A decade spat on by leftists, filled with rancid politics, Thatcher nicking milk from schoolkids. The 1980s. Came in with blistering punk, snorted coke, got rich, drove Porsches, crashed into a wall, throttled the country with poll tax and privatisation, and with its dying breath threw up a million kids in shell suits.
Historians can pick over the bones all they want. For us growing up, it was just normality. And flying the flag for all that was normal about the working class north, enter The Smiths. Formed in ’82 by frontman and miseryguts supreme Morrissey, along with Johnny Marr (who played guitar), this Manchester band turned its nose up at the power-suited, overblown chart-toppers of the day, slammed its bedroom door and turned angst into art. The music that was constantly playing, Moz famously sang, said nothing to him about his life. He, Marr, bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce set out to change all that.
Morrissey. Jones Beach,
Long Island, New York. July 1991
© Kevin Cummins
Along with a sizeable slice of the soundtrack to a decade, The Smiths produced a photo diary of 80s indie culture, thanks to their attendant photographer Kevin Cummins. A master chronicler of Manchester music scene, Cummins saw it all, and committed to film some of the most striking images of the time. Tour photos, publicity stills, magazine shots. The tight jeans and cardigans. The wreckage of flowers swung around Moz’s head. But in his shots of the band he captured so much more. Not just stagefronts but shopfronts. Bleak monochrome, always vibrant. Depressed, yes, but still very funny. The essence of the 80s.
In his work, Cummins made the ordinary extraordinary, and his Smiths retrospective Manchester: So Much To Answer For is available to view in an exhibition at Proud Galleries’ Camden Venue until July 15.
Smiths Fans. Salford.
September 1988
© Kevin Cummins
Morrissey. Dunham Massey,
Greater Manchester. September 1983
© Kevin Cummins
The Smiths. Dunham Massey,
Greater Manchester. September 1983
© Kevin Cummins
Morrissey, close up. Dunham Massey,
Greater Manchester. September 1983
© Kevin Cummins
