Johnny Marr interviewed by The A.V. Club

Great read-thanks. The 'water under the bridge' comment, and how he doesn't keep up with Morrissey's solo career, made me a little sad, though. There seemed to be a bit of wistfulness in this interview.
 
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Is this man ever going to stop talking about The Smiths? Or stop blaming everything on Morrissey for two seconds?

Did you ever consider that maybe he blames everything on Morrissey because *gasp* it just might have been Morrissey's fault that the band broke up and still have not reformed? Three of four Smiths seem to see it that way...but what do they know, right? They were just in the band and you, well, you have read Morrissey's interviews.

Now what would be REALLY interesting would be if Morrissey could stop blaming poor marketing and music industry politics for his waning sales and chart positions for albums, singles, and re-releases...oh, and his re-re-releases too...and instead realize there is no one to blame but himself for the quality of music, or rather the lack of quality, that he's been releasing and his lack of a record contract.

Do you hear Johnny Marr bitching about the failure of 'Boomslang'? Do you hear Johnny Marr bitching about the lack of a label for his new album? No. If anything, Marr is more of a serious "artist" than Morrissey could ever be. Marr records songs whether he has a contract to or not and he will release his new album without holding out for a check from a major label. Marr is willing to collaborate with other artists/bands as opposed to sitting around and doing nothing, while Morrissey just goes and charges $100 a ticket for the same show every night around the world to support his living out of hotel rooms. Morrissey doesn't care about the "art", he cares about the money, the praise and the blind adoration.

Johnny Marr, as much if not more so than anyone else, encouraged "bitterness" between the band members post-split by spending most of the 1990s telling anyone in earshot what a sad, pathetic whiny old sack Morrissey was, what a nightmare he was to work with and how Bernard Sumner or Matt Johnson or someone equally mediocre was a better singer/writer/God knows what else. He burnt his bridges long ago; he continues to burn them with every cryptic wink and nod about 'The Big Bad Wolf' of The Smiths story, and I'm amazed that Morrissey still gives him the time of day. You bit the hand that fed and now you're paying for it, Johnny. Does he seriously wonder why Moz doesn't turn up at his door with wine and chocolates?

And this has what to do with Joyce and Rourke? Yeah, Johnny talking shit made them bitter and want to sue Morrissey. Too bad they were already suing him a year after the break-up of the Smiths. The bitterness has always been with Morrissey. Morrissey didn't like Marr working with other artists. Boo hoo. Morrissey didn't like Marr leaving the band after he exhausted him mentally by having him manage the band almost exclusively because Morrissey couldn't keep himself from firing another manager. Boo hoo. Morrissey doesn't want to pay his bandmates their share for performance royalties because they weren't his co-writer and not seen as equals. Boo hoo. Morrissey is treated like any other sod when the courts go after his assets when he refuses to pay the judgment against him. Boo hoo. Morrissey has to be one of the biggest crybabies in all of music. If anything, fans are lucky Marr cleaned up Morrissey's messes and wiped his ass for as long as he did.

But do you think he has nothing else to talk about? Or that no-one would want to read it if it didn't mention The Smiths? I'd be willing to skim over anything involving Johnny Marr because I'm a fan, and I always have that hope that he might say something new or at least slightly different from things he's said a thousand times before. He's nowhere near as one-dimensional as these endless Smiths interviews make him out to be, but you'd never know it.

Yeah, like Morrissey hasn't done the same crap for the last 25 years. He keeps saying the exact same thing in different ways, and people eat it up like it's profound. The same goes for his music as well. At least Marr isn't a dick about things like Morrissey is and has an assistant tell the journalist what is and isn't allowed by penalty of walking out of the interview.

It would be like Morrissey being endlessly questioned about celibacy and homosexuality

He was until it was fairly obvious that he was gay and having gay sex.

I might weasel out his opinion on 'Vauxhall & I'

Why would you think Marr would give a damn to listen to a Morrissey album?

make him list his favourite vegan cheeses in descending order of preference.

Someone get Amy a job at Rolling Stone immediately!

In other words, I'd ask ANYTHING other than Smiths questions. The minute he mentioned the first thing about Salford Van Hire and roadies on the phone and it all being a lot of pressure for a 23 year-old, I'd be out of there.

No you wouldn't. Fact.
 
Did you ever consider that maybe he blames everything on Morrissey because *gasp* it just might have been Morrissey's fault that the band broke up and still have not reformed? Three of four Smiths seem to see it that way...but what do they know, right? They were just in the band and you, well, you have read Morrissey's interviews.

Now what would be REALLY interesting would be if Morrissey could stop blaming poor marketing and music industry politics for his waning sales and chart positions for albums, singles, and re-releases...oh, and his re-re-releases too...and instead realize there is no one to blame but himself for the quality of music, or rather the lack of quality, that he's been releasing and his lack of a record contract.

Do you hear Johnny Marr bitching about the failure of 'Boomslang'? Do you hear Johnny Marr bitching about the lack of a label for his new album? No. If anything, Marr is more of a serious "artist" than Morrissey could ever be. Marr records songs whether he has a contract to or not and he will release his new album without holding out for a check from a major label. Marr is willing to collaborate with other artists/bands as opposed to sitting around and doing nothing, while Morrissey just goes and charges $100 a ticket for the same show every night around the world to support his living out of hotel rooms. Morrissey doesn't care about the "art", he cares about the money, the praise and the blind adoration.



And this has what to do with Joyce and Rourke? Yeah, Johnny talking shit made them bitter and want to sue Morrissey. Too bad they were already suing him a year after the break-up of the Smiths. The bitterness has always been with Morrissey. Morrissey didn't like Marr working with other artists. Boo hoo. Morrissey didn't like Marr leaving the band after he exhausted him mentally by having him manage the band almost exclusively because Morrissey couldn't keep himself from firing another manager. Boo hoo. Morrissey doesn't want to pay his bandmates their share for performance royalties because they weren't his co-writer and not seen as equals. Boo hoo. Morrissey is treated like any other sod when the courts go after his assets when he refuses to pay the judgment against him. Boo hoo. Morrissey has to be one of the biggest crybabies in all of music. If anything, fans are lucky Marr cleaned up Morrissey's messes and wiped his ass for as long as he did.



Yeah, like Morrissey hasn't done the same crap for the last 25 years. He keeps saying the exact same thing in different ways, and people eat it up like it's profound. The same goes for his music as well. At least Marr isn't a dick about things like Morrissey is and has an assistant tell the journalist what is and isn't allowed by penalty of walking out of the interview.



He was until it was fairly obvious that he was gay and having gay sex.



Why would you think Marr would give a damn to listen to a Morrissey album?



Someone get Amy a job at Rolling Stone immediately!



No you wouldn't. Fact.

Jesus Christ. I thought I was bitter but you take the biscuit. You're really sick of Morrissey, huh?

For the most part (and in the absence of Morrissey's actual input), I accept Johnny Marr's version of the split. Morrissey put too much pressure on him, managers were coming and going like a revolving door, Marr was drinking himself stupid and on the verge of a breakdown etc. Sure. I think even Morrissey has accepted most of that. I just wish that Johnny would stop GOING ON ABOUT IT now because we've heard it over and over and over and it just boils down to "Woe is me, The Evil Controller pushed me around from pillar to post and left all the responsibility on my shoulders. And he made us record a Cilla Black song". Yeah, we get it.

As for Joyce and Rourke - well it's pretty obvious why Joyce isn't going to be cuddling Morrissey & Marr anytime soon, and they were both equally accountable for that one. Johnny talking shit didn't make them bitter - Johnny talking shit made Morrissey think, "Well, f*** this" and distance their friendship to a few emails a year over business matters. I don't get why Johnny should be particularly surprised about that.

I think most of what you've said about Morrissey's career is reasonable (except the part about him doing it solely for 'blind adoration'), but Johnny Marr isn't going to bitch about the failure of Boomslang because he never had expectations that it was going to rocket to No.1 anyway. It's not as though he was signed to EMI as a solo artist at one point in time, is it? Morrissey was, and he can't let go of that, he can't accept a lower status in his mind - which is why he's in the current contract-less pickle.
 
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1)The reason Johnny has done a mass of interviews regarding the Smiths recently is because he did the remasters.
2)Johnny goes out of his way NOT to have a pop at any of his ex-band mates in the interview.

Jesus - some people round here are nuts.
 
Without that, he'll be trapped in his own past forever, giving the same interviews in twenty years as he is today.

People talk about their past for two reasons, usually: when they're trapped in the past, and when they're at peace with the past. The A/V interview clearly shows a man who is at peace with his past.
 
Thank you.

It is a great interview. Johnny has never sounded more grounded and gracious. I think Morrissey would sound the same way, on most days of the week.

I second that, one of the better interviews I've read from the ex-Smiths recently including Moz. Completely empathise with his "who wants to be stuck in a box at 25" comment and he's just a top bloke really.
 
I think Johnny was being very polite about The Smiths. However, Johnny didn't exactly say "I want to meet Morrissey and Mike Joyce again"....I think Mike Joyce wrote Johnny Marr a message a year or two ago through an interview. So I don't think Joyce has a massive grudge against Marr or Morrissey. I think this year or next year would be the perfect time to reform The Smiths if I'm honest, but they won't.
 
Moz sycophants rag on Marr yet Morrissey is the one hanging around with the ponderous Jesse Tobias.
 
This is one of the best Marr interviews I've read. We know he gets asked all the time about The Smiths but each time is an opportunity to offer a further snippet on things. The negativity on here about everything is horrid. I though he answered some of those questions differently than he has done in the past, particularly regarding the other band members. Some people would rather just speculate and argue hypothetically on this forum that they know the history and the reasons for the split and woe betide any member of the original line-up should speak and offer any insight into the matter. It's incredible that people on here seem to hate any mention of The Smiths' history. That is, in fact, if they even know who The Smiths were!
 

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