Discombobulated: Dispatches from the Wrong Side
Lancaster University (UK)
Discombobulated is an eclectic collection of fifty dispatches which take a look at Simon Morrison’s global voyage (from 1999 to 2006) through the weird and wonderful offerings of clubland. His G&T-fuelled anecdotes (originally appearing in DJ Mag) are the product of journalism meeting autoethnography. The dispatches capture the writer’s varied and reflexive encounters while giving voice to those he meets. Morrison’s use of alliteration, metaphors, rhyme and wit, not to mention his not-so-scant use of lurid language, help document his nocturnal adventures and make this book an enthralling read. The dispatches are not ordered chronologically as a travel journal might appear, heightening the discombobulated feel of the prose. Instead, the dispatches are categorised under headings such as “Wrong”, “On a theme of travel”, “Spoofs” and “The Most Wrongest”.
Enter a hedonistic playground where random is the order of the day. This ambitious work spans clubbing hotspots across the globe. To cite a few, Morrison’s discombobulated encounters include posing for snaps with gangster Dave Courtney in Plumstead; trying on wigs with transvestite Foo Foo Lumar; being on board a ship full of pirates and reliving the Hacienda in Manchester; almost being caught by bouncers for buying drugs off a non-drug dealer in Luxor casino Las Vegas; a drunken camel ride in Egypt; being entertained by female hostesses in a KTV bar in Shanghai; staying at Ibiza’s infamous Pike’s Hotel and partying at Pacha; and sipping Moet at Kylie Minogue’s 34th birthday bash in London. Morrison’s exploration of club culture extends beyond the confines of club space. We follow Morrison’s clubbing trajectory through pre-, in- and post-club spaces (Moore and Miles 2004). The dispatches contribute to our holistic understanding of the clubbing journey whilst highlighting the blurring distinctions between these spaces (Measham, Aldridge and Parker 2001). Collectively, these dispatches are what characterise the Wrong Side as a demarcated space away from the moral Right Side. Morrison writes “The Wrong Side is that hazy place you find yourself late in the proceedings: you don’t know how you got there... you sure as hell don’t know how you’re going to get out... and you’re resigned to just kicking back and enjoying the ride” (140).
A fast-paced, humorous and vibrant tone with an all-star line-up is set in the opening chapters of the book. Whilst in Foo Foo’s Palace Morrison states “clubland doesn’t have to be built on a bedrock of seriousness; there is equally room for boudoir and sillyness (sic)” (13). Reflecting the playful ethos of clubland itself, Morrison adopts a role not to be taken too seriously, where being accused of “pissing around in Ibiza” (129) is not a worry. Enjoying the ride is not viewed as a distraction or something to be editorially cut from his clubland tales but instead forms an integral part of his adventures. Often discussed in relation to drugs research is the tendency for writers to produce sanitised accounts of their fieldwork whilst neglecting the role of pleasure (Holt and Treloar 2008); this aspect of clubland is a feature most definitely not omitted from Morrison’s accounts.
The writer suggests that thanks to globalisation and low-cost airfares, travel to foreign lands to go clubbing has never been easier. However he also notes that increasingly globalisation has given birth to homogeneous and unauthentic template cities (Roberts 2006). Drawing on his time in Shanghai, he writes “The afternoon unwound with us trying to seek out ‘the real Chinese shit’ and ended up with us in a shopping mall. And I'm looking around thinking... hang on... there’s Starbucks, there’s McDonald’s... we are in China right, not China White?” (195). This development is also mirrored in clubland where he notes “The more I travel the more it becomes obvious that electronic music is pulling the world together... And I don’t mean that in a hippy dippy way, it’s more that when you’re on a dancefloor and you’re spangled, you sometimes forget whether you’re in Moscow or Manchester, such is its connecting power” (26).The dispatches highlight how the spread of electronic dance music across the globe has contributed to the McDonaldization of clubland on the one hand whilst simultaneously leading to increased diversification on the other, reiterating the view that “even though certain elements may be common to dance and club culture across the globe (e.g. music, fashion and drugs), nightclubbing has not become a homogenous global culture” (Rief 2009: 3).
Credit must be given to Morrison for covering a lot of ground in his work, not only geographically but also in terms of the range of scenes and spaces he visited. However, it could be argued that the dispatches offer nothing more than cultural snapshots which cover the breadth of the globe but lack depth. There are some destinations (such as Manchester and Ibiza) where a fuller picture begins to emerge due to repeat visits, but the dispatches are best viewed as “postcards from the edge” (157) with limited space for elaboration, amounting to mere glimpses of locations. The level of contextual insight becomes questionable as most of the dispatches are tales of Morrison’s own insobriety or of the morning after the night before, written from inside (and often about) his hotel room. Although the centrality of alcohol in clubland is discussed throughout the book and brief reference is made to illegal drugs (spliffs, pills and magic mushrooms), the writer misses an opportunity to further investigate the differing drug cultures situated in the varied spaces he inhabits. Further, Morrison’s insider status as journalist permitted him access to the finest clubs, VIP areas, hotels and impressive celebrity interviews. Limited attention is paid to the regular “live for the weekend” clubber. Instead we get a view of clubbing from the privileged VIP area of the club. Despite these shortcomings, Discombobulated is a fun and light-hearted read capturing the emergence and establishment of clubbing and electronic dance music culture as a vast and often highly profitable global business.
Holt, Martin and Carla Treloar. 2008. “Pleasure and Drugs: Editorial”. International Journal of Drug Policy (19): 349–52.
Measham, Fiona, Aldridge, Judith and Howard Parker. 2001. Dancing on Drugs: Risk, Health and Hedonism in the British Club Scene. London and New York: Free Association Books.
Moore, Karenza and Steven Miles. 2004. “Young People, Dance and the Sub-cultural Consumption of Drugs”. Addiction Research and Theory 12(6): 507–23.
Rief, Silvia. 2009. Club Cultures: Boundaries, Identities and Otherness. London and New York: Routledge.
Roberts, Marion. 2006. “From ‘Creative City’ to ‘No-Go-Areas’: The Expansion of the Night-Time Economy in British Town and City Centres”. Cities 23(5): 331–38.