ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a number of issues relevant to Steven Morrissey's musical expression. It demonstrates that the multiple voices in Morrissey's performance are inseparable from their cultural historical roots. As powerful modes of address, Morrissey's texts not only question social and political issues but also strike at the core of the crisis concerning male identity. The themes of social rebellion in Morrissey's texts can be read as pointed defences of Arcadian values in England. He knows full well that the portrayal of himself as lonely, depressed and antiheroic, can trigger off all sorts of compassion in his fans. Within a cultural context, Morrissey's identity also needs to be mapped against the politics of England in the mid-1980s, a period marked by a continual movement towards the far Right. The chapter explores how music can operate as an important part of the process that advances the idea of characterisation in pop songs.
