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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January 2- Earliest ever Smiths gig review? City Fun 1983 - Manchester District Music Archive (30)
- "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" #93 - Pitchfork Top 100 Tracks of 2009; Year in News (4)
- XFM's top 1,000 songs of all time - Morrissey/Smiths (8)
- You Are The Quarry 61st best album of decade - fm4.orf.at (8)
- Guardian features Morrissey among 10 most memorable festival moments (May 2008 article) (6)
- 'Is It Really So Strange?' documentary at Nottingham Contemporary until Jan. 10 (0)
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December 28- "Irish Blood, English Heart" #98 in NME "100 Tracks of the Decade" (19)
- You Are The Quarry #12 in NME "A decade in music – 50 best albums of 2004" (23)
- NME feature Morrissey in "2009 - the year in music" lists (19)
- 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" 8th best song of 2009 at German Online Magazine (5)
- Richard Ashcroft from The Verve on Morrissey Liverpool incident (61)
- Morrissey / Smiths in the media (3)
- Sweet and Tender Hooligans in San Diego CA (Dec. 31), Hollywood CA (Jan. 1) (2)
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December 24