Portrait of Morrissey as the "outsiders' outsider": one whose "obsession with the margins of culture and society...fuels this uncommonly extreme devotion of his fans." Veltman also details many of the allegations of racism that plauged Morrissey in England and eventually drew him to move to the U.S. Unlike many other articles, this one comes to terms with the fact that Morrissey might really be a has-been, regardless of his adoring fans; the Smiths have been much more influential, and contemporary Morrissey is just reprising the past. Veltman ends with the idea that Morrissey's image as a pop-culture-hating outsider might just be that: an image ironically cultured by the media he claimes to despise.

Lisa A. Lewis, the editor of this collection, comments in the beginning that the book is a response to the stigma of fandom; instead, it looks at fandom as a response to difficult social conditions, which is an especially apt way to view the popularity of Morrissey and the Smiths. Lawrence Grossberg's essay "Is There a Fan in the House?: The Affective Sensibility of Fandom" argues that rock fans are bound together by a consumer sensibility that makes them desire pleasure. This idea is not entire correct for Morrissey's fans , as media and consumer ideals have had little impact on his fan base over the past two decades, but it is useful to understand another model of fandom to which Morrissey fans can be compared.