Professor seeks memories of band

Assistant art professor Patrick Holbrook fondly remembers the days of his youth, when he would run along the soda aisle at the grocery store and let his hands slap against the several liter bottles. He remembers rebelling against his family by drinking Jolt Cola, and listening to The Smiths, a band from the 80s. Holbrook now plans to take these childhood memories and combine them with the memories of others to make a documentary.

Holbrook remembers using The Smiths as an act of rebellion against his parents.

“They were rebels, they kind of went against mainstream culture,” Holbrook explained, detailing why he listened to The Smiths instead of other groups in his acts of defiance. “Growing up I was a teenager, discovering The Smiths. It was a real profound kind of thing. Just discovering all this sort of culture in a culture, digging for it, finding it, finding something that I responded to. I had to find this alternative culture.”

The Smiths were an English band that released several albums and put on live shows during the 80s. They made their debut in 1982, and released seven albums before the band broke up in late 1987. The band, composed of Mike Joyce, Johnny Marr, Stephen Morrissey and Andy Rourke had a number of top 20 hits in England, and several of their albums made it into the top 100 charts in the United States.

Holbrook claims it was the fact that The Smiths were very different from the norm that made them so popular during their time. Holbrook calls The Smiths “an alternative pop band.”

“They were just a real icon for alternative culture,” Holbrook said. ” The critique of them is that their lyrics are very narcissistic, and mopey, and kind of Goth in a way.”

Though he enjoys all the music made by The Smiths, the song “I am Human” sticks out above the others as being Holbrook’s favorite.

His idea to make a documentary of The Smiths stems from Holbrook’s plans to make a documentary about the use of deep lake water-cooling in Rochester, New York. While he was pursuing that, he learned that his childhood drink of choice, Jolt Cola, is made in Rochester. This, in turn, led to The Smiths.

“I always associate Jolt Cola and The Smiths together,” he said with a laugh. “They’re both things, that when I was thirteen, were a way to rebel.”

For his documentary, Holbrook plans to interview other fans of The Smiths about the band, such as how it influenced them and why they enjoy the band like they do. He plans to interview them, but he mentions some other ideas he’s had as well.

“It’ll be a documentary, but we’ll also do karaoke of The Smiths – something to make it more multidimensional, more fun. I like to have fun in the work too.”

Holbrook said he also plans to film at supermarkets, while he runs along the aisles and lets his hands hit all of the one liter bottles. Once again, he intends to put his childhood acts of rebellion on screen.

Any student who has a memory or experience involving The Smiths they would like to share for the documentary should contact Holbrook at patrick.holbrook@gcsu.edu.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 20 2006. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry