The Relationship between "indie rock" and racial barriers

There is undoubtedly a segregation and veiled racism in the British indie music business dating back to punk's interruption.

In America, unfortunately, white rock has always been considered as art, and black music as commerce. The early US punk musicians, however, were more genuinely rebellious than the Brits and were distinguished by multiracial bands such as the Gories and the Rollins Band. Their skill standard was much higher than the determinedly amateur Brits. Also, these players were not blinkered in their tastes – the seminal MC5 lionised Sun Ra and Coltrane, giants that the British punks had never even heard of.

The British punks were sadly characterised by flirtations with swastikas and the BNP, and the odious pronouncements of such sages as Sid Vicious – all this was swept under the carpet by a British press keen to promote the music.

But all music has multi-ethnic origins, and these genes sustain it. To deny these ethnic streams' existence is to create brittle and lifeless music, which seems to me where Morrissey is at.