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TEDx Talks
Title: What Morrissey and his Mexican fans tell us about music fandom | Gabriel Avalos | TEDxWhitneyHigh
Published: 2017-09-08
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw8zRnaUhAA
%HESITATION Hey everyone she hung my least favorite question the whole world has got to be what's your favorite type music to listen to it Greer favor art see that's such a hard question for me to answer it's an impossible one to it's extremely hard and it's what's asking me to bring down my whole musical taste and not a whole wide range and bring it down to
two maybe even three different artists because I can't really display you all that I really like to listen to with that many artists now there's a lot at stake here because the answer and the way that the real person reacts to this answer go to different ways now first off they might actually what you have to say you peak their interest you share the same taste
and importantly impress them or go the other way and the kids who only dismiss you and your musical tastes complete never want that so basically once you've found someone who's a fellow fan it's like you are now share the same passion for the same music that's in me about Bella fan and that's a unique and special thing now another great thing about the fan experience is
realizing that who you say as you're a fan of can truly define you in it says a lot about you now senior fan of Justin Bieber has something completely different and senior fan of more classic rock artists whose David Bowie either completely two different artists and when you see your fan of either one many people might think a certain thing about you or those make some
assumptions and that's what I mean by an artist defining the fans now every once in awhile although that rings true for the most case every once in awhile there's an artist that comes around and the break out of that usual norm and they allow for the fans to define them no the artists that I think that that embodies this idea perfect we is Morrissey now all
I am a huge fan of Morrissey it isn't the only reason why I chose them for this idea I chose them because for being a white guy for Manchester England yes surprisingly large Mexican American following in fan base which is grown to being one of the characteristics that define and to this day so I don't expect a lot of you to know exactly who Morrissey isn't
always music out there so give you quick history lesson it's been said that a lot of pop stars have to be dead to reach the iconic status that more he's gained in his lifetime now this is seen through his band the smiths and his subsequent so occur which came after despite many hits at critically and commercially acclaimed albums and a really paved the way to prove
what indie band could be and they were seminal works that really influenced a lot of artists to come now his fan base followed him everywhere he has found all over the world but his Mexican American fans which follow him to this day over ruling makes this unique but it's not only unique in that way when makes it so special is that Morrissey's proven that he's a
fan of his very own followers and that's what I think has ensured his success and what truly makes an artist I think he is now you're probably wondering as to how he was able to get these Mexican fans and wider like such a big deal about him here's a couple of theories as to how that came to be now one of the biggest ones and one
of my favorites is the fact that a lot of his music deals with trying to find a cultural belonging and sh trying to fit in in general now Morrissey in through his music is always portrayed himself as an outsider he's an immigrant myself he's now living in a way he's originally from England but a lot of the songs without only focusing on being an outsider they
talk about finding that cultural belonging now is Mexican American fans they can relate to this the most as other immigrant communities as well because they're trying to find that perfect balance of sticking to your roots and also assimilating into a new culture in a new country that they're living now this is something that he touches upon in his music when the song is called Irish blood
English heart would you recognize that yes two different cultures clashing together and slot those Mexican fans can relate to another aspect of his music that's very similar to the one that Mexican fans probably grew up with is %HESITATION run check out songs now these are Mexican folk songs any talk about %HESITATION a lot of death and yearning for love and Morrissey and the smiths they're they're
known for this type music this is right up their alley this is another way in which they connect to now another one of my fever theories is the eighties connection now when I first became a smiths fan good because my dad passed on that music to me no when he was growing up in the eighties this is the time of the smiths and Morrissey were coming
now making music so it makes sense they're becoming bands of this music but when you think about it in this way these Mexican fans for the most part especially in the LA area they were first generation kids their parents were immigrants and they don't really have an understanding of American culture in itself everything that people like my dad are growing up too and it is at
the time they were taking it in explains of a bigger reason as to why a lot of Mexicans are fans of sports teams like the Dodgers in the raiders because they had a lot of success during the eighties this is their coming of age and right now proves to be like in a stall Jeff factor so in that takes them back to the days inn there
coming out now I said to my dad's a fan but it also seems to run in the blood because I found out that people like my uncle and a lot of other people in my family or friends well no I just took this as a coincidence yeah I ran in the blood but it wasn't until after I started meeting other people once and soon who came
up to me when I was wearing the shirt like for example I was wearing my share in the hallways here Whitney and when our custodial staff members came up to me me with one and he's like well mannered didn't know that you're a smiths fan I was awesome to me right like I found a fellow fan he was talking about how his whole family were fans
now that's when it hit me that there's probably a lot more to this like how can the only fans I know are Mexican whatever else I went even on the street sometimes the only people that approach to me about it relief Mexican fans that's where I really want to dig deep and try to figure out how're other fans showing their love for Morrissey well Mexican fans
show their love for Morrissey in many different ways and they don't care to hide all right so so this topic and their love for Morrissey's been the topic of documentaries right form documentaries a lot of videos think pieces and a lot of discussions online so they show their love for in the easy ways you can just look into the pockets of a lace edged east LA
and you can see there's a lot of Mexican for Morrissey fan clubs now these fan clubs and given Morrissey the nickname animus now they've also name Los Angeles mas Angelus because they think that this is his town and he lives here now so he's cleaned it for his own also a lot of Mexican fans the the host a Morrissey opening night for now these nights where
you can go to any east LA bar and you can walk in and you'll find many smiths fans screaming at the top of their lungs their favorite songs of his now something really special need really taken it to their own now Morrissey fan the always wear their heart on their sleeve and they don't want to ever show it but when you really think about it there's
other ways to you and how I always home to the two most prominent smiths and Morrissey cover bands and it's also home to the world's largest Smith flash Morrissey convention in the world there's also the band that recently came out last year called next year see now this band is made up of what do you know musicians who came together with their love Morrissey and wanted
a player Morrisey songs with Latin twist in Mexican flavor and even touring around mostly in areas in the southwest New York and of course Mexico playing to the fan base who really would appreciate the music now enough on the fact that Mexicans love Morrissey what I really want to focus on is how more sing lead to stands back because that's what makes it unique in the
first place cemex on Morrissey's realize that he has to acknowledge his fans and that he can be a fan of his followers as well it's assured of success any showed in many different times and ways so there is worrying achieve US Jersey their prominent Mexican soccer team and there he is holding the Mexican flag during one of his concerts so Morrissey is done is actually written
some songs aimed at his fan one of his songs is aptly titled Mexico and it talks about him walking the streets of Mexico seen how it's like is talking about is love letter for the country he also has a song that is from his perspective taking white privilege now when I say this Morrissey understands that yeah he's a white guy from England but he's critiquing the
fact this whole sense of entitlement now this is something that his fans can contrite it understand from his perspective and realize that he's trying to say something and he's trying to relate to them letting them know that he realized that white privilege could be a problem also he's gone on this whole tour called oy Esteban tour which was plain place in Mexico has always playing there
and the southwest and a lot of this tour announcements imagery on tee shirts the way that he puts out his merchandise on his website they're all of Mexican themes and influences and on that oil Esteban tour he said I wish our Mexican no now that is amazing not many artists really think about it that way too many artists think that their music should define the fan
and that their music is the only thing that they have in common Morris is gone the other way he's changed it around so that his fans now defining them he's taking them into consideration and he's catering to the fans now me being a Morrissey fan it's kind of change things for most of the bands that promotes the artists and fans of I just relate to it
on that surface level I like their music and I like it when they play a show around you like to go see in the case of Morrissey his reverse that role so now I know I only have a deeper connection of Morris himself but I have a deeper connection with other fans as well and that is truly the amazing thing and that's something that Morrissey's perfected
