The Smiths and Friends – Stephen Wright in conversation about his photographs of iconic musicians.
The image of The Smiths outside Salford Lads' Club that graces the inner sleeve of their classic album The Queen is Dead remains without question one of the most iconic shots in the entire canon of rock photography. Over the past thirty years, thousands of fans of the band have made the pilgrimage to recreate the photo outside the stunning red brick Edwardian building.
Most controversially, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron sought to mark his supposed devotion to the legendary Manchester group by having his portrait taken in front of the venerable institution. The sight of the old Etonian millionaire seizing a photo opportunity in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK provoked widespread indignation. It even briefly brought the estranged former songwriting partners Morrissey and Marr together in common cause as they left Cameron in no doubt that his love for the Smiths was entirely unrequited.
More recently, the image of the band shivering in mid winter outside the hallowed façade of the Salford Lads Club was back in the news for rather happier reasons. Just before Christmas, the institute launched a new promotional T-shirt bearing the famous image which raised some £40,000 in just 5 months. The photo was donated free to the Lads club to raise funds for a trip for teenagers to visit Native Americans in South Dakota.
On the evening of Wednesday April 15, the photographer who took that indelible image of The Smiths, Stephen Wright, will visit Maynooth University to talk about the many iconic musicians he has captured on film over the years. Signed and personalised copies of the Salford Lads Club photo will be on sale at the specially reduced price of €25.
The Departments of Sociology and Media Studies, Maynooth University, are delighted to support what promises to be a genuinely unique event and hope that you will be able to attend.
For further information contact Dr Colin Coulter, Department of Sociology, Maynooth University: colin.coulter@mu.ie, 086 123 4520.