How I wish I could find an excuse to go to this…but I haven’t got one. I guess I’ll be left behind and sour…I wonder if they have a vacancy for a back scrubber?

Manchester Institute of Popular Culture
Manchester Metropolitan University

April 8th and 9th 2005

The Smiths have had a singular impact on popular culture. They looked like nobody else and sounded like nobody else. The music of The Smiths contained an emotional depth and a technical virtuosity that moved people in a way that almost no other band has managed before or since. In spite of their enormous cultural significance and personal resonance, The Smiths have yet to receive sustained academic attention. To date, there have been remarkably few serious examinations of the band. The purpose of this symposium is to put that right. The event seeks to draw together academics and others who wish to critically examine what The Smiths meant and continue to mean almost two decades after their untimely demise. Among the themes that we hope to address are: gender and sexuality, race and nationality, a sense of place, the imagination of class, the significance of Manchester in popular music, the aesthetics of the band, fan cultures and musical innovation.

Abstracts for proposed conference papers should be no longer than 200 = words and should be sent (via email) no later than January 10th 2005 to = Dr Fergus Campbell, School of Historical Studies, University of = Newcastle Upon Tyne, F.J.M.Campbell@newcastle.ac.uk; Dr Sean Campbell, = Department of Communication and Media Studies, APU, Cambridge, = s.campbell@apu.ac.uk, and Dr Colin Coulter, Department of Sociology, = National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland, colin.coulter@may.ie