Jose Anguiano [email protected] Mexican Blood, American Heart: Listening for Home, Gender and Affect in Chicana/o Smiths/Morrissey fandom

This Night Has Opened My Eyes

On December 10th 2009 Morrissey was in concert in Los Angeles in support of his new release “Swords,” a compilation of previously unreleased B-sides. I ventured out there with two friends acting as research assistants, a video camera, an audio recorder, and a clip board full of research consent forms to see if any fans would talk with me about their Morrissey fandom. We arrived at 3:30pm to find approximately thirty people waiting in line for a show that started at

8:00pm. The low number of fans waiting in line reflected the fact that most fans had reserved seats except for small general admission “pit” at the front of the stage. All the fans in line had general admission tickets and arrived as early as they could to vie for a spot near the front of the

stage. The fans appeared to be of various ethnic backgrounds, ages and styles of dress. I noticed

that whites and Latinos made up most of the fans in line but I would later find much more

diversity in ethnic backgrounds as I went around and talked with fans. Of interest to me right

away was the one African-American woman in line, who would later refuse to even speak to us, the young Latino rockabilly kids in the middle of the pack and the group of white youth that were first in line.

Feeling apprehensive about approaching fans because of my own shyness I waited for one friend to arrive and help with the interviews; so I moved off to the side of the line and sat at

a tree planter where I readied the recording equipment and went over the interview questions. As

I tested all the equipment and checked all the forms were in order a fan named “John”

approached me, introduced himself and asked if I was here for the Morrissey show. I said yes

1 Jose Anguiano [email protected] and before he could interject anything else I rapidly explained my research and asked him to be interviewed. He wanted to say yes but he said he was nervous and that he had never done any media interviews. I told him I was a researcher and explained to him all my questions and purpose. He finally agreed to do an audio only interview if he could smoke while we talked. He was quite nervous but answered all my questions and seemed happy afterwards. John couched his admiration of Morrissey in the famous line “because the music that they constantly play it says nothing to me about my life.” This line is perhaps Morrissey’s most salient lyrics for many

Latinos. John said that none of the music he heard before Morrissey spoke to his experiences.

Later as I spent more time with the people in line I realized why he had approached me:

John created a list of the place in line of all the people who arrived for the general admission

section. When I asked him about the list he said it was a Morrissey concert tradition and that it

kept things orderly. Morrissey’s persona as a genteel and polite Englishman inspired the fans’

attempt at respecting each other’s place in line. The list and its process did generate conflict

however as a group of older white women and their African-American friend resented that others

not in line when they arrived were placed ahead of them because of the list.

After speaking with John I went directly to the front of the line and introduced myself to

a fan named “Travis.” I learned that he and his friend claimed the first place in line by arriving at

5:30am; Travis accompanied his friend whom he regarded as the “true” fan because he planned

to attend all of the Morrissey shows on the west coast. Travis agreed to be interviewed but only

once his friend came back from getting coffee. Travis would later be interviewed on camera but

his friend politely declined. While waiting for Travis to be ready I moved on to the people who

came after Travis. Some people refused to be on video camera so I obliged by using only the

audio recorder. One such case was a 32 year old fan from Mexico City who called himself

2 Jose Anguiano [email protected] “José.” Reluctantly he agreed to be interviewed but only if it was in Spanish. José had scraped together 2,000 dollars to follow the entire Morrissey west coast tour which began in the Pacific

Northwest and moved through much of California and also Las Vegas, Nevada. José was one of several international fans present, a large group of English fans were present but declined to participate in my study. José represents a wider Morrissey fan base in Mexico and Latin America which is potentially much different than the Chicano fan base. What stood out most about José and the other people I talked to that day was there commitment and obsession with Morrissey.

When asked to rate his fandom José refused to quantify his answer in the 1 through 10 scale I set and simply said that it occupied an important part in his life. Following up on this statement José said “whenever Morrissey is around I choose him over family and friends.”

Subsequently, I spoke to Norma who had a Morrissey tattoo on her back and one on her arm. The tattoo on her arm was Morrissey’s portrait adorned in various shades of blue. Tattoos of

Morrissey, lines from songs and autographs were common in this group and Graciela snapped pictures while I asked questions. “Steve,” a middle aged man from Texas, identified himself as

Anglo and Jewish and had traveled alone for a few weeks following the Morrissey tour. He was the oldest person I spoke with and he remarked that he was a few days younger than Morrissey.

“Denise,” a thirty something Catholic school teacher, described her relationship with Morrissey

via the metaphor of Catholicism. She described the “ritual” of a show, such as going vegetarian

for the day in honor of Morrissey. Further, she related an incident in which a roadie threw the

crowd a nearly empty water bottle used by Morrissey. She explained that they passed the bottle

around and drank from it as if it was the communion. Finally, “Eddy” was dressed in a rockabilly

fashion of cuffed jeans, a flannel shirt and pompadour hairstyle. He was 19 years old and said his

3 Jose Anguiano [email protected] favorite song was “The First of the Gang to Die.” When I asked why he said the song reminded him of his older brother who died because of gang violence.

I would like to mention that of course some fans declined to be interviewed. Many

appeared curious about the video camera and audio recorder but for various reasons refused an

interview. One fan said that it was far too personal of a topic and left it at that. I expected more

of this because I know that music can be deeply personal and I was a complete stranger.

However, fans that did speak with me revealed much personal information about what the songs mean to them and why, and I am grateful they felt comfortable enough to speak with me in a public setting. The setting meant that all those around could hear the interviews if they wanted to listen in and inevitably it did influence what others said as when I asked people to rate their fandom they often based it on what others before them had said. Travis, for example, rated himself a 2 on a scale of 1 through 10 because he felt those around him were much bigger fans despite the fact that he had arrived at 5:30am to secure the first place in line. The only awkward moment in asking for an interview occurred towards the end of the night when Graciela and I approached the lone African-American woman in line. Graciela spoke directly to her but she acted like nobody was talking to her so Graciela instead spoke with others in her group who simply said no thank you.

The group that I interacted with represents Morrissey’s most ardent supporters who

commit a great deal of time, money and effort to their fandom. While I found a great variety in

ages, ethnic backgrounds, hometowns and style of dress all were extremely passionate about

Morrissey and felt that his music had impacted their lives for the better. Some spoke of the songs’ messages as when “Travis” said he sympathizes with the sentiments of the song “America

Is Not the World,” and the lyrics “Where the president is never black, female or gay/And until

4 Jose Anguiano [email protected] that day you have nothing to say to me.” Others spoke of being comforted by Morrissey’s music

as when “Norma” spoke of being reassured when she was depressed in college. Some fans

claimed that they took up vegetarianism, read Oscar Wilde (a favorite of Morrissey) and even changed their demeanor. Case in point was Travis who claimed he was a kinder and gentler person because of Morrissey’s music.

This ethnographic vignette introduces us to the diverse group of fans that fervently follow the music career of Morrissey. Once the venue doors opened and the masses arrived it was clear that a large percentage of the two thousand seat auditorium was filled by Chicanos/Latinos.

Upon taking the stage Morrissey acknowledged his Latino audience by introducing himself as

“George López,” a reference to the fact he had appeared on the comedian’s late night talk show

the previous night and a wink to his Latino fans. By this concert date Morrissey was well aware

of his legion of Chicana/o followers in Los Angeles and wherever Chicanos congregate to listen

to retro British rock music but the question for this chapter is, to quote David Byrne of the

Talking Heads, well, how did we get here?

There is a Light That Never Goes Out

One of the histories of how Latino1 youth in Los Angeles and surrounding areas became

some of Steven Patrick Morrissey’s most ardent followers has its roots in the dour streets of

Manchester England in the early 1980s. In 1982 Morrissey, or Moz as he is referred to by fans,

joined up with guitarist Johnny Marr to form the Smiths to express their discontent with the

music and society that surrounded them and offer a new vision of both. The Smiths emerged

shortly after the height of disco and punk in an era dominated by synthesizer pop music (e.g.

Kraftwerk) and gloomy post punk (e.g. Joy Division), and they soon reintroduced guitar based

melodies with Marr’s penchant for layering resonant harmonies. Marr’s riffs set the musical

5 Jose Anguiano [email protected] foundation for Morrissey’s unique crooner vocals coupled with well-read tongue-in-check quips.

Together they produced a truly unique sound. The duo selected the name “the Smiths” to

simultaneously signify mundane “Englishness” and contempt for bands with long pompous

names.2 Marr’s catchy guitar based melodies coupled with Morrissey’s angst driven lyrics,

unconventional subject matter and enigmatic persona catapulted the Smiths into chart success

and pop idol status in the U.K. By the time the group disbanded in 1987 they had recorded five

critically and commercially successful albums with several top ten singles, and perhaps just as important, a cultish fan base. Like most rock bands from England—since the Beatles—the

Smiths entered the American market via the established transnational circuits of music commodities: radio, concerts, record shops and television appearances.3

With substantial airplay on “alternative” rock stations and college radio, MTV coverage

and touring in the U.S., the Smiths quickly made a significant impact on the alternative music

scene in the U.S. In fact, Spin magazine (1989) rated the Smith’s The Queen Is Dead album as

the greatest album ever made, among other accolades from the music press. Many music critics

consider the Smiths the most important band to come from England during the 1980s.4 As the

popularity of the Smiths spread through media channels and word of mouth, an unexplained rift

developed between Morrissey and Marr that signaled the end of productive duo and group. After

the Smiths’ split in 1987 Morrissey forged on with a topsy-turvy solo career, releasing six

albums in the 1990s with mixed results. Ironically, as his popularity among music fans in the

U.K. and U.S. grew, his image and credibility became increasingly under attack by tabloids and

the media in the U.K. It was therefore in the late 1990s that Morrissey exiled himself in Los

Angeles’ Hollywood Hills in the midst of intense scrutiny over his political views and his

personal life (i.e. his sexual preferences), accusations of racism, and a lawsuit from a former

6 Jose Anguiano [email protected] band member; this exile effectively ended his musical career.5 Or at least this should have been the end of Morrissey which critics had labeled an eccentric “has been,” but even before

Morrissey retreated to L.A. his music had begun to resonate with an unexpected audience.

By the 1990s Morrissey and the Smiths had been common household names for millions of teenagers and young adults in Southern California, a large percentage of which were Latino.

This is partly explained by Los Angeles based English-language radio station KROQ that frequently played the Smiths/Morrissey and other new wave English bands such as Depeche

Mode and New Order during the 1980s and continued to play this music during “flashback” programming. Yet, of all the music of the era why does the forlorn music of the Smiths and

Morrissey produce such ardent Chicano followers? As KROQ transmitted Morrissey’s melancholic lines, set to Marr’s “jangly” guitar across Southern California, the music resonated in a Chicana/o audience KROQ overlooked. For despite notable Chicano contributions to rock

‘n’ roll—from Ritchie Valens to Question Mark and the Mysterians through Carlos Santana, Los

Lobos and Ozomatli, to name a few—Chicanos, and Latinos in general, have never been taken seriously as an audience for rock music.6 This disregard of U.S. Latinos as consumers and listeners of rock music operates on many levels and through various discourses that legitimize the invisibility of the Latino rock fan. Prevalent among them, and informing many others, are:

(1) rock’s long standing black/white dichotomy, (2) the music industry’s short-sightedness that keeps them from signing Latino bands or marketing rock to a Latino audience, and (3) “sonic stereotypes” about what type of music Chicanos/Latinos listen to and consume.

It is within this context that inexplicably and unintentionally, Morrissey’s passionate themes of disappointment, rejection, isolation, and contradiction reach a young Mexican-

American audience coming of age in a racialized, marginalized, and impoverished environ of

7 Jose Anguiano [email protected] Los Angeles. The majority of Moz’s Latino fans come from the working-class neighborhoods of

South L.A., Orange County and the vast eastern corridor that runs from East Los Angeles into

the Inland Empire. Depictions of Southern California as Hollywood glamour and affluent

Westside suburbs veil these communities; Sandra Tsing-Loh playfully calls this other L.A.

“lesser Los Angeles.”7 While Morrissey’s Latino fan base is a remarkably diverse group, as

outlined below, it can be argued that Morrissey’s most fervent and active followers come from

the city’s most segregated, underprivileged and disenfranchised sectors.8 Over a century of racist policies segregated Chicanos into marginalized communities, but sound waves and popular

culture penetrated the social and physical barriers of the barrio. Tuning into the radio, buying bootlegged CDs, sharing music, Chicanos built a dynamic fan culture that appropriated

Morrissey and the Smiths as their own music. Consequently, in the early 1990s Chicano/Latino youth in East L.A, the Inland Empire, Orange County and other parts of the L.A. metropolitan area built a rabid fan culture complete with its own aesthetic, events, and social groups—a largely independent and corporate free scene.

This chapter provides an outsider/insider ethnographic account of the Smiths/Morrissey music scene in Southern California. Utilizing in-depth interviews with Latino fans, field note observations from concerts and music events and cultural productions by fans I highlight the key elements of this music scene and investigate why this music resonates with young Chicanos and what this music choice signifies for Chicanos in a post movimiento era. The social-sonic

metaphor of resonance works much like a tuning fork that attunes our ears to listen for identity,

affect, pleasure, place, race and space as they resonate through Chicana/o Morrissey fandom.

Listening in includes asking important questions about what we hear: What does it mean that the

music of the Smiths and Morrissey is the soundtrack of choice for many Chicanas/os in Los

8 Jose Anguiano [email protected] Angeles? How does this affect personal and collective notions of what it means to be Chicana/o

or Mexican-American in Los Angeles? How are common notions of Chicano identity and

Chicano music “remixed” when we listen in to the soundtrack of this Chicano community and

hear the gloomy British sounds of “There is a Light That Never Goes Out,” “Still Ill,” “Heaven

Knows I’m Miserable Now,” and “Is It Really So Strange?”? What does it mean that

Chicanas/os—especially men—often feel they can only be emotionally vulnerable through the

music of a fey Englishman? Or that the city of Los Angeles is claimed through the music of

British pop star?

Despite some clear differences between Morrissey and his Chicano fan base there are

many biographical and contextual connections to be made between Chicanos and Morrissey such

as the fact that in many ways to grow up an Irish Catholic immigrant in a working-class

neighborhood in Manchester, as Morrissey did, has some similarities to growing up Chicano in

the Eastside of Los Angeles. Indeed, documentarian William E. Jones in his recent film on

Chicano/Latino Morrissey fans titled Is It Really So Strange? argues that perhaps the strongest

connection between Morrissey and Chicanos is the similarity between a destitute post-industrial

Manchester and an equally destitute Eastside that extends into the Inland Empire. A fan Jones

interviews playfully comments: “I think it’s funny that he’s so far away from us but he’s just like

us. There’s nothing different, except the fact that he doesn’t speak Spanish.”9 However, fans do

not know about these connections when they first hear the music; instead many fans said that the music and lyrics captured them, a sentimental identification occurred between the listener and

Morrissey. Thus, the central thesis of this chapter will be to demonstrate how listening to

Morrissey produces powerful affective connections on personal and social consciousness and to

9 Jose Anguiano [email protected] examine how Morrissey’s Chicano fan base provides significant insights into the social and political realities of growing up Chicana/o in Southern California.

Therefore, given the above statements, what is so remarkable about a group of youth that come together through their enjoyment of the Smiths and Morrissey’s music? Several issues are at stake in the analysis of Chicano/Latino Morrissey fans: (1) it illuminates the complex and contested terrain of cultural appropriations in a transnational world; (2) it provides the opportunity to examine how cultural studies theories of consumption, pleasure and aesthetics play out “on the ground” in a popular music fan culture and (3), it re-imagines Chicano music from the frame of reference of what Chicanos listen to as opposed to what they produce.

Ultimately, an ostensibly innocuous act (listening to music) is in reality a contentious social act: not because the fans are overtly political but rather because popular music is so intimately intertwined with the charged politics of race, nation, and culture.10 Gustavo Arellano of the

Orange County Weekly has claimed that media coverage of Chicano Smiths and Morrissey fans is “universally condescending, if not outright racist.”11 Nor is the first time that Chicanos have been attacked on the basis of their fandom. One recent example being the unfortunate comments

Howard Stern made in reference to Chicano adoration of Tejana diva Selena and the media’s general bewilderment at the outpouring of grief in the Chicano community.12 Both Morrissey fans and Selena fans are examples of what José Esteban Muñoz calls the “affective excess” that marks Latinos as non-normative and therefore un-American.13

Music is frequently employed by political and cultural elites as a signifier of supposed unified traditions, values and customs in attempt to shore up ethno-racial national identities. The music of the Smiths and Morrissey is also hailed in the service of national and racial projects.

The “dominant listening ear” identified by Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman hears The Smiths as

10 Jose Anguiano [email protected] sonically embodying “white Englishness.”14 Which is to say that the cultural gatekeepers such as music critics, record company executives and uber-fans hear (and subsequently see) in the

Smiths and Morrissey: English whiteness, working-class masculinity and a pre-multicultural

England. Yet, due to the dynamic, fluid, and accessible nature of popular music, its meanings, uses and pleasures are never fully controlled or defined. Chicano Morrissey fans disregard the racial boundaries that would keep them from rock music and other “non-Latino” music. As the

British school of cultural studies has eloquently championed, the meaning, value and pleasure of popular culture is continuously contested, negotiated and potentially subversive despite a comprehensive effort to structure consumer behavior.15 In the case of music, the music industry consistently attempts to divide listeners along racial lines.16 Yet, just as corporations cannot control the meanings generated from listening they also cannot control who will listen.

Chicano/Latino Morrissey fandom complicates and redefines this early work because of a necessity to read many of the same practices within a racialized and transnational context.

Finally, the relatively new and emerging study of Latino audiences will no doubt reveal unique practices, relationships and identities vis-à-vis popular culture.17 These insights will no doubt reshape how we think of Chicanos and Latinos but also the popular cultural mediums as well.

Although it may be tempting to describe a “subculture” at this point I have eschewed the term for two reasons: Latino Morrissey fans have a range of identification modes and intensities of engagement in contrast with the uniform descriptions and practices of the classic subculture studies involving punks, mods, teddy boys and skinheads, and subcultural theory has been recently problematized around, for instance, issues of race, and “coloniality of power.”18 This diversity of expression and engagement makes it impossible to describe a unitary movement as with the above examples (assuming they ever existed as such). Indeed, there is no singular

11 Jose Anguiano [email protected] identification term for Latino Smiths/Morrissey fans; instead there is a variety of associated social groups and a range of participation. Furthermore, although there are some clear markers of

differentiation, I strive to avoid essentializing a particular group of fans or music scene. British

cultural studies, which produced Subculture studies, played a critical role in revealing working- class struggles, popular culture trends, and youth movements vis-à-vis debates about hegemony,

ideology, and culture. Yet its application to Chicano culture within an American context has

clear limits.19 Thus, in the face of complex racialized histories, uneven transnational culture

flows and globalized identities unaccounted for in subcultural theory I avoid classifying Latino

Moz fans as a “subculture.”

The term itself has come under scrutiny by Chicana scholars. Cultural critic Alicia

Gaspar de Alba argues that the term subculture demeans Chicano culture by suggesting that it is

beneath (sub) and therefore inferior to dominant white culture.20 Subcultures have been traditionally theorized as off-shoots of a parent or dominant culture but in this context such a formulation erases a long cultural history in the America’s that predates the Puritans and the U.S. by several centuries.21 Gaspar de Alba challenges this erasure by naming Chicano culture an

“alter-Native” culture, an Other indigenous culture of el norte that is “not immigrant but native,

not foreign but colonized, not alien but different from the overarching hegemony of white

America.”22 Thus, informed by the ideological project of subculture studies yet trying to account

for its limitations it has been more useful to use the emerging scholarship on fan cultures and

music “scenes.”

Building on the research of subcultures, fan culture studies or fandom studies, is the study

of specific social and cultural interactions, institutions and communities that have formed

through the close interaction of committed groups of fans in a subcultural context.23 Cornel

12 Jose Anguiano [email protected] Sandvoss defines a fan as someone with a regular and emotionally involved consumption of a

given narrative or text.24 Critical to my discussion of Latino Smiths/Morrissey Fan culture

studies allows me to explore the heterogeneity of being a Latino Smiths/Morrissey fan.

Although, there are aesthetic markers of identification for Smiths/Morrissey fans, not all adhere

to one definition of what constitutes a Smiths/Morrissey fan. Useful in this discussion is Matt

Hills’ observation that fan culture studies often use a fan spectrum to try an account for casual

fans, cultists and everything in between the two extremes.25 In general, fan culture studies

provides a nuanced approach to analyze the ways in which fans create community, define

fandom, engage with specific popular culture forms and build personal and collective identities

through fandom.

Also instructive in the study of how fan communities form is the work of Will Straw on

music “scenes,” which is defined as “that cultural space in which a range of musical practices

coexist, interacting with each other within a variety of processes of differentiation, and according

to widely varying trajectories of change and cross-fertilization.”26 As will be detailed below,

Morrissey fans in Southern California can be described as a music scene given that different

types of fans come together to carve out city spaces to listen to the Smiths and Morrissey. Straw

argues that music scenes can develop alliances with other musical styles and affective links to

dispersed geographic locations most notably along class and taste lines—what Straw labels

“coalitions of musical taste.”27 These transnational links allow for Morrissey scenes to emerge in

the U.K., in Los Angeles, and Latin America. These links can also happen regionally as when

Texas Chicana rockers Girl in a Coma are recognized by L.A. Chicano rockers as belonging to the same aesthetic family.

13 Jose Anguiano [email protected] Also, G.H. Lewis argues that the correlation between social class and musical preferences

can no longer be taken for granted in our globalized world. “In such a society, under conditions

of relatively high social mobility, greater discretionary income, easy credit, efficient distribution

of goods, high diffusion rate of cultural products, conspicuous consumption, and a greater

amount of leisure time, the link between social and cultural structures becomes a question, not a

given.”28 Although it is clear that the above conditions do not apply to everyone, Lewis does

develop a useful method of explaining how taste patterns emerge. Lewis identifies three key

dimensions that largely shape taste: demographics, aesthetics and politics. Demographics, Lewis

explains, such as age, race and locality form taste patterns even across class markers. The aesthetic dimension refers to the personal and contextual process by which one genre of music becomes more aesthetically meaningful than other forms. Finally, the political dimension represents how listeners perceive themselves vis-à-vis the dominant society by what music they listen to. For example, punk music may represent standing in opposition to mainstream values.

Throughout this paper I apply Lewis’ taste dimensions by exploring the context of growing up

Latino in Southern California, asking fans to explain why Morrissey’s music resonates in their lives and interrogating what their music choice says about how they position themselves politically.

Keeping the above theoretical background in mind I examine in the next section some of the dynamics in Moz Angeles. My analysis of Morrissey fan culture is based on extensive field work and research I have undertaken and includes: ethnographic observation, interviews with fans, news-print articles, documentaries and Internet forums. Over the course of three years I attended three Morrissey concerts, the annual Smiths/Morrissey fan convention in Los Angeles, two concerts for Chicano-led tribute band the Sweet and Tender Hooligans, and night club

14 Jose Anguiano [email protected] events dedicated to this music. Across these events and interviews hosted on a California university campus I spoke to a total of twenty fans ranging between the ages of 18-35.

Furthermore, thorough reviews of media related to Chicana/o Morrissey fans contextualized my findings into wider discussions about Chicana/o representation in media.

Moz Angeles: We look to Los Angeles…London is Dead

When Morrissey sang: “We look to Los Angeles/ For the language we use/ London is dead/ London is dead” on the track “Glamorous Glue” from 1992’s album Your Arsenal he not only foreshadows his exodus from England but also unwittingly the rise of a largely Latino fan culture in Los Angeles. Los Angeles was always a key market for Morrissey and was cultivated through touring, radio and record sales. In addition, with his continued troubled life in the U.K.

Los Angeles gradually became the epicenter of Smtihs/Morrissey fandom. Morrissey’s Los

Angeles fan base (Latino and non-Latino alike) continued to expand in the 1990s and reached its peak with Morrissey’s arrival circa 1998. Through the 1990s the Smiths’ and Morrissey’s popularity grew over time across the city yet the most active and dynamic fan base was built by

Chicano/Latino fans that created a dynamic and expressive fan culture around their idol even when the music industry and music critics largely ignored Morrissey. When Morrissey arrived in

Los Angeles, he was without a formal record contract or band. After the 1997 release of his album, Maladjusted, Morrissey goes on hiatus until 2004 when he reappears with his You Are the

Quarry album release. It can be argued that Chicano/Latino fans sustained and resurrected

Morrissey’s career despite limited radio play, a musical gap of several years and the scorn of music critics.29 The practice of sustaining an artist when they have lost mainstream marketability recurs throughout Chicano music history. In Land of a Thousand Dances Waldman and Reyes

15 Jose Anguiano [email protected] describe how black R&B singer Brenton Wood performed long after he had any hits on the radio

due to an extremely loyal Chicano community in East L.A. who supported him for a long period

of time attending shows, purchasing his music and making requests on the “oldies” station.30

Brenton Wood classics such as “Gimme Little Sign” or “You and Me” have become staples of

Chicano musical life as the music is played at the park, in cars, at weddings and parties and passed down form one generation to the next. Listening against the grain, the Chicano

community has had an engagement with popular music that runs counter to elitist and

consumerist practice of ceaselessly seeking out new and trendy music and relegating all “old”

music to the dust bins of obscurity. In a similar manner to Chicana/o Brenton Wood fans of the

1960s, to be a Morrissey fan in the 1980s and 1990s meant to musically cross racial boundaries

and mainstream notions of “good music.”

Additionally, sustained and passionate support of an artist can also lay claim to spaces

such as cities and neighborhoods by having certain artists or songs become the soundtrack of

daily life and a definitive marker of an era. Music often creates the most salient moods or

feelings of eras and spaces—what Raymond Williams called the “structures of feeling.”31 I argue that through collective listening Chicano fans were able to sonically mark and alter the city of

Los Angeles. Chicano fans of Morrissey laid claim on the city by re-naming it after their idol:

Los Angeles was transformed into Moz Angeles, a temporary sonic refuge that allowed Chicano fans to sway gladiola flowers in the air to their new wave idol. Moz Angeles exemplifies what

Josh Kun calls an “audiotopia,”32 the imaginary and real spaces made possible by music, where

Chicano fans find safety (however fleeting) from racism, xenophobia, angst, alienation and the

policing of pop music that tells them they aren’t the “proper” listeners for Morrissey’s music.

Ironically, Chicanos, among the city’s oldest yet routinely disparaged residents, claimed the City

16 Jose Anguiano [email protected] of Angels on behalf of and through a British outsider. Morrissey, then, functioned as a sonic

Trojan horse to lay claim to the city. Thus, when Morrissey exclaimed “We Look to Los

Angeles,” he may not have seen a Chicano/Latino fan base but they heard and saw him coming.

With Latinos leading the charge Los Angeles was transformed into Moz Angeles.

As Latinos began to identify with the music and lyrics of Morrissey it became a way of defining who you were to others: to listen to the Smiths and Morrissey soon became a look, an

attitude, a “way of being.” Despite what some fans describe as an initial resistance towards

admitting they were fans of the Smiths and Morrissey because of the notion that it was “white

music,” many individual fans soon realized that many other Chicanos listened to and enjoyed the

same music. Paradoxically, Morrissey’s music has often been described as dreary and depressing

music for loners and social misfits yet it inspired the Chicano/Latino community to collectively

revel in their own misery and affinity for a pale British gent with a penchant for melodrama.33 I argue that explanation for Chicana/o Morrissey fandom lies at the intersection of both the socially bleak context of being Chicano during the era of proposition 187, and the longstanding

aesthetic affinities for British rock music and melodrama in Mexican/Chicano popular culture.

Through music, fashion, and tattoos Chicanas and Chicanos coolly brooded over their own

existence through Morrissey’s emotive persona.

The expression and performance of fandom took on many forms including: a fashion

style, tattoos, club events and other social events, the formation of cliques, tribute bands, the

collection of Smiths/Moz paraphernalia, and more recently, participation in online forums and

fan sites. One of the first trends to emerge was the use of clothes and hair style to mark oneself

as a fan of Morrissey and other alternative rock music. Initially, many fans tried to emulate the

dress style of Morrissey himself preferring to wear dark clothing, especially black shirts (as a

17 Jose Anguiano [email protected] reference to one Morrissey’s most memorable lines: I wear black on the outside, because black is

how I feel on the inside), dark colored sweaters, print button-up shirts, blue jeans and Doc

Marten boots. His female fans usually aimed for a vintage 1980s look of “fluffy” or “ruffled”

dresses and hair styles featuring bangs. Tee shirts with Morrissey’s or the Smiths’ likeness were

also popular.34 A fan I interviewed, who I will call Mary, described being identified by other fans

through her clothing. She recalled meeting her would-be boyfriend at a supermarket after he

approached her and said “you’re a Morrissey fan aren’t you, I can tell by the way you dress.”35

Indeed, tee shirts with Morrissey’s likeness might be the most ubiquitous and obvious visual marker for Morrissey fans. If Chloe Veltman is correct that Morrissey fandom involves a near religious fervor than the Morrissey tee shirt functions as a catholic scapular.36 The scapular is

dedicated to particular saints, identifies one as a member of a particular religious order, bestows

blessings to the faithful and inculcates a sense that one’s actions are observed. In this same way

Morrissey’s image identifies the faithful, is blessed by his music and acts as a moral guide to

fans. On many tee shirts Morrissey’s visage prominently watches fans and surveys Moz Angeles

(see figure 1). Morrissey’s moral influence is most evident in the issues that Morrissey has

championed such as vegetarianism, feminism, and pacifism. One fan interviewed before a

concert said he was “a gentler and kinder” person because that’s what Morrissey advocates.

Another fan claimed she became a vegetarian for several years because of Morrissey’s dogmatic

view that “meat is murder.” While she is no longer a vegetarian she ritualistically becomes

vegetarian for the day each time she attends a concert.

18 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

Figure 1 Morrissey fan with Moz tee shirt

Additionally, Morrissey’s iconic pompadour hair style is also one of the most recognizable markers of Morrissey fandom. Moz’s coif signaled his admiration of 1950s

American rockabilly culture and this cue was not lost on his Latino audience. Chicanos in the concurrent rockabilly scene, or what Nicholas Centino has dubbed “razabilly,” were drawn to

Morrissey’s genuflections to rockabilly sound and iconography.37 These rockabilly Morrissey

fans looked to 1950s icons such as James Dean and Elvis Presley but also to pachuco culture as

inspirations for style and swagger. The trend included the use of cuffed blue jeans, bomber

jackets, belt chains, Harley Davidson Boots, white tee shirts, and greased up “ducktail” hair.

Female fans followed suit and donned 1950s polka dot dresses and shirts, curled up hair-dos, and

cat-eye glasses. More than a rehashing of the look popularized in the film Grease; it is instead a hybrid aesthetic that borrows from the rockabilly, punk, a general “alternative” style and also an older pachuco/cholo cool. The pachuco/a influence is best illustrated in the style of Latina fans who wear dresses and style their hair in nearly identical ways to pachucas of the 40s and 50s.

19 Jose Anguiano [email protected] This particular style would be picked up by many of the youth that began forming cliques and

crews.

For many fans the aesthetic performance of fandom in clothes, hair styles, shoes and

swagger did not go far enough in demonstrating their commitment to fandom and admiration for

Morrissey. These fans looked to the indelible mark of tattoos. Although the media has at times

used fan tattoos as evidence of deranged or hysterical behavior there is no denying fan tattoos of

Morrissey’s visage, song lyrics, album covers, inspired symbols and autographs are quite common in the scene.38 Below are photographs of fan tattoos taken before a concert in December

of 2009:

Figure 2. "No, it’s not like any other love" -Morrissey

20 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

Figure 3. Morrissey autograph tattoo

Figure 4. "I have Forgiven Jesus"

21 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

Figure 5. "Let me Live"

Figure 6. "Before I Die"

The images above demonstrate the various styles of tattoos. Figure 2 displays a tattoo that

reads “No its[sic] not like any other love—Morrissey.” The fan explained that she met Morrissey

and had him write something on her arm with a sharpie and she in turn had this permanently

etched into her body. The phrase Morrissey scribbled on her arm are lyrics from the song “Hand

in Glove” which speaks vaguely of a secret love affair (of an unknown kind) that would be seen as taboo by society. Using his own lyrics Morrissey is cleverly describing his own relationship

with fans. Figure 3 is also an autograph turned tattoo, this time simply the artist’s name. These

22 Jose Anguiano [email protected] types of tattoos are quite common and function as the ultimate proof of having met Morrissey

and having the passion and commitment to memorialize the encounter.

Morrissey’s poignant lyrics are also a classic source of tattoo images. Figure 4. Features a tattoo that reads “I have forgiven Jesus,” on a banner that wraps around a cross and is adorned

with music notes and a heart at the bottom of the cross that resembles the sacred heart of catholic

iconography. The words are again a reference to a song, in this case to, “I Have Forgiven Jesus”

off 2004’s You Are the Quarry Album. In the satirical song Morrissey claims to have forgiven

Jesus for “all the desire/He placed in me when there's nothing I can do/With this desire.” The

ironic lyrics of the song indicate a questioning of the Catholic tradition that may resonate with

many Chicano fans that grew up with catholic dogma but have become ambivalent about the

teachings and philosophies of the church. Figures 5 and 6 also come from the same fan and are

yet another lyrical reference. “Let me live before I die,” is the heart-broken request from the song

“That’s How People Grow Up” from Years of Refusal. The lyrics not only speak to the fan’s

emotional commitment to their favorite songs but also to the use of arcane lyrics (and the ability

to recognize them) as a filter that separates the casual fan from the die hard.

Although tattoos are often viewed as extreme or deviant behavior the growing acceptance

of tattoos as body art among younger generations and their long associations with alternative

music scenes removes much of the stigma and taboo over body ink. Moreover, tattoos have a

long history of establishing group membership in, for example, the military, gangs, and in tribal

societies. It is interesting to note that figure 4 (“I have forgiven Jesus) is in many ways similar to the common pachuco tattoo of a cross adorned with three dots or dashes that signified “my crazy life.” The “crazy life” itself can be read as a reference to their musical preference for jump-blues and boogie-woogie. Instead, the Morrissey fan’s pachuco cross is adorned with music notation

23 Jose Anguiano [email protected] and a sacred heart. Much like the pachuco and pachuca, the tattoo demarcates a musical affinity

and social affiliation with like minded fans.

Socially oriented Morrissey fans began to associate with and create cliques around the

related 1950s rockabilly culture or simply as an appreciation for Morrissey. Some groups tilted towards the rockabilly style and were commonly referred to as “greasers,” presumably for the close emulation of the look popularized by John Travolta in Grease.39 But more than John

Travolta the greasers attempted to emulate the swagger and coolness of James Dean a la Rebel

Without a Cause because Morrissey also idolized James Dean and because Dean represents a

more “authentic” version of the 50s and personifies the brooding outsider qualities that

Morrissey and his fans celebrate. James Dean also represents a potential hidden connection between Morrissey and Chicanos. The theory goes like this: The aesthetic associated with James

Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause persona is appropriated from the 1940s and 1950s Chicano youth culture, Dean and his style get picked up in the British revival of rockabilly in the early 1980s.

Later Morrissey openly idolizes Dean and incorporates rockabilly musicians into his band.40

Chicano culture comes full circle then with Morrissey selling back a “whitewashed” Chicano culture to contemporary Chicano fans.

It can be argued as well that British appropriation of the rockabilly style in the early

1980s re-ignites youth interest in the retro “American” and Chicano popular culture. As such they paid tribute to glamorized icons such as James Dean but also to the pachuco. Chicano youth cliques fittingly gave themselves names such as “the Deans” and incorporated pachuco and cholo aesthetics as well. Some Morrissey fan groups would play with different styles to create a greaser/cholo/mod hybrid look. Slick back hair, Dickies jackets or blazers, retro dress shirts, converse shoes and Moz tee shirts were central to this style. Groups with names such as “the

24 Jose Anguiano [email protected] Handsome Devils,” or “Moz Krew” would fall under this category. The primary purpose of the

groups was to attend social events such as club nights dedicated to the music of the Smiths and

Morrissey, private parties, the annual Smiths/Moz convention and concerts.

In addition to creating an aesthetic fan cultures often use social events to further engage

in fandom as a collective process of exchange and consumption and as a means of claiming

space for the fan culture. As Moz Angeles crystallized into a fan culture the need for events and

spaces to listen to the Smiths/Moz, display your fandom (via clothes, hair, tattoos, etc) and

engage with other fans was largely satisfied through organic means and largely without corporate

sponsorship. The noticeable rise of the fan culture pushed some clubs to cater to this crowd by

hosting Smiths/Morrissey dedication nights. At Moz nights (in clubs and bars), British themed clubs and concerts the Chicano/Latino fan base was always undeniably present and represented the majority of attendees. “Club London” in downtown Los Angeles, for example, catered to the demand of fans wanting to listen to the Smiths and Morrissey along with other new wave alternative music from the 1980s. Journalist Rachel Elder describes her sojourn to Club London as one of surprise and puzzlement as she ironically remarks that “it’s not everyday you feel old, white, and endangered in a place called ‘Club London.’”41

In addition to club events fans also created an annual Smiths/Morrissey fan convention.

The 1997 convention held in Pasadena, CA, was the first convention of its kind in the U.S. and

attended by an estimated 2,000 people. Venders’ tables displayed every conceivable type of

Smiths/Morrissey trinket or collectable and authentic memorabilia (set lists, records, a snare

drum used at a show) was auctioned off. Other activities included the showing of old Smiths

footage from the band’s early days, a performance by a tribute band and the special appearance

of former Smiths band members Mike Joyce (drums) and Andy Rourke (Bass).42 Mike and Andy

25 Jose Anguiano [email protected] fielded questions from fans in a Q&A session and ten lucky fans had dinner with them at Hard

Rock Café. While Mike and Andy were the highlight for many fans, this event also saw the rise

of a local tribute band calling themselves “the Sweet and Tender Hooligans” fronted by the self-

proclaimed biggest Morrissey fan: José Maldonado.

Formed in 1992 the Sweet and Tender Hooligans, comprised of José Maldonado, Lee

Burkhart, Jeff Stodel Jr., Dave Collett and Danny Garcia have been dubbed the “ultimate tribute

to Morrissey and the Smiths,” have toured the U.S., the U.K. and Tijuana, Mexico and continue

to perform for enthusiastic fans in Southern California. The L.A.Weekly named the Sweet and

Tender Hooligans the best cover band in Los Angeles, in 2003; they have been featured in

several documentaries and have been acknowledged by Morrissey.43 Front man José Maldonado,

life guard by trade, is the oldest of six children and hails from Burbank, a city located in the San

Fernando Valley of Southern California. As the vocalist for the group, Maldonado transforms himself into Morrissey by mimicking Morrissey’s voice, dress, dance moves and wry banter to

the audience. His close-to-life performances have garnered him the nickname “the Mexican

Morrissey,” which he explains comes from a shared concert with El Vez, the Mexican-American

Elvis interpreter.44 The verisimilitude of his performance and the band’s commitment to sound

like their idol inspires their loyal following of fans to behave as if they were at a Morrissey

concert. Jeff Stodel Jr., rhythm guitarists in the band, describes the intense reaction by young

Chicano fans:

I don’t know of any other cover band where the audience actually emulates the audience of the original act. It seems obvious to me that no one actually believes that we are the real thing—all though we sound pretty close to the real thing—I mean, people’s belief is not that suspended where they forget and actually act that way. But it’s almost like this sort of ritual thing that people will come and people will do the same things they would do to Morrissey at a live Morrissey performance if they had the opportunity. We don’t have security guards preventing them from doing that.45

26 Jose Anguiano [email protected] Fan Elias Kotsios reiterated the sentiment when he told the Los Angeles Times: “To me, José is

one of the closest living things to Morrissey in the way he acts and moves. In our scene, José's

huge. It's like Moz is really performing there.”46 Ultimately, Maldonado and the band see

themselves as devoted fans committed to re-creating all of the different aspects of a Morrissey

show. The band has gone as far as buying one of Johnny Mar’s guitars at auction to ensure their performances are as authentic as possible.47 Furthermore, as a nod to José’s roots the Sweet and

Tender Hooligans have recorded several Smiths/Morrissey songs in Spanish, such as “There is a

Light That Never Goes Out” and “Lost.” The Sweet and Tender Hooligan’s Spanish-language version of “There is a Light” is more than another cover song for Maldonado selected to use the lyrics of the Spanish cover by Mikel Erentxun “Esta Luz Nunca Se Apagra” instead of translating the song himself. Thus, we have a Chicano covering a Spaniard, covering Morrissey.

Through Maldonado and the Sweet and Tender Hooligans, then, the disparate rock en español and alternative rock scenes that form part of the Chicano rock legacy are momentarily harmonized and held together in the way they’ve always co-existed in the lives of young

Chicanos in Southern California. Moreover, because Maldonado’s trademark is his ability to emulate Morrissey’s voice the result is fans get to imagine and hear what Morrissey would sound like if he sung in Spanish.

27 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

Figure 7. Sweet and Tender Hooligan’s Concert. Copyright LA Times 2000

The Sweet and Tender Hooligans still carry the Smiths and Morrissey torch for a new

generation of Chicana/o fans that did not grow up with this music as the band continues to play

venues throughout Southern California. José Maldonado also hosts an Internet radio show every

Sunday morning called “Breakfast with the Smiths.” However, the band’s importance peaked

during Morrissey’s musical hiatus between 1997 and 2004. During this time Maldonado was

Morrissey’s swarthy stand in, a Chicano from the San Fernando Valley who accomplished the

ultimate fan dream of becoming the idol and the audience loved him for it. With Morrissey holed-up in the Hollywood Hills he was close-by yet far removed from performing and releasing new material. Moreover, in the late 1990s and early 2000s Latinos continued to deal with the ramifications of legislation targeting Latino communities, police repression as witnessed during the 2000 Democratic Convention, substandard schooling and a host of other social issues.

However, fans did have Morrissey’s classic records and Maldonado’s tribute to hold them over during turbulent times. All of that pain and love had to go somewhere.

What Difference Does it Make?: Affective and Aesthetic Connections

28 Jose Anguiano [email protected] The persistent question in the mind of many music journalists is why do Latinos like

Morrissey at all?48 Despite some of the demographic, aesthetic and political connections

discussed through this chapter many search for a cultural answer: Is there something inherent

about Latino culture that can explain Latino Morrissey fandom? This need by the media to make

sense of this “most odd phenomena” and account for difference has unfortunately led many a

journalist down a slippery slope of stereotypes, mockery and latent racism. The following

description from the Houston Press exemplifies the pitfalls:

And now there's the Mexican-American Morrissey craze. In Morrissey's adopted hometown of Los Angeles, Morrissey Mania among young Hispanics is almost religious. There's a booming trade in his relics—autographs trade for $60 and up, even those of dubious authenticity, and some even ascribe mystical powers to him. (It's said that the 1986 Smiths album The Queen Is Dead and other recordings foretold Princess Diana's death in 1997.) Vintage Chevy Impalas roll down the East L.A. streets, full of sinister- looking gangbanger types, and in place of English-script "Lopez" or "Rodriguez" stickers in the rear window are ones that read "Morrissey." There's a Hispanic Morrissey tribute band there called the Sweet and Tender Hooligans, and one Latin Morrissey fan there has a back-length tattoo of an iconic shot of a slouching James Dean with Morrissey's head.49

Unsurprisingly, many fans have taken offense to this coverage and its stereotypical assumptions and belittling undertones, or at least that is how it has often been perceived by fans. One fan on an online forum asked “don’t we [Latinos] have ears too?” The implication is that the media treats Latino Morrissey fans as “aliens” who inexplicably follow Moz. Indeed, this “alien-ness”

(non-human, non-citizen, and non-consumer) permeates the media’s perception and feeds a discourse that exoticizes and ridicules fans and their ethnic origins. Examples like the one above also demonstrate how the media’s deficient knowledge about this fan culture and Latinos in general make them reliant on stereotypes. In the above example, we can identify archetypes of

Mexicans as superstitious, quixotic and dangerous bandidos.50 Other media outlets have used to

primary modes of representing Latino Morrissey fans: The “gangbanger” and the just-arrived

immigrant—the two most common media stereotypes about Latinos in the U.S. In the

29 Jose Anguiano [email protected] documentary The Importance of Being Morrissey produced by the BBC the Latino Morrissey

“phenomenon” is discussed accompanied by shots of recent immigrants in East Los Angeles,

when in fact, Morrissey’s Latino fans tend to be young Mexican-American youth who are

English dominant and hail from the suburbs.

Yet, how do we account for difference in a way that is not essentialist, demeaning and

ultimately racist and disempowering? Without denying a racial, cultural, class, generational, and national difference between Morrissey and his Latino fans despite many similarities or affinities.

Instead, I argue, the analysis must focus on the popular music form itself, its aesthetics and value to a particular segment of the Latino population. Instead of condescendingly asking: why would

Latinos like Morrissey? It is more useful to ask: What is it about Morrissey’s music that is

valued by Latinos? For as Lawrence Grossberg explains, in the end the popularity of any popular

culture form is a question of taste.51 Grossberg goes on to state that what holds a group of fans

together is a sensibility—“a particular from of engagement or mode of operation.” 52 In this case it’s the unique hybrid 50’s/pachuco/alternative aesthetic, a feeling of alienation and a desire to seek an alternative to oppressive social norms that holds many Moz fans together. This approach will also allow for an exploration of Latino culture in a non-essentialist manner by shifting the focus away from essentialist qualities in Latinos and towards longstanding aesthetic and cultural traditions. Vivian Barrera and Denise D Beilby’s work on Latino viewers of telenovelas is illustrative of this method as they single-out the long tradition and affinity for melodrama as the primary reason for the popularity of telenovelas among Latinos.53 Likewise, I seek to highlight

the aesthetic traditions and affinities that Chicanos hear in Morrissey’s music rather than isolate

essentialist traits that predispose Chicanos to this music.

30 Jose Anguiano [email protected] In the section that follows I examine several interviews with Morrissey fans I recorded in

2009 and 2010 and ethnographic observations at a Morrissey concert in Los Angeles that took

place on December 10th, 2009.

“Learning to Listen and Listening to Learn”54

I collected a total of eight in-depth semi-structured interviews from Morrissey fans in

addition to a total of 12 (5 video interviews, 7 audio interviews) short interviews at a Morrissey concert in Los Angeles, in 2009. My methodological use of semi-structured interviews channels

the work of Charles Briggs on interviewing techniques and challenges. I am particularly

influenced by Briggs’ astute assertion that social science research takes the interview process for

granted and that “What is said is seen as a reflection of what is “out there” rather than as an

interpretation which is jointly produced by the interviewer and respondent.”55 On this note,

Briggs goes on to say that the interviewer’s process cannot be to extract “the truth” out of the

vessels called respondents but rather the task calls for “interpreting the subtle and intricate

intersection of factors that converge to form a particular interview.”56 In my interviews I focus

on the dialogical process of interviews by asking respondents to reflect on their fandom and

theorize its meanings. Furthermore, by listening to music during the interviews with the

respondents I found that I disrupted the mechanical process of extracting answers or “truth” and

instead co-constructed a space from which to mutually explore feelings, memories and popular

culture theories.

All of the in-depth interviews were held at a faculty office in a Southern California

university and one interview took place at a bar in Los Angeles. I selected these sites because

they were quiet sites that I had access to and were easy to find for my interviewees because they

31 Jose Anguiano [email protected] are students or recent graduates. Initially, I had planned to ask the interviewees to host the

interviews in their home (to observe how they listened to music at home) but that added the

burden of social obligation to the interview process so I opted for a campus locale. Interviewees

were selected via convenience sample; I began with a friend and was referred to other fans as I

collected data and fans approached me as my research project became known.

I set up the office in such a way to avoid speaking from the position of a professor. To achieve this I sat away from the desk, at eye level with the interviewee and displayed an attempted to display relaxed body language such as putting my feet up on a chair. The equipment

I had at my disposal was a digital audio recorder, my laptop and the computer stationed in the

office. The laptop contained my collection of Smiths/Morrissey used music during the interview.

The goal was to use music to trigger memories, foment discussion or focus on specific songs or

lyrics. Overall, the music collection proved useful as scrolling through the song titles alone

proved to be useful for interviewees. In one interview, a fan played music I did not have from his cell phone. Hearing the music allowed a more in-depth conversation about the feelings and

memories triggered by the song and it also created an affective bond between the interviewer and

interviewee. I felt a growing kinship through talking about Morrissey and common experiences.

As a popular music aficionado I have always felt an important basis for friendship is the shared

affinity for the same popular music and in this case my own Morrissey fandom responded to the

sentiments expressed in the interviews. As we listened to music I felt a bond was created

between interviewer and interviewee which facilitated trust, intimacy and an open discussion.

All of the in-depth interviews surveyed young Mexican-Americans between the ages of

21 and 33 and representing various areas of Southern California. The interviews at the concert reflect a more diverse fan base because I spoke to everyone waiting in line instead of limiting

32 Jose Anguiano [email protected] interviews to only Latinos. Both genders were equally represented in that I interviewed four males and four females. All of the respondents claimed to come from working-class backgrounds and were at least partially fluent in Spanish. All of the respondents were at the time of the interview either in college or recent college graduates. The college experience, as will be noted further below, did make a difference in how they articulated their fandom for Morrissey. Their college education exposed them to a critical academic vocabulary and a social awareness of race, gender, class and sexuality issues.

The in-depth interviews ran from one and a half hours to two hours. The interview analyses that follow are based on my discussions with Patricia Sánchez, Moz005, and León

Villa, Eric, Rosanne, Gaby, Pedro and Diana. All the names are pseudonyms selected by the interviewees; Moz005 selected a name most likely inspired by an Internet username. The preceding section is an analysis of the major themes that emerged from the in-depth discussions with Chicano Morrissey fans.

That’s How People Grow Up

I began all of my interview sessions by asking the respondents about their childhood: where they grew up, what type of music was listened to at home, did they play instruments and finally how did they discover the music of the Smiths. While a few fans described chance encounters, such as Eric who found a Morrissey record in the discount bin of a supermarket on a trip to Mexico, a common answer (6 out of 8 respondents) was that family members had turned them onto the music at an early age. Sharing music among family members of the same generation and across generations functions as a paradigm of Chicano/Latino music listening practices, a shared musical history that renews genres like boleros and corridos for a new

33 Jose Anguiano [email protected] generation and passes on songs of favored artists such as the aforementioned Brenton Wood.57

These family connections underscore that Latinos have always listened to British new wave music and that listening to this music follows established family norms although cultural and familial norms are at times questioned—which will be analyzed below in the discussion on gender. Gaby became a Smiths and Morrissey fan through the influence of her older sister (14 years her senior) and brother who were big fans. She recalled: “Morrissey reminds me of my childhood because my brother and sister were kinda like my parents because my parents were always working so they’d take me everywhere and I can honestly remember that for most of my childhood a Smiths or Morrissey song was playing in the background.” In Gaby’s case the

Smiths and Morrissey was literally the soundtrack of her childhood. This created a lasting bond with music and also her older sister. Moz005 had a similar story to tell about how he discovered the Smiths:

I was like eleven, ten or eleven and then uh I hadn’t really heard of the Smith/Morrissey. I really liked Pearl Jam a lot and Nirvana and then Bush came around. Then he [my older brother] introduced me to classic rock, the Beatles, the Doors and so then my best friend Rene—he had an older brother and he was like a rebel. One day he came over with a CD of the Smiths and he was like “You gotta listen to this.” And he put on “How Soon is Now?” and it was the whole beginning du du du du [imitating the opening of the song] it was just that instant… I said this is great. It was different and I like it. I listened to that whole CD. He let me borrow it and I constantly listened, listened, listened. Then he kept on bringing different ones and then my brother was like “Oh you guys like the Smiths?” He caught us listening and said “You’re gonna like this one,” he had Bona Drag and he puts “Suedehead” on. And then “Suedehead” was another great song for me.

The first Smiths’ song Pedro heard, “Shoplifters of the World Unite” on the Louder Than

Bombs album, resulted from family habit and chance: “I found this album at my cousin

Andrew’s…he was gone one day and I just looked through his CDs, I was bored. And I played it.

It was the first album I ever bought and that’s how I got into it.” Pedro’s cousin was in his early twenties and Pedro was in seventh grade, therefore approximately 14 years old when he first

34 Jose Anguiano [email protected] heard the music of the Smiths and Morrissey. This early exposure solidified through peers who

listened to the same music and at times with older adults who listened to the Smiths and

Morrissey during their own adolescence. Pedro described bonding with an English teacher that

recognized his Smiths tee shirt and lectured to the class about her own fandom. Similarly, Eric

recalled a counselor’s surprised remark of “kids still listen to Morrissey?” when wearing his

Smiths tee shirt.

For León Villa it wasn’t blood family that tuned him into Morrissey but it was his

“family from scratch,” to quote Cheríe Moraga describing the important fictive kinships

developed among friends, that exposed León to Morrissey. León described feeling isolated in

college until he met a group of Latino friends that made him feel more at ease in the university

setting and exposed him to new music such as the Smiths and Morrissey. This new found family

enabled León to tap into the ongoing Chicano Morrissey scene. After describing not fitting in

with affluent white students León noted how his friends and taste in music changed: “It was around the time that I started listening to Morrissey and other music in general...that I started to realize that I needed to hang out with more brown people [Latinos], so at that time I did. And for some strange reason a lot of brown people like Morrissey right? So I started listening to it a lot more, I was more exposed to it.” Connecting with students of color and the music popular among this group helped León cope with the transition into college. In the pages that follow I analyze in more detail how this new musical world opened up a space for León and how this new musical space helped him to cope with his experiences and feelings as an underrepresented student at the university.

Passions Just Like Mine

35 Jose Anguiano [email protected] When I asked fans to discuss the significance of this music in their everyday lives they all

described tapping into a complex reservoir of emotions through their favorite songs. I attempted to trigger a deeper reflection and insights on the songs by playing those they listed as being

among their favorites. Together, we listened and talked about the meanings and feelings they

evoked. Fan Patricia Sánchez said the following as we listened to the song “Ouija Board, Ouija

Board”: “”Ouija Board’ was the first song that I heard that I like almost shed a tear, if not I did.

That I really said like, wow what he is saying I feel. And I didn’t have the words to put it together you know.” Patricia further explained that the song expressed her desire to reconnect with people who passed away—in particular her dad. She explained that the song makes her cry even though she described the video as “cheesy.” As she scrolled through the music on my laptop she connected songs to phases of her life and the emotions she felt at the time. Her first love, her brother dying at fifteen from leukemia and major relationships all had songs associated with them. “Morrissey has been there through a lot of pivotal times in my life,” said Patricia. At the end of the interview she discussed the importance of her current boyfriend understanding her love of Morrissey. “Whoever I end up with has to understand Morrissey in order to understand me. I feel through him,” she said emphatically.

Pedro enjoyed the musicianship and also heard his life reflected in the lyrics of some

Smiths music. Pedro cited “Reel Around the Fountain” as one of his favorite songs because he liked the drum beat and he identified with the lyrics. The song atypical of a Smiths song opens with a steady drum beat solo for several measures before Morrissey’s melancholic wail and

Marr’s jangly guitar come in. The drum beat and guitar melody has a start-stop quality that gives the listener the sense that one is going around in circles. Still, characteristic of a Smiths song the

36 Jose Anguiano [email protected] melodious ring of Marr’s guitar contrasts with the nearly monotone delivery and anguished lyrics of Moz. The song musically and lyrically resonated with Pedro’s life:

The beginning is about a boy becoming old [Its time the tale were told/ of how you took a child/ and you made him old] and then with me…raised by my mom, I had to become older and take care of my brothers. When I didn’t necessarily have to I did take up the responsibility. I did so as I was about to enter middle school and did so until I graduated. And this song right away hit me.

As we listened to the song the opening line repeated [Its time the tale were told] and he added:

And it’s also about it being time for you to say all of this. I read a book not to recently with an Oscar Wilde quote with something about, the children in the end are hurt by their parents and then in the end, rarely do they forgive them. And in a sense it’s a memoir, I didn’t have to grow up…I did it and I can see a transformation. I’m glad I did but at the same time where would I have been without it, this responsibility as a kid.

For Pedro the song offered a moment to reflect on his own life and also the words to describe his feelings. The first line of the song resonated with his life experience, gave him a new vocabulary to access these feelings and produced a layered understanding of his childhood.

Fan Moz005 also inserted his personal experiences and feelings into his favorite Smiths songs. The song “Tomorrow” stood out as his favorite because it reflected what transpired at the end of his high school career:

I read the lyrics and it had a profound meaning to me, like “tomorrow is it ever going to come?” So what’s going to happen to me? So the way I saw it was like I’m going to have to start moving on and facing all of these obstacles as I get older and the future comes. Am I going to be able to overcome all these obstacles: school, work, family, friends. And just like when he says “the pain in my arms/the pain in my legs,” it’s feeling all that pressure and stress. And when he says “tell me tell me that you love me” I felt like he’s asking himself that. So am I going to be asking myself that? Do I love myself enough?

However, the emotions channeled through the songs were not always as straight forward as putting yourself in the narrative that Morrissey constructed; often songs trigger memories or emotions that don not necessarily have any connection to the lyrics. Moz005 also enjoyed the track “Give a Little to My Love Life” because it reminded him of the happy times he spent

37 Jose Anguiano [email protected] driving around with his best friend. In this case a tune ostensibly about a love interest becomes

associated with the memories and feelings of a friendship—a love story in its own right to be

sure. Turning inward Moz005 shared that the sentiments he gets from listening to the music and

Morrissey’s voice hold more meaning than what the lyrics say:

In general, whenever I have a problem or I’m feeling suffocated because of something I turn to music and I guess I turn a lot to the Smiths and Morrissey because that’s my favorite band and it might not be about his message or what the songs have to say but about how I feel about him and the way he sings. I didn’t want to say that it was because of the messages in the songs but more of the fact of how it sounds and I just have always liked his music over anything else.

The mood generated by the music often speaks to abstract or complex emotions that have little to

do with the narrative constructed in the lyrics. Also, fans often key into the broader artistic

sensibility that Morrissey may represent.

When I asked “León Villa” why he enjoys listening to Morrissey he said:

I have never heard English music, outside of black music, with so much vulnerability and…he’s not afraid to be seen as vulnerable and I don’t think I’ve seen that anywhere else in white music. I want to liken it to the way ranchera songs speak with that same kind of vulnerability and not afraid to pour your heart out—like José Alfredo Jiménez. I love him too because his lyrics are just as good. There’s something about Morrissey that strips down to—as corny as it sounds—a raw human level.

According to León, Morrissey’s heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics set him apart from other pop

singers.58 He also made a distinction between black music and white music, Morrissey is placed

under white music—at least initially. This distinction that León makes hints at the argument made by scholar Andrew Warnes that the Smiths’ music owes much to the African American blues (in its music and lyrics) but that the band and the recording industry purposely obscured this source in order to build a neat narrative of English “whiteness.”59 Yet when I asked León

directly if Morrissey is white music he said he couldn’t label it that because of how the category

white has been problematized recently. Instead, he referred to “whiteness” as a mind set: “part of

38 Jose Anguiano [email protected] whiteness is a façade, you know, of superiority and I don’t hear it much [in Morrissey] like

elsewhere.” León reads Morrissey’s emotional openness as a rejection of hegemonic values that

equate whiteness and maleness with stoicism or rationalism. In the gender section I explore how,

for León, this allows for Morrissey to subvert fixed definitions not only of his race but his gender and sexual orientation as well.

Finally, to speak about the emotions and vulnerability present in the lyrics and music is to confront stereotypes of Morrissey fans’ emotional and mental states. Morrissey’s croon and dark lyrics sound depressing to many, so much in fact that critics labeled Moz the “pope of mope.”

Yet, the interviewees refused the label and insisted that the music helped them cope with

negative emotions. In part the rejection of this description lies in resisting labels placed on

Morrissey and his music by the media. Fans may feel that the label implicates their own state of

mind. Despite the fact that many Morrissey fans acknowledged that some of the songs are indeed

somber, they minimized the depressing effects of music on their moods. Instead, many fans felt

the music held positive effects. For example, León Villa had this to say about the dismal lyrics in

“I know it’s Over”:

That song is such a…it’s one of those songs that talks about suicide that makes you not want to kill yourself. It’s strange, you know, I mean you could say that when you are depressed and are listening to depressing music you get more depressed but sometimes like listening to depressed music lets you know that other people are depressed and kinda helps you get out of it.

Indeed, all fans interviewed spoke of the soothing, calming and reassuring qualities they found in

the music. Likewise Moz005 said that the Smiths’ song “Asleep” lessens his fear of dying and he

only listens to the song at night before going to sleep. This small sample of interviews suggests

that if one is already depressed or troubled Morrissey’s music is a welcome relief because many

songs play out tragic or dramatic scenarios that are expressed in a way that is experienced as

39 Jose Anguiano [email protected] profoundly insightful. However, both León and Moz005 admitted that sometimes they avoided

listening to Morrissey when they felt blue, perhaps because it might make them feel worse.

León also made a common remark about the difference between the mood in the music

and the lyrics in the music of the Smiths/Morrissey: “The message is a real downer [in the song

“Suedehead”] but at the beginning you know…you can dance to it.” Fans frequently commented

that sometimes it’s neither the music or lyrics but rather the “mood” or feeling of a song that they

enjoy. León stated that the mood of “I Know It’s Over” appeals to him despite what he termed

the “suicidal undertones” of the song’s lyrics. The melody and groove of the songs sometimes

leads to a contradiction or tension between the perceived mood of the music and the ostensibly somber lyrics—I refer to this contradiction as reveling in blissful misery.

I’m Not The Man You Think I Am

In the countless media reports on Chicano Smiths/Morrissey fans one constant has been to describe the supposed disconnect between young “macho” Chicano men and the effeminate and allegedly homosexual Morrissey. The above quote from the Houston Press that described male fans as “sinister-looking gangbanger types” alludes to this trope. The question of gender and sexuality has long been a source of controversy for Morrissey as journalists have repeatedly tried to infer and cajole a confession of his queerness.60 Meanwhile, Morrissey has claimed to be

a prophet for the “fourth gender,” which appears to allude to a fourth option from the normalized categories of male, female, and gender invert (male in a female body, or vice versa).61 Early in his career Morrissey also publicly opted for a fourth option in his sexual orientation in claiming

to reject heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bi-sexuality, for celibacy. Although Morrissey no

40 Jose Anguiano [email protected] longer claims celibacy the desire to resist categorization and fixed definitions remains an

essential part of his star persona.

Given the amount of attention on Morrissey’s gender performance and sexual orientation,

I asked fans to discuss whether or not Morrissey’s gender and sexual orientation was important

to them and whether or not it had influenced their own ideas about gender and sexuality.

Universally, the fans I spoke with, who all identified as heterosexual, claimed that Morrissey’s

gender performance and sexuality mattered little to them, what they cared about, they claimed,

was the music and how it made them feel. Yet, most fans did admit that if they had to guess they

would categorize Morrissey as queer. Although these fans accepted Morrissey’s sexuality—what

ever it may be—others around them scorned Morrissey’s ambiguity. Moz’s “queerness” became

a stigma to some fans, Patricia recalled classmates taunting her for wearing a tee shirt that featured a reclining, shirtless Morrissey. Similarly, Eric recognized that “Morrissey was always dogged as the queer guy.” I was particularly interested to hear what male fans had to say about

Morrissey’s gender performance and the related discussion of sexuality.

The male fans I interviewed reasoned that Morrissey subverted established gender roles by, for example, twirling flowers on stage, performing in an effeminate manner and using vague lyrics such as pronouns that defy gender roles or refuse to specify. With some important caveats the men interviewed stated that Morrissey’s music expanded their horizon of possible gender expressions, made them more aware and accepting of gender differences and allowed them to more freely express their emotions.

When I asked Pedro how he felt about Morrissey’s gender expression when he first started listening to Morrissey he described being unsure how to interpret what he saw. However,

41 Jose Anguiano [email protected] Pedro felt that this was also how he developed a social consciousness towards gender and

“queer” issues:

I was confused why he does this stuff. Why are his lyrics like this? Why does he play with gender? He also does it in his performance. I remember the first time I saw that he carried flowers in his back pocket and wove them around and how he dances is very effeminate. It introduced me to that and gave me self-empowerment and just expanded my mind coming from a catholic background. I grew up with very judgmental elders. I can tell you of this time I was at K-mart and saw these two cholo attired guys holding hands and I was with my tia and my mom and they noticed it and said ‘oh my god.’ And I knew as soon as we got back into the car they were going to start talking about it. The whole time we were paying I was trying to think of something to say [in defense of the men] even though I knew I was going to get into trouble for sure, I might get hit and I probably won’t go out for another week. It [Morrissey’s music] got me to stand up for it, it doesn’t matter. And I think it influenced me in the classes I take. I’ve taken gender classes and I’m taking a queer communities class right now. It’s just getting me more informed so I can stand up for it—as an ally, not that they can’t do it for themselves.

I followed up on this comment by asking him if Morrissey’s “effeminate gestures” influenced him in anyway and what they meant to him:

It was definitely different. Dressing the way that I did and seeing how he dressed and looking up to him it kinda broke down those gender boundaries for me. And seeing him come out waving flowers and dancing the way he did, it furthered my understanding of things. You know what: what’s wrong with it? Why do people see something wrong with it? So it actually does change the way I see things. I had some person come up to me and say ‘oh you listen to the guy that swings flowers’ and I said yea so?

The fans I spoke with unanimously celebrated Morrissey’s gender “play” and felt that the rigid gender roles and often homophobic ideas they were socialized with were countered by what they learned in Morrissey’s music. Eric admitted: “I was homophobic, but it’s a learned habit.

Growing up having a queer older cousin we would say sabemos que es [we know that he is]. You would make fun of that but then you grow up.” Growing up, for Eric, involved having queer friends in high school and college, learning about gender and sexuality in college, and being active in political movements for the equality of all people.

42 Jose Anguiano [email protected] León likewise celebrated Morrissey’s gender expression and admired Morrissey as a

male figure:

I think it’s great. He’s fine with it being [alludes to androgyny]…I don’t want to say masculine. I want to say a man as in he has a penis so maybe this is like what in a better place a person with a penis should be acting like. I see him as a man but not the Hollywood male, the “American” male, the stereotypical white European male. It’s to me a more respectable male. Morrissey makes it okay for a man to be vulnerable. So that is something that I want to identify with.

Referencing his earlier comments about Morrissey representing an alternative to the archetypical white male figure León admires Morrissey’s masculinity as being more “respectable.” Here he alludes to Morrissey being a role model for a new type of masculinity liberated from oppressive hierarchies and binaries. Is Morrissey’s new masculinity inspiring Latino males to re-define Che

Guevara’s celebrated hombre nuevo?

With the male fans I also presented the popular media idea that Latino males are bizarrely drawn to Morrissey because they are emotional repressed or because of a latent homoerotic desire and asked them to comment. While many fans felt there was some truth behind the claim they also had cautionary words to express about the stereotypical representation of Latino males and the Latino community in general.

Speaking against the idea that Morrissey’s music represents the only emotional outlet for males Eric explained that even before Morrissey entered the picture other artists he listened to pushed against the boundaries of normative gender roles. His earliest example referenced growing up listening to Juan Gabriel who he described as feminine but being able to sing macho ranchera songs better than anyone. He also described the gender bending styles of bands like

Soda Stereo, David Bowie and “hair metal” bands like Poison. “With Morrissey it was like maybe he is [queer] but what does it matter it was more about my how the music made me feel and how I conceptualized it for myself” he added. Eric’s point about Juan Gabriel’s ambiguity

43 Jose Anguiano [email protected] also underscores that a queer critique of traditional gender roles is possible from within the

Latino community and not only from an outsider like Morrissey.

León also differed with the characterization that only Latino males practiced machismo:

“for Latino men I guess you could say the whole macho thing—which I have a hard time with

because white men do the same thing. Because I’m brown I don’t think I’m pushed more to be a

masculine figure than a white dude. Its assumed that we want to be machos or are forced to be

machos when white guys are just as much, maybe in a different way.” León argued that the

reasons Latino males enjoy listening to Morrissey could be said of male fans across race and

ethnicity.62

With these critical caveats noted I asked if Morrissey did allow Latino men to more fully

express their emotions; all the fans agreed that listening to the Smiths and Morrissey did open up a momentary space of greater emotional freedom. Moz005 commented on his own experience and theorized about why other men might enjoy the music too:

Personally I had trouble… I wasn’t always able to express myself or my feelings. Or be in touch with myself or with my feminine side or whatever. But something about his music does make me feel like hey I could talk about things without having to put on this facade of being a macho man or something like that. Music does kinda help; maybe it’s his tone of voice when he is singing. I’m not gonna say feminine but a lot of people associate Morrissey as being gay—because he’s so secretive about his life—which has never been proven. Because of his mannerisms on stage or the way he carries himself. I’ve never personally cared for that cause I just love the guy for the music, for him you know, but that’s probably why men do listen to his music and you feel somewhat in touch with him or his songs. It probably would make it easier for them to express themselves and be able to get in touch with themselves more.

Eric also believed men could more fully express themselves through Morrissey and added that concert spaces and being with other fans allowed male fans a temporary reprieve from strict gender roles. In particular Eric was struck by the now common place rush of male fans that scale the concert stage to embrace their idol:

44 Jose Anguiano [email protected] With Morrissey you are allowed to be happy, more effeminate. You’re allowed to show your emotions. They [Latino men] are not allowed to be effeminate or show their other side. They’re repressed. Emotionally repressed and now they are finally allowed to [express themselves]. Specifically, in a dark room where you know some of the Morrissey fans are like you so you are allowed to do that too. But if your family saw you they’d say “está loco este cabrón” [this dude is crazy]. The band allows you to do that, the venue and the audience. It’s a play; everybody is in on the joke.

The interviews further demonstrate that popular music is a space where gender relations play out and where norms are transgressed, however fleeting, and new identities are explored.63

This phenomenon, of course, has a long historical trajectory in the Chicano community.

Historian Vicki Ruiz argues that young Mexican women growing up in Los Angeles in the 1920s found an alternative to the strict gender roles of the family and the church in the “flapper” culture of the era.64 Being able to witness and consume an alternative way of life lent the young women’s choices an “aura of legitimacy,” according to Ruiz. In this same way Morrissey fans witness and experiment with different expression of masculinity popularized and legitimated by a pop star.

I Never Want to go Home/Because I Haven’t Got One

To more actively involve the interviewees in the research process I asked each fan to theorize along with me about the reasons Chicanos/Latinos are drawn to Morrissey. Overall, the fans struggled to articulate a theory that could neatly explain why Morrissey has captured a large part of the audience. Their responses revealed that they knew some of the theories circulating in the media and recent documentaries. However, some fans also looked to the social circumstances of young Chicanos in Southern California to offer an explanation for Moz Angeles.

Some fans such as Patricia Sánchez offered ideas that were taken from documentaries and media stories such as the idea that Latino men find Morrissey’s music attractive because it

45 Jose Anguiano [email protected] allows them to express their repressed feminine side. Other popular theories circulating in the

media were floated as well such as the idea that there is a hidden musical connection. Patricia mentioned the theory that mariachi crooning is similar to the way Moz sings while León

mentioned the rockabilly influence in Morrissey’s music and its possible connections to

Chicanos of the 1950s. León also said that perhaps mariachi great José Alfred Jiménez was

similar to Morrissey in his ability to express vulnerability. But he admitted that listening to

mariachi does not determine you will be a Morrissey fan. When I explained the mariachi theory

to Moz005 he said it made sense to him and that he had in fact grown up listening to mariachi

but he also stated that the reason he likes Morrissey has nothing to do with mariachi music. None

of the interviewees seemed convinced by these speculations but offered them anyway.

Besides musical connections fans also discussed some possible social explanations. One

theory, explored by journalist Chloe Veltman, suggests Morrissey appeals to anyone who feels

like an outsider. “Latinos are constantly being reminded that this is not their permanent home,”

Patricia remarked. Similarly, León added that perhaps because Morrissey is “queer” he knows

what it means to be underprivileged and this might draw an underprivileged Latino crowd. But

he quickly added that this wasn’t what attracted him to the music. Diana told me she believed

Latinos just wanted to find a social niche to fit into especially since they had no place in

mainstream society. She elaborated by explaining that growing up in Southern California you

grow up in the shadows of Hollywood knowing full well that you are marginalized from that

world.

These responses all hint at the issue of belonging. Fan Pedro was the one, however, that

had the most elaborate explanation:

I generalize but I would say more Chicanos listen to it because of his lyrics, if you’re a fanatic you realize all that idea about Morrissey and his depression or growing up as a kid

46 Jose Anguiano [email protected] looking for that sense of belonging or…I kinda deal with that. Maybe as a Chicano now I’m looking for that homeland: Aztlán. Because it’s not the U.S. and it sure ain’t Mexico. But initially lyrics, as a seventh grade boy dealing with all of this I looked for an escape to cope.

Intrigued I asked him how he arrived at this idea:

I was talking to my mom about this and she mentioned looking for somewhere to belong. And right away I thought Aztlán—I Chicanoized it. For him [Moz] dealing with depression, dealing with sexuality repression or whatever it is—nobody knows I guess to this day with Morrissey. And looking for a love, looking for the whole thing. And the idea of a journey in search of belonging and right away I went home and wrote something called the urban nomad. I wrote about my life. And I remembered what my mom said about looking for somewhere to belong. Listening to Morrissey is kinda the same thing, a shared experience.

When I asked Pedro if he thought it was odd that he found Aztlán in a fey Englishman from

Manchester he recognized a paradox:

I thought about it and if of all places, if it is this Aztlán or this homeland why don’t I listen to Chicano bands? Why don’t I listen to maybe more Mexican bands? Or Spanish bands at the very least. And I don’t know it’s a weird paradox. Coming from a Mexican background in music and then turning to an English/Irish band I find it really contradictory in my opinion.

Pedro goes onto state that the Smiths were never marketed towards Chicanos and yet they have become one of the largest fan bases. This contradiction identified by Pedro may speak to a larger

Chicano experience that George Lipsitz has called “creative misunderstandings,” a space where cultural contradictions can become a creative expression of cultural hybridity.65 In the novel

Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo acclaimed Chicano novelist Oscar Zeta Acosta is haunted by and fixated on the song “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by British group Procul Harum. Unable to explain what the song meant to him other than to say “the song moved me deeply. It reminds me of Luther’s ‘A Mighty Fortress Is our God.’”66 The song’s somber tone and psychedelic imagery implicate the author’s state of mind but we can also speculate that its deep organ riffs, R&B feel and slow-dance rhythm of the song felt organic and familiar to the way Eastside bands like Thee

47 Jose Anguiano [email protected] Midnighters mixed rock n roll, doo wop and Latin rhythms in that same era. The song belonged to the barrio even if Procul Harum did not.

A common axiom in the Chicano community that speaks to issues of belonging is “ni de aquíi, ni de allá” [neither from here nor there]. Chicanos have historically been sensitive to feeling unaccepted by Mexico (for being too Americanized) and the U.S. (for being racially different). Indeed, the 1960s emergence of the concept of Aztlán can be read as a collective longing to re-claim a homeland and find a space of true belonging for a population that has constantly felt betwixt two worlds. Perhaps, the ambiguous and unsettled nature of growing up

Chicano finds an affective ally in the ambiguous tensions found in the music and star persona of

Morrissey. Moreover, to paraphrase Gloria Anzaldúa’s now canonical work, to live in the cultural borderlands means to cohere cultural elements from often contradictory sources and hold them in tension. Perhaps, fans recognize Morrissey’s impossible dilemmas and yearning for acceptance and it feels and sounds familiar.67

Mexican Blood, American Heart, This I’m Made Of…68

As Morrissey’s croons waft across the Los Angeles soundscape in the late 1980s and proceed into the 1990s his music and message find an audience in a generation of Mexican

American youth coming of age during a difficult time to be Mexican American. Morrissey’s life and songs of a destitute and miserable Manchester/England translate and travel well to Chicano youth facing their own condition of bleakness. Taking into account the historical experience of marginalization, misrepresentation and exploitation for Mexican Americans in the City of

Angels, whom George Lipsitz calls “the oldest and newest residents of Los Angeles,” Moz’s laments feel familiar and sound true.69 Morrissey’s words and sentiments about another place

48 Jose Anguiano [email protected] resonate “here,” as Morrissey proclaims on the song “Last of the Famous International

Playboys”: “Oh, I can’t help quoting you/ Because everything you said rings true.” Even a cursory exploration of contemporary conditions illuminates why bleak lyrics hit close to home.

Recent events communicate a harsh reality for Chicanos in Southern California within a context of devastating economic restructuring, an escalating war on drugs and gangs that often indiscriminately targets Chicanos, an alarming school dropout rate and a general anti-immigrant

(read: anti-Latino) sentiment.70 Indeed, we only have to look at proposition 187 (anti-“illegal” public services), 227 (anti-bilingual education) and 209 (anti-affirmative action) as manifestations of a general resentment against Latinos of all economic levels and social status.

For Chicano youth growing up during the 1990s, these larger social issues added to the personal challenges of being from an immigrant or ethnic community and attempting to acclimate and succeed in a “foreign” environment. Morrissey’s own sense of alienation and his sardonic manner is in part due to his experience as a first generation Irish immigrant in Northern England.

While Chicano fans listening to his music for the first time likely lacked this knowledge about the artist, a striking affective parallel exists between the Chicano experience and the sentiments of alienation, despair, and skepticism which drove Morrissey to seek and create his own alternative vision of music and society.

Indeed, we must acknowledge not only the social and historical context of being Latino in Southern California but also the long trajectory of popular culture engagement and innovation.

The Morrissey fan culture must be understood as part of wider Chicano participation in rock music cultures. Chicano Morrissey fans only appear strange and out of place because Chicano participation and contribution has been overlooked or erased. Mexican-American musicians have often been “whitewashed” as in the notorious example of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens

49 Jose Anguiano [email protected] (Née Richard Valenzuela). In the era immediately before the rise of Morrissey fans the eastside

was obsessed with a different fad from the British Isles: punk music.

Michelle Habell-Pallán’s work on punkeras from the greater eastside of Los Angeles

demonstrates that rock and roll music has long been an outlet for disaffected Chicano youth

seeking alternative realities. Habell-Pallán argues that punk music was attractive to Chicanos

because “it was a site where identities outside of ethnic stereotypes could be embodied.”71

Chicanas in the punk scene appropriated British popular culture to fashion an oppositional identity that could be displayed in the streets and homes of East L.A. Explaining the popularity of the Sex Pistols, Habell-Pallán, argues that the fetishization of British rockers allowed

Chicanas to exoticize an Other, a Great Britain of oppositional styles mined to resist U.S racism and Chicano Patriarchy. This transnational connection is what George Lipsitz calls “families of resemblance,” similar aesthetic and political interests that connect diverse individuals across time and space.72

Growing up within this anti-Latino context and in search of their own identity many

Chicano youth turned to Morrissey and the larger alternative movement as an “anti-essentialist strategy,” that is they moved away from what is expected of them or their culture in order to get across the fact that they were in fact just like everybody else.73 In a climate where being Mexican

was denigrated and reviled many young Chicanos embraced alternative rock music and its

aesthetics as an attempt to mark their own “Americanness.” When being labeled “Mexican”

meant an automatic association with a litany of negative qualities youth of this era searched for

an identity that wasn’t already closed-off. This should not be read as an attempt to deny their

Mexican or Latino background but instead indicates a creative response and move in the face of

being negatively defined by their race and ethnicity. Indeed, in many respects the embracing of

50 Jose Anguiano [email protected] post-punk music did not unmark their otherness (for they were still perceived as Latino and different) but it did challenge stereotypes about Latinos and claimed space and through style.

This ambivalent move is inspired by Morrissey and also expressed in his recent work.

Morrissey’s 2005 Album You Are the Quarry features the hit single “Irish Blood, English Heart”

in which Moz positions himself as a subaltern subject opposed to the Britain’s ruling class but

who nonetheless dreams of the day when he can salute the flag “not feeling shameful, racist or

partial.” Not long after the release of the song tee shirts that read “Mexican Blood, American

Heart” began appearing at events across Moz Angeles as Chicanos riffed off Morrissey to

express their own subaltern criticism of “America” and to signal a longing for the American

ideals they were taught in grade school.

But this was not the only strategy or aesthetic available to Chicanos in the city of Angels

at this time. Within this same time period the city of Los Angeles witnesses what could be

viewed as the counterpoint fandom to Morrissey: banda music. Within the same context of fear

and hate for anything Mexican, Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans of various

generations adopted the Tex-Mex polkas and vaquero look of rural Mexico as an affirmation of

their roots—a strategic essentialism that brought the rancho to urban LA. As vilified,

disenfranchised and marginalized residents with little political recourse, banda music, as George

Lipsitz astutely notes, “is one way they fought back.”74 Banda as a cultural phenomena rejected

racist depictions about Mexicans and their culture and instead constructed a sense of pride about

lo Mexicano through iconographies of rural Mexico. Equally important as instilling a sense of

pride, Banda in the 1990s sonically and physically occupied contested space much to the

aggravation of many white citizens of Los Angeles.

51 Jose Anguiano [email protected] When I asked the fans I interviewed if the banda and Morrissey scenes overlapped in any

way they argued that if it did, it was in that the two musics shared the same social spaces. Eric

argued that in the 1990s to attend a baptism or a Quinceañera in Los Angeles was to be exposed to oldies, rap, quebradita, the Cure and the Smiths in one night:

You had the gamut of what was played; you needed to make them all dance. You are going to have some rock en Español, some tamborazo for the family, norteñas for the family, some KROQ for some people—specifically “flashbacks.” And then you are going to have some oldies and some rap songs because that was the thing to do. And at that time there was house music so you are going to have some house music too. So in one Quinceañera in the 90s you had a lot of shit going on.

Erik also pointed out that the fledgling television station LATV featured music video programming that catered to both Morrissey fans and banda fans (which in theory could be the same viewer). For other fans like León Villa the music coexisted in the playlist of his iPod and college parties. Some fans Like Moz005 said they would listen to banda but never by their own

choice, it was simply part of the social environment. More than just consumer choices in a pop

landscape the two musical scenes also spoke to political realities.

These two musical aesthetics and cultures offer different strategies for the same

problems: stereotypes, scape-goating, rejection and hate. As such they employ different aesthetic

strategies to achieve a sense of pride, a sense of community and a sense of acceptance or

acknowledgment from the larger society. Both music movidas emerge roughly at the same time

yet with different aesthetic values; one rooted in the aesthetics of rural Mexico and another in

British popular culture. Yet for all of their aesthetic differences and perhaps opposition to each

other both musics emerge against the backdrop of virulent anti-Mexican sentiment during the

Pete Wilson era. Neither music scene is simply a product of the politics of the time but it does

inform what Fredric Jameson calls the “political unconscious” that lies beneath the surface of

aesthetic movements. Both ondas construct identities from popular culture in order to claim

52 Jose Anguiano [email protected] space, to forge an oppositional identity and subvert the status quo. In the case of Morrissey fans, the Smiths/Morrissey conventions, the club events, the social groups created a safe space for

Chicanos, a place of desahogo to unload social ills. In the absence of prominent social movements, community-oriented political parties or political leaders that the people can believe in, the community turned to the essence of everyday life to sustain themselves.

Conclusion: So Is It Really So Strange?

The question of why Latinos love Morrissey can be answered by looking at the three key taste markers that Lewis identifies: Demographics, Aesthetics and Politics. People of Mexican and Latino descent represent one of the largest and oldest demographic groups in California and over fifty percent of the population in Los Angeles County. Based on these demographics it is safe to assume that a large number of rock fans in Southern California are of Latino descent even if radio stations such as KROQ or marketers fail to recognize them as an audience. This demographic also has a longer, barely written, history. Latinos have always been listeners, consumers and performers of rock music. All of the different rock movements also reached the barrio and rock movements in fact come from the barrio itself. Aesthetically, I have argued that

James Dean may be a hidden link between Chicanos and Morrissey but more importantly I argue that Morrissey’s lyrical and musical aesthetics appeal to fans because it creates a sonic refuge where pain, passions and moods generate critical modes of expression not otherwise possible.

Finally, I have argued that given the historical and social context of being Latino in Southern

California being a Morrissey fan is a way to lament the political climate of the era and a popular culture strategy to resist.

53 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

Notes to chapter One

1 I use the term Latino instead of Mexican-American or Chicano to indicate that not all Latino Morrissey fans are of Mexican descent. Additionally, I use the terms Mexican-American and Chicano interchangeably to precisely describe specific histories and practices in Southern California.

2 Stan, Hawkins, Settling the Pop Score: Pop Texts and Identity Politics (Burlington: Ashgate, 2002), 70.

3 For more on how the Beatles established norms for economic and emotional investment, see, Barbara Ehrenreich, Elizabeth Hess, and Gloria Jacobs, “Beatlemanina: Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” in The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, ed. Lisa A. Lewis (New York: Routledge, 1992), 84-106.

4 Hawkins, Settling the Pop Score, 72.

5 Hollywood was not likely an arbitrary choice. Morrissey grew up idolizing many Hollywood stars, most famously James Dean, and Los Angeles is one of the capitals of the music industry and home to one of his most loyal fan bases (Latino and Non-Latino). Perhaps not coincidently as well the home he purchased was once owned by Clark Gable—a pop icon whose sexuality has also been recently scrutinized.

6 For more on Chicano contributions to rock n roll, see, for example, David Reyes and Tom Waldman, Land of a Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock n Roll from Southern California (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998); Steven Loza, Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American Music in Los Angeles (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993) and Roberto Avant-Mier, Rock the Nation: Latin/o Identities and the Latin Rock Diaspora (London: Continuum, 2010).

7 Sandra Tsing-Loh, Depth Takes a Holiday: Essays From Lesser Los Angeles (New York: Riverhead Books, 1996).

8 For more on music and Chicano youth from the barrios of Los Angeles, see for example, Pancho McFarland, “‘Here Is Something You Can’t Understand…’: Chicano Rap and the Critique of Globalization,” in Decolonial Voices: Chicana and Chicano Cultural Studies in the 21st Century, ed. Arturo J. Aldama and Naomi H. Quinones (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2002), 297-315; Gaye T.M. Johnson, “A Sifting of Centuries: Afro- Chicano Interaction and Popular Musical Culture in California, 1960-2000,” in Decolonial Voices: Chicana and Chicano Cultural Studies in the 21st Century, ed. Arturo J. Aldama and Naomi H. Quinones (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2002), 316-329; Victor Hugo Viesca, “The Battle of Los Angeles: The Cultural Politics of Chicana/o Music in the Greater Eastside,” Los Angeles and the Future of Urban Cultures: A Special Issue of American Quarterly, ed. Raul H Villa and George J. Sanchez (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 221-242; and Anthony F. Macias, Mexican American Mojo: Popular Music, Dance, and Urban Culture in Los Angeles, 1935-1968 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008).

9 William E. Jones Is It Really so Strange?, DVD (San Francisco: Frameline, 2006).

10 See, for example, Josh Kun, Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005); George Lipsitz, Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism and the Poetics of Place (London: Verso, 1994); Herman Gray, Cultural Moves: African Americans and the Politics of Representation (Berkeley, University of California Press, 2005); Frances R. Aparicio, Listening to Salsa: Gender, Latin-American Music and Puerto Rican Cultures (Hanover: Wesleyan Press, 1998).

11 Gustavo Arellano, “Their Charming Man: Dispatches from the Latino Morrissey Love-in,” Orange County Weekly September 12, 2002. Available online at: http://www.ocweekly.com/features/features/their-charming- man/21569/

12 Deborah Paredez, “Remembering Selena, Re-membering Latinidad,” Theatre Journal 54 (2002): 63-84.

54 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

13 José Esteban Muñoz, “Feeling Brown,” Theatre Journal 52 (2000): 70. Moreover, fans in general are routinely categorized as obsessive (and dangerous) loners or a hysterical and deranged crowd. Joli Jensen, “Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization,” in The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, ed. Lisa A. Lewis (New York: Routledge, 1992), 9-29.

14 Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman, “Splicing the Sonic Color Line: Tony Schwartz Remixes Post War Nueva York,” Social Text 28, no. 1 (2010): 102.

15 See, for example, Stuart Hall, “Encoding/Decoding,” in Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-79, ed. Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andre Lowe and Paul Willis (1980; reprint, London: Routledge, 2002),128-38; Ien Ang, Watching Dallas: Soap Opera and the Melodramatic Imagination (1985; reprint, New York: Routledge, 1989); Morley David, The 'Nationwide' Audience: Structure and Decoding. London: BFI, 1980; Janice Radway, Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991); Dick Hebdige, Subculture: the Meaning of Style (London: Routledge, 1979); Resistance through Rituals, ed. Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson (London: Hutchinson 1976). And the related, Henry Jenkins, Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture (New York: Routledge, 1992).

16 William G. Roy, “‘Race Records’ and ‘Hillbilly Music’: Institutional Origins of Racial Categories in the American Commercial Recording Industry,” Poetics 32 (2004): 265-279.

17 See, for example, Deborah Paredez, “Remembering Selena, Re-membering Latinidad;” Vivian Barrera and Denise D. Bielby, “Places, Faces, and Other Familiar Things: The Cultural Experience of Telenovela Viewing among Latinos in the United States,” Journal of Popular Culture 34 (2001): 1-18; Vicki Mayer, “Living Telenovelas/Telenovelizing Life: Mexican American Girls’ Identities and Transnational Telenovelas,” Journal of Communication (2003): 479-495; Viviana Rojas, “The Gender of Latinidad: Latinas Speak About Hispanic Television,” The Communication Review 7 (2004): 125-153; Evan Cooper, “Looking at the Latin ‘Freak’: Audience Reception of John Leguizamo’s Culturally Intimate Humor,” Latino Studies 6 (2008): 436-455.

18 For thorough critiques of subculture theory and also possible revivals, see, Andy Bennett and Keith Kahn-Harris, eds., After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004); David Muggleton and Rupert Weinzierl, eds., The Post-Subcultures Reader (Oxford: Berg, 2003); and Rupa Huq, Beyond Subculture: Pop, Youth and Identity in a Postcolonial World (London: Routledge, 2006).

19 Chicana/o Studies scholars have critiqued British cultural studies on several fronts, including its Eurocentric perspective, white privilege, and the failure to grapple with the American legacies of slavery, genocide, conquest and racism. See, George Mariscal, “Can Cultural Studies Speak Spanish?,” in The Chicana/o Cultural Studies Reader, ed. Angie Chabram-Dernersesian (New York: Routledge, 2006), 63. George Lipsitz, “Con Safos: Can Cultural Studies Read the Writing on the Wall, in The Chicana/o Cultural Studies Reader, ed. Angie Chabram- Dernersesian (New York: Routledge, 2006), 58.

20 Alicia Gaspar de Alba, introduction to Velvet Barrios: Popular Culture & Chicana/o Sexualities (New York: Palgrave, 2003), xxi.

21 For more on subculture formulations and theory see: Phil Cohen, Rethinking the Youth Question: Education, Labour, and Cultural Studies (Durham. Duke University Press, 1999).

22 Gaspar de Alba, Velvet Barrios, xxi.

23 Cornel Sandvoss, Fans: The Mirror of Consumption (Cambridge: Polity, 2005), 15. For more on fans, see, for example, Lisa A. Lewis, ed., The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, (New York: Routledge, 1992); Jackie Stacey, Star Gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship (London: Routledge, 1994); plus, the related texts: Jacqueline Bobo, Black Women As Cultural Readers (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995); Janice Radway, Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984); James Hay, Lawrence Grossberg, and Ellen Wartella, ed., The Audience and Its Landscape (Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1996).

55 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

24 Cornel Sandvoss, Fans, 17.

25 Matt Hills, Fan Cultures (London: Routledge, 2002), 29.

26 Will Straw, “Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Communities and Scenes in Popular Music,” Cultural Studies 5 (1991): 373.

27 Ibid., 384.

28 Lewis, G.H., “Who Do You Love? The Dimensions of Musical Taste,” in Popular Music and Communication, ed. James Lull 2nd ed. (London: Sage, 1992), 141.

29 A similar claim is made by William E. Jones in the documentary Is It Really so Strange?

30 Reyes and Waldman, introduction to Land of a Thousand Dances, xx.

31 Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977), 132.

32 Josh Kun, Audiotopia, 2-17.

33 Famously Morrissey is nicknamed the “pope of mope.” David Sinclair, “Still Charming: A Triumphant Return for the Smiths’ Pope of Mope,” The Times May, 2004, accessed August 25, 2012, http://tiptopwebsite.com/websites/index2.php?username=luckylisp&page=23

34 For some examples of Morrissey fan dress style see, William E. Jones’ documentary Is It Really so Strange? DVD (2004; San Francisco, CA: Frameline, 2006).

35 Mary Fernandez, interview by author. Santa Barbara, Calf., 8 October, 2007.

36 Chloe Veltman, “The Passion of the Morrissey,” The Believer, August 2004, accessed September 17, 2009, http://www.believermag.com/exclusives/?read=article_veltman.

37 Nicholas F. Centino, “From London to East Los’: A Cultural History of La Raza and the Rockabilly Scene,” (M.A. Thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2010).

38 For one egregious example see, John Nova Lomax, “This Charming Hombre: Morrissey’s Mad Love Among Mexican Americans,” Houston Press June 3, 2004, accessed December 4, 2010, http://www.houstonpress.com/2004-06-03/music/this-charming-hombre/

39 It is ironic that the term “greaser” which has been used as a racial slur against people of Mexican descent would in this context be positively accepted. This can be read as an attempt by Chicano youth to deracinate the term and its negative connotations.

40 One expounder of this argument is Chicano comedian cum Chicano art collector Cheech Marin who argues that the youth culture presented in Rebel originates in Chicano communities despite the movie depicting a Los Angeles with no Mexicans, cited in George Lipsitz, Dangerous Crossroads, 86. The idea is also supported by the fact that director Nicolas Ray researched for the movie by visiting juvenile detention centers in California, hired Nuyorican Perry Lopez as a gang consultant and the original screenplay featured scenes with Mexican gangs. See, Douglas L. Rathgeb, The Making of Rebel Without a Cause (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Company Publishers, 2004), 17- 21.

41 Rachel Elder, “November Spawned a Mexican,” The Black Table July16, 2003, accessed October 1, 2009, http://www.blacktable.com/elder030716.htm

56 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

42 The description of the first convention comes from fan sites. Among them www.cemetarygates.com provides firsthand accounts from several fans none of which are Latino but offer a great snapshot of the event nonetheless. http://www.cemetrygates.com/vault/convention/homepage.html.

43 For more on the Sweet and Tender Hooligans see their official website: http://www.sweetandtenderhooligans.com/bio.htm

44 Elder, “November Spawned a Mexican.” The show was promoted as the Mexican Elvis meets the Mexican Morrissey.

45 Jeff Stodel Jr. interview in Is It Really So Strange, 2004. Transcribed by the author.

46 David Lott, “The Wizards of Moz Angeles,” Los Angeles Times November 19, 2000.

47 Interview with Jose Maldonado, accessed October 1, 2009, http://www.prettypettythieves.com/followers/sath.htm

48 Gustavo Arellano, “The Boys with the Morrissey in their Side,” OC Weekly July 31, 2003; Iain Aitch, “Mad About Morrissey,” The Guardian March 25, 2005; Jennifer Torres, “Morrissey has strong bond with Latinos,” The Record April 27, 2007.

49 John Lomax “This Charming Hombre: Morrissey’s Mad Love Among Mexican Americans.”

50 For more on stereotypes of Mexicans in American popular culture, see, William Anthony Nericcio, Tex[T]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007).

51 Lawrence Grossberg, “Is there a Fan in the House?: The Affective Sensibility of Fandom,” The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, ed. Lisa H. Lewis (New York: Routledge, 1992), 51.

52 Ibid., 54.

53 Vivian Barrera and Denise D. Bielby, “Places, Faces, and Other Familiar Things.”

54 I borrow this phrase from George Lipsitz’s “Listening to Learn and Learning to Listen: Popular Culture, Cultural Theory, and American Studies,” American Quarterly 42 (1990): 615-636.

55 Charles Briggs, Learning How To Ask: A Sociolinguistic Appraisal of the Role of the Interview in Social Science Research (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 3.

56 Ibid., 22.

57 Reyes and Waldman, Land of a Thousand Dances, 159-162; Frances R. Aparicio, Listening to Salsa: Gender, Latin Popular Music, and Puerto Rican Cultures (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1998), 128.

58 Leon’s discussion of the masculine expression of different singers echoes Dionne Espinoza’s discussion of how Chicano youth in the 1960s established a unique mode of masculinity based on African-American doo-wop groups, the Beatles and the Mexican ranchera tradition. “‘Tanto Tiempo Disfrutamos…’: Revisiting the Gender and Sexual Politics of Chicana/o Youth Culture in East Los Angeles in the 1960s,” in Velvet Barrios: Popular Culture and Chicana/o Sexualities, ed. Alicia Gaspar de Alba (New York: Palgrave, 2003).

59 Andrew Warnes, “Black, White and Blue: The Racial Antagonism of the Smiths’ Record Sleeves,” Popular Music 27 (2008): 135-149.

60 See for example, James Henke, “Oscar! Oscar! Great Britain goes Wilde for the 'fourth-gender' Smiths,” Rolling Stone June 7, 1984.

57 Jose Anguiano [email protected]

61 For more on Morrissey’s “fourth gender” and how it’s present in his music see, Nadine Hubbs, “Music of the ‘Fourth Gender’: Morrissey and the Sexual Politics of Melodic Contour,” Genders 23 (1996): 269.

62 Further discussion on problematicizing Latino masculinity can be found in, Ray González, ed., Muy Macho: Latino Men Confront Their Manhood (New York: First Anchor Books, 1996); Gabriel S. Estrada, “The ‘Macho’ Body as Social Malinche,” in Velvet Barrios: Popular Culture and Chicana/o Sexualities, ed. Alicia Gaspar de Alba (New York: Palgrave, 2003) and Alfredo Mirandé, Hombres Y Machos: Masculinity and Latino Culture (Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1997).

63 Nadine Hubbs, “Music of the ‘Fourth Gender’: Morrissey and the Sexual Politics of Melodic Contour.” Dionne Espinoza, “‘Tanto Tiempo Disfrutamos…’.” Beauty Bragg and Pancho McFarland, “The Erotic and Pornographic in Chicana Rap: JV vs. Ms. Sancha,” Meridians 7 (2007): 1-21. Mimi Schippers, “The Social Organization of Sexuality and Gender in Alternative Hard Rock: An Analysis of Intersectionality,” Gender and Society 14 (2000): 747-764. Deborah R.Vargas, “Rita's Pants: The Charro Traje and Trans-Sensuality,”Women and Performance 20 (2010): 3-14. Leonor Xóchitl Pérez, “Transgressing the Taboo: A Chicana’s Voice in the Mariachi World,” in Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change, eds., Norma E. Cantú and Olga Nájera-Ramírez (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002).

64 Vicki L. Ruiz, From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 67.

65 George Lipsitz, Dangerous Crossroads, 160-163.

66 Oscar Zeta Acosta, The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (New York: Vintage, 1989), 35.

67 A similar move to claim “home” through music, sound and dance in the queer Latino community of the Bay Area is brilliantly explored by Horacio Roque Ramirez in “‘Mira, yo soy boricua y estoy aquí’: Rafa Negrón’s Pan Dulce and the Queer Sonic Latinaje of San Francisco,” Centro 19 (2007): 274-313.

68 An adaptation of Morrissey’s lyrics from the song “Irish Blood, English Heart” from the album You Are the Quarry.

69 Lipsitz, Dangerous Crossroads, 85-86.

70 For more on the 1990s and the Chicano community see for example, McFarland, ‘Here Is Something You Can’t Understand…,’ 299-301 and Johnson “A Sifting of Centuries,” 322-327.

71 Michelle Habell-Pallán, Loca Motion: The Travels of Chicana and Latina Popular Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2005), 183.

72 George Lipsitz, “Cruising the Historical Bloc: Postmodernism and Popular Music in East Los Angeles,” Cultural Critique 5 (1986):162-65.

73 Lipsitz, Dangerous Crossroads, 84.

74 George Lipsitz, Footsteps in the Dark: The Hidden Histories of Popular Music (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007), 80.

58