From the moment that the new Morrissey album sings out with references to the Italian film director, Pasolini, his die-hard fans know that the journey that began in Manchester and moved to London and Los Angeles is now firmly in Rome.
Nevertheless, the just released "Ringleader of the Tormentors" is a timely reminder of one of the most critically acclaimed pop stars of recent times. Most notably, he is lauded by novelists and poets and within a month of the publication of "Ringleader", a new novel inspired by the times that inspired the first Smiths albums arrives on the British literary scene.
The weltschmerz of the first part of "The Dream of the Decade - The London Novels" by Afshin Rattansi is redolent of the lyrical wordplay and content of Smiths' songs such as "Still Ill" and "Frankly, Mister Shankly." Whilst the first book of the quartet (Booksurge, ISBN:1-4196-1686-2) focuses on the mismatch between the people of London and new policies aimed at breaking the Atlee 1945 consensus, the humour is as black as Smiths' songs such as "Hairdresser On Fire." It is that song, with its refrain "Here is London.." that emerges in the pages of "The Dream of the Decade" as it explores the glamorous to the rundown in Zone 1 of the British capital.
Whilst Morrissey may have abandoned London for Rome - with lyrical references as American as anything British - his voice continues to inspire UK authors with his highly politicised perspectives. Authors as diverse as J K Rowling (the new Harry Potter film even contains references to his music) Will Self and Alan Bennett are all fans. It now seems that younger authors such as Afshin Rattansi also draw on the dimly lit alleys of 1980s Smiths songs to evoke the spirit of a critical time when social divides were writ large, indeed.
Rattansi began his career reviewing bands and it was in the 1980s that he first saw the band play at the Electric Ballroom in Camden Town. This was at a time of resurgent political pop music and The Smiths was just one of the bands that played at massive concerts organised by the then head of the GLC, Ken Livingstone - now Mayor of London. But whilst Paul Weller, Billy Bragg and others are still around, it's notable that the fiery group, The Redskins, seem to have disappeared.
That era is evoked in The Dream of the Decade when the cradle-to-grave welfare state was being ripped apart in favour of a more individualistic and drug-crazed 1990s. The Dream of the Decade has a few plaudits from rock stars - most notably Johnny Cash - and it will perhaps not be long before words in the book find themselves quoted in the songs of popstars. |
