Discombobulated: Dispatches from the Wrong Side

by Simon A. Morrison

Simon A. Morrison describes his journalism "I climb into the story and start drinking until things go wrong." And you know what? They tend to. Discombobulated tentatively started as a hands-on study of global youth cultures, but fell into disarray somewhere on page three; it stands now as the chronicle of a trip into the Wrong Side, following the author's modus operandi, which is to combobulate, go to a disco and shortly thereafter discocombobulate. During the course of the many adventures that make up this discordant operetta, Simon Morrison has a gun held to his head by a celebrity gangster, goes raving in Ibiza with a holiday grandmother, is trapped in a gay bar in Leipzig, sings happy birthday to Kylie Minogue, disco dances in a San Franciscan titty bar, is deported from Russia, travels the white heights of the Alps through to the gutters of Brazil, and still picks himself up in time for tea with boy band Take That.

248 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2010

About the author

Dr Simon A. Morrison is a writer, academic and Programme Leader for the Music Journalism degree at the University of Chester. Author of the book Discombobulated - a collection of Gonzo ‘Dispatches From The Wrong Side’ columns penned for DJmagazine and published in the UK and US by Headpress – Simon has reported on the music scene everywhere from Beijing to Brazil; Moscow to Marrakech. He edited Ministry of Sound’s Ibiza magazine for two years and has also produced and presented TV and radio. A screenplay Simon penned, based on a story he wrote for The Guardian, is currently with a TV production company.

Within academe, Simon has contributed to Bloomsbury books including How To Write About Music, DJ Culture in the Mix and Kerouac on Record, as well as various academic publications including the journal Popular Music. His research interest, like his own practice, lies in the intersection of words and music, and his current writing stretches from a co-authored book about the global club scene for Reaktion to a co-edited title about Pink Floyd for Routledge to the publication of his PhD – Dancefloor-Driven Literature: The Rave Scene in Fiction – by Bloomsbury New York, in May 2020. Simon has presented this research at conferences across the world, including Portugal, Holland and Australia.

Reviews

[Dennis Willingham · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK, two confessions - 1) I didn't finish the book. and 2) I gave it 1 star only because I can't give it less. Written on about the level of a high school newspaper gossip column, OMG ;-), and in a format that made me think of Mad Libs.

I went to this really neat place ___ (Whistler, Ibiza, East Bumfuck)and met this really cool ___ (DJ, gangster, tranny). We got really wasted on ___ (scotch, G&T, liquid Draino) and did this really crazy thing ___ (ran naked in the snow, ran from security guards, ran to the 7/11 for more liquid Draino. The next morning I was really hungover and woke up in ___ (my room, someone else-s room, someone else's underwear). I'm really cool and my life is great.

[Stewart Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered Simon's dispatches from the wrong side before I discovered Hunter S. Thompson. Having now known both I can see Simon's clear inspiration from Thompson (something he himself admits - likening the style of his articles to a blend of HST and Withnail and I).

I read his stories growing up with DJ mag - many of them before I was old enough to go clubbing. They were my favourite articles of the magazine. A monthly dose of gonzo-esque journalism.

Directly compared to Thompson there's really no comparison. But 14 year old me loved these little insights into clubbing.

Now older, and very much on the other side of that clubbing hill (being 35) reading the articles lost some of the magic. I don't think they were ever meant to be read in one book together. Separated by a month each story is allowed to breathe, condensed into his entire works each one becomes a blue, with some words looking overused when reading 5-6 articles in a single sitting (looking at you 'transmogrified')

These articles are best read in short bursts - not as part of a longer reading session.

They aren't perfect, but for me they hold a special place as my first real insight in to club culture, and my first taste of gonzo journalism.

[T Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elegantly written but hilarious all the same. Simon’s DJ mag travels range from Mancunian pirate ships to Egyptian camels and just about everything in between. Lightheated and ever so relatable; well worth a read!

[Mr Rambon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is a fun read if you're into the gonzo style? The description sums it up. So if tales of crazy, and in parts very funny, adventures are your thing then worth picking this up.

[Simon Sharman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any clubber/post clubber will laugh at the accounts described in this book of random and disjointed experiences that happen to one reveller's many nights on the tiles in local and foreign lands.