It's the sort of thing to make those of us who grew up listening to The Smiths feel a bit old. The iconic eighties four-piece are to be studied at an academic symposium, to be called 'Why
Pamper Life's Complexities' – a line from This Charming
Man, if you've forgotten.
Academics from around the world will analyse the work of the melancholic
Mancunians, and discuss the influence of Morrissey's miserablist lyrics on gender and sexuality, race and nationality and the imagination of class. They will also discuss the band in terms of aesthetics, fan cultures and musical innovation.
Dr
Justin O'Connor, an expert on the Manchester music and cultural scene, told Sky News: 'The Smiths have had a singular impact on popular culture. They looked like nobody else and sounded like nobody else, and their music had an emotional depth that moved people in a way that no 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. This conference aims to put that right and to critically examine what the band meant and continue to mean two decades after their untimely demise.'
The three day conference takes place at **Manchester Metropolitan
University** on 8 and 9 Apr.