I've just finished reading a short chapter about Skinheads and community in the incredibly outdated "Restistance Through Rituals:Youth Cultures in Post-War Britain",edited by Jefferson, Hutchinson:London, 1976.,and there where some intresting bits which give a bit of insight into Morrissey's use of the Skinhead imagery. The chapter points at the demise of the working class in Britain in the second half of the 60's. "This allied to the young's sense of exclusion from the existing youth sub-culture produced a "us-them" consciousness among the lower working class young, a sense of being excluded and under attack from a variety of points."

Also this bit fits in well with Morrissey. "It is perhaps not surprising that the area with which the Skinheads are most associated should be the East End, which from a sociological standpoint has been seen as the archetypal working class community. It's internal self-image has always been a particularly strong one, and has been strengthened by it's public reputation as a 'hard' area, a reputation which in the mid sixties was further intensifed by the glamourous careers of the Krays".

Perhaps this is why Morrissey flirted with the Skinhead imagery, it harked back to a period of England which Morrissey loved, black and white kitchen sink drama movies, Coronation Street when it used to have "venom and spite" a sense of community in the Northern towns, a underdog mentality. Perhaps...

LoF, (who does not support the actions and thoughts of any right-wing Skinhead movements anywhere.)

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I'm actually reading 'White Riot' by Nick Knowles, it's the story of combat18, whilst no Morrissey content it does explain about the white working class alienation & about the socio-economic factors that lead towards the rise of nazism in east end London, how the closing down of traditional industry of the docks & manufacturing combined with an influx of immigration & a seemingly disenfranchisation of the 'local' community threw up such groups as combat 18 (the 1 & 8 are from the alphabet 1=A 8=H, adolph hitler).
I think that Morrissey's morbid fascination with violence led him to use such skinhead imagery & also a lack of media potrayal of true working class heroes for him to admire, there's far more to it & presently I haven't time to expand on my theory. So for now I shall have to leave it there.
Grim

Money changes everything.
Now don't get me wrong: I would do exactly as he did and get the hell away from dark, violent Manchester towards sunny, violent LA as soon as I could afford it.