Morrissey, memory and traces of lost time in Manchester: From the archive to the anti-archive

This chapter takes its starting point from the work of Modiano and Vismann, to propose tentative notes around the archaeology of a musical ‘scene’; focusing on that which began in northwest England with bands such as The Smiths and culminated with the ‘Madchester’ scene of the 1990s. In distinction to the appropriation of identifiable ‘significant sites’ by the culture industry (The Hacienda, The Boardwalk, etc.), our departure point is the Vismann/Modiano paradox: what is important is always absent/ever from the archive. We will also be concerned with different ways in which traces and memories can be followed through the music and other congruent archives. This chapter is about the ‘almost..' that both constitutes, and makes impossible, the archive: the chance encounter of Bowie and Morrissey on King’s Road.