists write basic, formulaic pieces. Again, it is purely a commercial, rather than an artistic product.
Dull, unimaginative people lack the intelligence to understand the unique importance of art. It is tragic, but it is also comical to read the levels of ignorance that emanate from the critics. Unfortunately narrow minded people are very fond of stereotypes, and are perplexed when there are individuals who do not fit their ideas of how certain people should express themselves. They have a peculiar fixation on group identities, which are inventions themselves.
The criticism has just provided Morrissey with yet more material to base songs around, like his hero Oscar Wilde he uses wit and subversion in his writing. However this just goes over the heads of the literal minded who fail to recognise irony. Wilde, the Irish born outsider who charmed the English intelligentsia was ultimately scorned by the very people who made his literary career. The British Establishment did not realise at the time that his apparent polite drawing room comedies were actually satirical dramas in disguise. Hopefully Morrissey, rather than the behemoth enterprise that calls itself the recording industry will have the last laugh.
