Johnny Marr interview in SPIN mentions why The Smiths won't reunite, Classically Smiths

Shoplifterromo sends the link:

Johnny Marr on His New Solo Album, Why the Smiths Won’t Reunite, and the Time He Almost Fell in a Volcano - SPIN
Maggie Serota // September 25, 2018

Excerpt:

I’m not going to ask you if the Smiths are ever going to reunite, because I know the answer is no. What I will ask is, do you feel like you dodged a bullet not reuniting given the political positions Morrissey has taken recently?

I don’t know whether I dodged a bullet because of that. I just feel like we never reformed because we shouldn’t have reformed. I don’t like ‘dodging the bullet,’ because there’s so many reasons why we haven’t reformed. I think that’s fair to say, and I don’t think that would come as any kind of puzzle or surprise to anybody. I don’t feel like I dodged any bullets. And also we never really got close to reforming, except for a conversation that happened quite a long time ago.

What did you think of that “Classically Smiths” event that kind of fell apart very quickly with Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce?

There wasn’t really much time to think anything of it. I heard about it when everybody else heard about it, which tells you all you need to know, really. It was particularly disrespectful that I wasn’t consulted, and I kind of feel it was a farce in the way it went down, really. I thought about it how I imagine everybody else thought about it, that it was really kind of sketchy. That is disappointing to me, that the band gets chained to that kind of sketchiness. It’s a good thing those guys weren’t organizing the gigs when we were together, otherwise we would’ve never gone on the stage.

 

[Surface]

This REM guy thinks Michael Stipe was big hero when he stood up for the most powerful man in the world when he was facing corruption investigations. What a hero to people! But Morrissey's a scumbag because he thinks working class people should have freedom of speech. LOL You're so confused, dude, you don't even know. I feel sorry for you.

Why are you calling Morrissey a scumbag, i don't think he's a scumbag, he's just out of touch with how people feel in the UK. Don't feel sorry for me, there really is no need.

 

[vegan cro spirit 11]

This REM guy thinks Michael Stipe was big hero when he stood up for the most powerful man in the world when he was facing corruption investigations. What a hero to people! But Morrissey's a scumbag because he thinks working class people should have freedom of speech. LOL You're so confused, dude, you don't even know. I feel sorry for you.

Yes, we all feel sorry for this poor miserable wretch of a sock puppet.
He gets hysterical all the time talking to himself creating even more sock puppets.

nothing worse in life than being a sock puppet, specifcally a Skinny sock puppet.
first they babble on and on about wanting peeps to register so they can stalk them
then they create more sock puppets to troll themselves under the avatar they profess
to hate .
WTF???????? INSANE. SOMETHING VERY WEIRD you could ALMOST SAY ITS
STRAIGHT OUT OF ONE OF THOSE SUPER SUCKY CDS ABOUT TALKING
COMETS!!!
comets that take requests to go to planets and blow them up!! Nutso.

 

[The Irish Hare]

REM hasn't put out an album in many years. Morrissey will sing his life for life.
If you took all the best REM songs, you'd barely be able to fill up one single CD.
If you took all the best Smiths/Morrissey songs, you'd need a boxed set.

For every artist it's about the chart position and the money at some point but in Morrissey s case he also has a compulsion to sing his life.
He has long accepted he was never going to have huge mainstream success and has said this over the years.
YET HE HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL.
Like everything else the music Industry has gotten more homogenised, banal and formulaic.
Morrissey is not on the scripted playlist on any mainstream radio station, therefore he is not going to achieve chart success by that avenue.
People berating LIHS lack of chart success is ridiculous for that reason.
Radio Nova is the only station in Ireland that I hear any Morrissey played ever.
His success is in spite of the music industry actually and in spite of the fact that he does not play the game like REM or any other "successful" mainstream band/artist.
He is to be admired for his singlemindedness in his music/poetry and in his life in general.
In our fear based PC society he is not afraid to stand apart in his views or how he expresses them through his interviews or music.
You're absolutely right. Morrissey will sing his life for life and some of us really appreciate it.

 

[Amy]

You wanna know what a small person Johnny Marr is? Marr is the one who ruined the Smiths. Okay, whatever. So Morrissey moves on and is putting out fantastic songs without him. And Johnny Marr could not say one good word. He could not send a letter to Morrissey saying, "Hey, I heard your latest single, good job". No, he couldn't do that. He left Morrissey to fend for himself and Morrissey carried on with great songs that will go down in music history, and little Johnny Marr could not even say a nice word. He was too busy putting out trash with Electronic and The The. Like anyone gives a shit.

Morrissey said something like, "I've never understood why Johnny gives his music to people who don't deserve it."
Interesting word/implication, deserve. In less diplomatic terms, he means 'he's wasting himself on crap...'.

Johnny did send him a postcard to congratulate him about ..Playboys, though.
I never liked Electronic, or The The, Modest Mouse or any of his session work. I thought he was running away from his legacy and making a fool of himself in the process.

Maybe that's why he's had such a resurgence though - he's embracing his past now, he's being the Johnny Marr we all remember and not, well, embarrassing himself with clowns like this:

 

[Thewlis]

The The or Electronic are hardly clowns.
Cribs and Modest Mouse maybe, but even they have some Marr-period greatness.
Johnny wanted to move away from The Smiths musically and he had every right to.
And yes, Playboys, was a bit of change for Moz too so I can see Johnny enjoying that.

If only Marr said something nice about Moz now, anything would do, and Moz could possibly be persuaded I think.

 

[Amy]

The The or Electronic are hardly clowns.
Cribs and Modest Mouse maybe, but even they have some Marr-period greatness.
Johnny wanted to move away from The Smiths musically and he had every right to.
And yes, Playboys, was a bit of change for Moz too so I can see Johnny enjoying that.

If only Marr said something nice about Moz now, anything would do, and Moz could possibly be persuaded I think.

Sorry, I was referring to the Jarmans.

Yeah - they need to make up. Sad to be estranged, and Johnny has actually mentioned it quite a lot / implied that he's being ignored. Then you have "Forgive Someone" which puts the boot on the other foot. I wonder what is going on behind the scenes.

 

[vegan cro spirit 88]

why DIS THE CRIBS???
DramaJ got his hairdo from the Cribs dude FFS!

 

[Eldritch]

I am objective. Those aren't among your favorite albums in your collection?
I could've named the others, but I was being objective.

Morrissey is among my favourite artists, but Ringleader and LIHS are definitely among my favourite albums, even though I like them for the most part. And it's totally okay to say, that for instance LIHS is one of your favourite albums ever, that's your prerogative, but "best albums of all time"? That sort of needs validification from other people than a handful of Morrissey obsessives to make any sense.

 

[Eldritch]

You wanna know what a small person Johnny Marr is? Marr is the one who ruined the Smiths. Okay, whatever. So Morrissey moves on and is putting out fantastic songs without him. And Johnny Marr could not say one good word. He could not send a letter to Morrissey saying, "Hey, I heard your latest single, good job". No, he couldn't do that. He left Morrissey to fend for himself and Morrissey carried on with great songs that will go down in music history, and little Johnny Marr could not even say a nice word. He was too busy putting out trash with Electronic and The The. Like anyone gives a shit.

And, pray, what good has Morrissey ever said about Marr's post-Smiths output? I remember him saying something slightly mean about Electronic in 1991 but that's all I can think of.

 

[Eldritch]

If only Marr said something nice about Moz now, anything would do, and Moz could possibly be persuaded I think.

I truly hope they are at peace and at ease with each other nowadays -- and if not, they'll do their best to make it so. But a Smiths reunion? IMHO: no. World is full of great and not-so-great bands who have reunited, and for the most part in many unimpressive ways. The Smiths remains magical, because they haven't reunited. Not for money, not for love. They have nothing to prove. It would be great if Marr collaborated on some future Morrissey album or vice versa, as unlikely that is, but a full-blown Smiths-reunion would just be a sacrilege.

 

[Call The Vomit]

The only wish I have is to never hear Johnny Marr sing again. It is cruel and unusual punishment.

 

[vegan cro spirit 88]

The only wish I have is to never hear Johnny Marr sing again. It is cruel and unusual punishment.

you make great sense, indeed, listening to vocals is like in that Tom Hanks movie where the one dude self flaggelates himself with a wooden ball with nails embedded into the ball itself which is attached to a whip.

it keeps you woke up for many many days.

 

[Surface]

The only wish I have is to never hear Johnny Marr sing again. It is cruel and unusual punishment.

Its easy to do that, don't buy his records, don't search for him on you tube and don't attend his gigs, its that simple you silly c***

 

[Thewlis]

I truly hope they are at peace and at ease with each other nowadays -- and if not, they'll do their best to make it so. But a Smiths reunion? IMHO: no. World is full of great and not-so-great bands who have reunited, and for the most part in many unimpressive ways. The Smiths remains magical, because they haven't reunited. Not for money, not for love. They have nothing to prove. It would be great if Marr collaborated on some future Morrissey album or vice versa, as unlikely that is, but a full-blown Smiths-reunion would just be a sacrilege.

Well wouldn’t it be priceless to see these two icons of British pop together on a stage again, if only for a one-off?
I can’t believe anyone with a love for The Smiths could not wish to see that.

 

[Call The Vomit]

Its easy to do that, don't buy his records, don't search for him on you tube and don't attend his gigs, its that simple you silly c***

Is Johnny Marr singing or flushing the toilet? I can not tell the difference. Please make it stop.

 

[Surface]

Is Johnny Marr singing or flushing the toilet? I can not tell the difference. Please make it stop.

Make your mind up, one minute you are saying -The only wish I have is to never hear Johnny Marr sing again. It is cruel and unusual punishment, now you are saying -Is Johnny Marr singing or flushing the toilet? I can not tell the difference. Do you listen to his music or not or are just one of those troll bell ends?

 

[Surface]

To the original Vegan Cro - it looks like you have spent the whole day marking my posts as Troll. You are really flogging a dead horse mate Oh and you as well Thewlis

 

[vegan cro spirit 11]

FFS this Surface, the gay Skinny sock puppet continues to post to me as if I were his boyfriend or something.
You know you are the fake Vegan marking your own posts. It gives you a sexual thrill.

JFS this guy is obsessive when he falls in love with dudes.

 

[vegan cro spirit 11]

Is Johnny Marr singing or flushing the toilet? I can not tell the difference. Please make it stop.

Incredibly he plans a new sucky album. Yes its true.

 

[Anonymous]

Well wouldn’t it be priceless to see these two icons of British pop together on a stage again, if only for a one-off?
I can’t believe anyone with a love for The Smiths could not wish to see that.

I love The Smiths. But I have no desire to see that fat old queen Morrissey huffing and puffing around the stage in his baggy jeans and tacky jewellery squawking out Smiths songs while Johnny bounces around in the background wearing his ridiculous wig and pretending it's still 1986.

They were great in their time. Let's leave it there.