Johnny Marr on his autobiography, admits he hasn't read Morrissey's - MOJO

Johnny Marr On His Memoir: “I’ve Got An Amazing Memory!” - MOJO
The former Smith updates MOJO about progress on his autobiography. Top Of The Pops, drugs and falling off roofs all figure.

Excerpt:

The former Smith speaks about his new live album Adrenalin Baby and the book, due out next summer, in our new issue, (December 15 / #265) which is on sale now in the UK.

...Of course Marr’s is not the first memoir concerning The Smiths, though it seems unlikely there will be too many similarities between the guitarist’s literary endeavours and those published by the band’s singer.

“I honestly haven’t read Morrissey’s book,” Marr admits. “I really don’t feel like I need to. I’ve heard about what it’s like and that’s fine.”

Also:

Johnny Marr vows to keep memoir fun - new! magazine

Excerpt:

Morrissey's tome received huge critical praise for its candid narrative, but some critics took aim at the singer for using the book to launch scathing attacks on his old enemies in the music industry and even his former bandmates.

Marr is a quarter of the way through penning his life story and he is making a determined effort to avoid criticising those he has worked with, insisting he will not be giving fans any "crass sensationalism".

He tells Mojo magazine, "I honestly haven't read Morrissey's book. I really don't feel like I need to. I've heard about what it's like and that's fine. Not all of what I've been though, like anyone's life, can be dressed up to be something cheery when it wasn't. That's all right too.

"I'd like to say there's a lot of reappraisal, 'cos that would imply a certain kind of wisdom, but in the case of what happened with The Smiths, there's not really that much reappraisal. But crass sensationalism isn't really my thing, nor am I particularly interested in being nasty."

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

.

In terms of lyrical content and musical complexity, 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go' pisses all over 'Kiss Me a Lot'.

I think you might have something there.....















NOT.

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You could argue the same point about musical complexity by comparing Messiaen to Chopin. But presumably you wouldn't because it would make you sound like an idiot.

Here we only compare Messiaen & Chopin.... to Wham! makes sense.

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Lyre or sonnet,
All my life's buried here,
Heap earth upon it.

Wait,those lyrics...?...don't sound like ' wake me up before you go go '. Could be wrong.

 

[evennow]

I guess we're even, as I find it unhelpful when Anons credit Morrissey - who, it has been well-noted, plays ZERO musical instruments - with "65%" of the credit for the Smiths or make absurd statements minimizing what Johnny did because they feel some strange compulsion to defend Morrissey's "honor." So if Morrissey's vocal melody was THE bedrock and not an adjustment of the musical foundation and Johnny "didn't really do much/only provided chords, riffs/<insert reductive revision>" - then who the hell is responsible for the music? Rourke and Joyce?

And, yes, I realize that I could be conflating multiple Anons in one response - but your facelessness bleeds together after a while. If you aren't going to take time to create a Morrissey-solo handle to contribute, I'll reciprocate by not keeping track of IP address differences.

Funny and true. I think the question of Morrissey v Marr is an interesting one. I can remember back to the first time I heard The Smiths...kind of like knowing where you were when the planes flew into the twin towers. A few college buddies played The Queen is Dead record on their stereo and I have to say what struck me first were Morrissey's lyrics and the way he sang those lyrics that drew me in to the music:

And if a double-decker bus
Crashes in to us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die

I was like WTF?!?! This guy gets me. Wry with a good sense of humor. I was hooked...like ear heroine. The music is of course fantastic, but I don't believe any other singer could have come up with such wonderful lyrics and delivered them with such style, and after all most pop music is normally style over substance, but they had both in spades! Other lyrics on top of Marr's music or Morrissey's lyrics on top of another bands music. This leaves me slightly leaning towards Morrissey.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

I guess we're even, as I find it unhelpful when Anons credit Morrissey - who, it has been well-noted, plays ZERO musical instruments - with "65%" of the credit for the Smiths or make absurd statements minimizing what Johnny did because they feel some strange compulsion to defend Morrissey's "honor." So if Morrissey's vocal melody was THE bedrock and not an adjustment of the musical foundation and Johnny "didn't really do much/only provided chords, riffs/<insert reductive revision>" - then who the hell is responsible for the music? Rourke and Joyce?

And, yes, I realize that I could be conflating multiple Anons in one response - but your facelessness bleeds together after a while. If you aren't going to take time to create a Morrissey-solo handle to contribute, I'll reciprocate by not keeping track of IP address differences.

I think the Smiths were 'responsible for the music'. I guess here it takes...four to tango. But out of the four... ONE stood out with the most beautiful of steps inept.


And I'd like to see some anon's... bleed. ha !

 

[Anonymous]

I guess we're even, as I find it unhelpful when Anons credit Morrissey - who, it has been well-noted, plays ZERO musical instruments - with "65%" of the credit for the Smiths or make absurd statements minimizing what Johnny did because they feel some strange compulsion to defend Morrissey's "honor." So if Morrissey's vocal melody was THE bedrock and not an adjustment of the musical foundation and Johnny "didn't really do much/only provided chords, riffs/<insert reductive revision>" - then who the hell is responsible for the music? Rourke and Joyce?

And, yes, I realize that I could be conflating multiple Anons in one response - but your facelessness bleeds together after a while. If you aren't going to take time to create a Morrissey-solo handle to contribute, I'll reciprocate by not keeping track of IP address differences.

I'm the one that calculated Morrissey being 65% of the Smiths and it has nothing to do with "playing a musical instrument." Let's say there was a Smiths reunion, but Joyce or Rourke weren't involved. Say they were both replaced. How much of the audience are they going to lose? That's how I'm calculating it, and by the fact that, as great as Marr's guitar parts were, Morrissey was the draw. I don't remember seeing very many Johnny Marr interviews but Morrissey was on the cover of magazines in the US when The Smiths were still pretty obscure to most people.
How much of the band is the music in the songs? Take Morrissey away from the equation and you'd have some interesting catchy music, well-played, clever, and so on. It's not to say Johnny Marr didn't play his part well, but Morrissey was the star. It wasn't an even split. The melodies were pretty important and you don't have to play an instrument to write a melody. But it was the lyrics and the delivery that were most important. I gave Marr 35%. That's pretty generous, really. Morrissey was more than half the draw. We're not arguing about this on JohnnyMarrSolo.com

And really when you're point comes down to the fact that you registered a name, you have run out of relevant remarks. No offense but I don't have a clue who you are, either.

 

[tyronepowebottom]

I'm the one that calculated Morrissey being 65% of the Smiths and it has nothing to do with "playing a musical instrument." Let's say there was a Smiths reunion, but Joyce or Rourke weren't involved. Say they were both replaced. How much of the audience are they going to lose? That's how I'm calculating it, and by the fact that, as great as Marr's guitar parts were, Morrissey was the draw. I don't remember seeing very many Johnny Marr interviews but Morrissey was on the cover of magazines in the US when The Smiths were still pretty obscure to most people.
How much of the band is the music in the songs? Take Morrissey away from the equation and you'd have some interesting catchy music, well-played, clever, and so on. It's not to say Johnny Marr didn't play his part well, but Morrissey was the star. It wasn't an even split. The melodies were pretty important and you don't have to play an instrument to write a melody. But it was the lyrics and the delivery that were most important. I gave Marr 35%. That's pretty generous, really. Morrissey was more than half the draw. We're not arguing about this on JohnnyMarrSolo.com

And really when you're point comes down to the fact that you registered a name, you have run out of relevant remarks. No offense but I don't have a clue who you are, either.

jfc, Moz was the star because he was the lead singer!!!!!!

 

[tyronepowebottom]

I guess we're even, as I find it unhelpful when Anons credit Morrissey - who, it has been well-noted, plays ZERO musical instruments - with "65%" of the credit for the Smiths or make absurd statements minimizing what Johnny did because they feel some strange compulsion to defend Morrissey's "honor." So if Morrissey's vocal melody was THE bedrock and not an adjustment of the musical foundation and Johnny "didn't really do much/only provided chords, riffs/<insert reductive revision>" - then who the hell is responsible for the music? Rourke and Joyce?

And, yes, I realize that I could be conflating multiple Anons in one response - but your facelessness bleeds together after a while. If you aren't going to take time to create a Morrissey-solo handle to contribute, I'll reciprocate by not keeping track of IP address differences.

I wholeheartedly agree with this, but we are on morrissey-solo, where people would rather eat shit tahn to give Johnny Marr the credit he deserves. Is like they are still mad 'cause Marr left the smiths or something

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

I'm the one that calculated Morrissey being 65% of the Smiths and it has nothing to do with "playing a musical instrument." Let's say there was a Smiths reunion, but Joyce or Rourke weren't involved. Say they were both replaced. How much of the audience are they going to lose? That's how I'm calculating it, and by the fact that, as great as Marr's guitar parts were, Morrissey was the draw. I don't remember seeing very many Johnny Marr interviews but Morrissey was on the cover of magazines in the US when The Smiths were still pretty obscure to most people.
How much of the band is the music in the songs? Take Morrissey away from the equation and you'd have some interesting catchy music, well-played, clever, and so on. It's not to say Johnny Marr didn't play his part well, but Morrissey was the star. It wasn't an even split. The melodies were pretty important and you don't have to play an instrument to write a melody. But it was the lyrics and the delivery that were most important. I gave Marr 35%. That's pretty generous, really. Morrissey was more than half the draw. We're not arguing about this on JohnnyMarrSolo.com

And really when you're point comes down to the fact that you registered a name, you have run out of relevant remarks. No offense but I don't have a clue who you are, either.

Don't you go talking to Jamie like that ! Who are you ?! That's 'Jamie'... that's the name registered. That's the registered name... Jamie. J-A-M-I-E. o.k! so now you know. jerk anon.

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I wholeheartedly agree with this, but we are on morrissey-solo, where people would rather eat shit tahn to give Johnny Marr the credit he deserves. Is like they are still mad 'cause Marr left the smiths or something

Marr left ? what? Marr was fired because he was getting too funky with them fingers!

 

[Anonymous]

jfc, Moz was the star because he was the lead singer!!!!!!

Does that make the lead singer more important to the band and there success. In the Paige vs plant debage many people leaned towards Paige even though he's not the lead singer

 

[Anonymous]

moz the no 1 reason the smiths never made it big so i guess you could argue hes also the no 1 reason they were a cult band.
i remember hearing williiiiiaiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam it was really nothing back then and a buddy said someone shot a horse. its appeal was always going to be narrow. everything moz has he owes to johnny. word.
there is no way music sung gay about rent boys and stuff was ever going to make it big. if johnny had picked on someone with more catholic tastes the smiths would have actually sold some records. the never came close to breaking the top 40 in the states.

 

[Jamie]

arraingments count as song writing im sorry. you cant turn in a chord progression and claim it a song. if franly mister shankly didnt have the coda at the end would it still be as good. if someone else came up with the idea to have the coda there wouldnt that count as song writing. if someone said hey lets put a solo here that wasnt johnny and that solo is loved and is said to make the song for people isnt that songwriting. without moz there would be no cemetery gates as marr didnt appreciate the riff though moz did and the song is beloved. even taking out the vocal melodies and lyrics the songs, the music, wouldnt exist as we know it now without moz and i think would be poorer. ti me thats soing writing and writing music. editing instrumentals and having a say in how theyre edited is a part of song writing as its how the songs end up in the forms we love. he had influence on the instrumentals while marr didnt to my knowledge have influence on vocal melodies or lyrics

There is no "coda" in Frankly Mr Shankly. Other musicians will attest. I guess the term sounded like a good gambit so you went with it.

I'm having trouble grasping your logic with regards to Cemetry Gates. It seems that you are suggesting that Johnny negated his right to claim writing his portion of the song because he "didn't appreciate the riff." Which is ludicrous. That's like saying Bell negated his right to take credit for the creation of the telephone because he wasn't 100% satisfied with how it turned out and thought about setting it aside.

This may surprise you, but Morrissey did not have influence on every instrumental. Case in point: How Soon Is Now, which, lyrics and vocal aside, was created whole cloth by Marr, Rourke, Joyce and John Porter in a single session. And it stands up quite well as an instrumental, as evidenced by its frequent usage in TV clips. Goddard provided at least one specific example in Songs That Saved Your Life where Morrissey not only failed to suggest a musical replacement for something he didn't like on I Started Something I Couldn't Finish but Marr replied to the effect "f*** him then - come over and come up with something better." Despite this coming first-hand from Stephen Street himself, I'm sure someone will find a "yes, but..." to counter the fact.

"editing instrumentals and having a say in how theyre edited is a part of song writing as its how the songs end up in the forms we love." So, using the example of HSIN above with this logic in mind, Rourke, Joyce, and Porter could credibly claim songwriting credits. Yes? No? Which way do you want to have it this time?

I never said that Morrissey's vocal melodies did not count as songwriting - but, the fact is, the bulk of the musical content of the Smiths music was created, worked out and recorded before he ever stepped foot in the studio. Morrissey's melody - or desire to shift verse for chorus, etc. - in no way plausibly denies Marr of his 50% writing credit.

And, quite frankly, Morrissey's banging-on about the utmost importance of the vocal melody has been a latter-day tactic he has deployed more and more to assert his primacy in the Smiths ("The Smiths was me") and reduce Marr's role in the public mind. Well, it seems to have worked beautifully in the more easily swayed quarters of the fanbase.

 

[ACTON]

Johnny Marr saying he hasn't read Autobiography doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't he read it? Has he zero interest in Morrissey just because they are no longer together? The only reason I could see for him not to read it is out of pure bitchiness.
That is like when Moz claimed not to have read The Severed Alliance when you can be damn sure he read every line of it. He later admitted to 'squinting at it from across the room' when questioned how he knew about it's contents.
If Marr didn't read Autobiography (at least The Smiths part) then either (1) he is exceptionally lazy or (2) he can't read, or (3) he is jealous of Moz's success or (4) he is lying. My bet is on (4).

 

[Anonymous]

johnny does not have to read auto to know its contents. nothing in it new, that moz has not made part of his tirades over the years. hes the broken record you cant get to stop winding.

moz doesnt know a coda from a club soda.

 

[Anonymous]

Johnny Marr saying he hasn't read Autobiography doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't he read it? Has he zero interest in Morrissey just because they are no longer together? The only reason I could see for him not to read it is out of pure bitchiness.
That is like when Moz claimed not to have read The Severed Alliance when you can be damn sure he read every line of it. He later admitted to 'squinting at it from across the room' when questioned how he knew about it's contents.
If Marr didn't read Autobiography (at least The Smiths part) then either (1) he is exceptionally lazy or (2) he can't read, or (3) he is jealous of Moz's success or (4) he is lying. My bet is on (4).

Of course it's 4. But it's kind of a necessary white lie. Imagine the interview questions he would be opening himself up to if he said he'd read it.

 

[tyronepowebottom]

lmao and you just mentioned one of the few exceptions were the lead singer and the guitarist are equally famous. That doesn't happen often.

 

[tyronepowebottom]

this his honestly such a great and accurate comment wow!

 

[Jamie]

Johnny Marr saying he hasn't read Autobiography doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't he read it? Has he zero interest in Morrissey just because they are no longer together? The only reason I could see for him not to read it is out of pure bitchiness.
That is like when Moz claimed not to have read The Severed Alliance when you can be damn sure he read every line of it. He later admitted to 'squinting at it from across the room' when questioned how he knew about it's contents.
If Marr didn't read Autobiography (at least The Smiths part) then either (1) he is exceptionally lazy or (2) he can't read, or (3) he is jealous of Moz's success or (4) he is lying. My bet is on (4).

Of course it's 4. But it's kind of a necessary white lie. Imagine the interview questions he would be opening himself up to if he said he'd read it.

EXACTLY. It opens him up for a line of questioning he doesn't want to bother answering. It's an easy, perfectly reasonable white lie given that scenario.

This is akin to Morrissey saying he "never [went] online." You knew there was a good chance that this was bullshit. I don't recall any wild leaps that his fib was indicative of some moral deficiency. But if Johnny tells what is likely a white lie to get a reporter to move on, he rouses suspicion at minimum and, at worst, gets pilloried.

We non-famous musician types could think of it in these terms: if a perfect stranger or casual acquaintance asked one of us whether the outfit they are wearing looks good on them, and it looks positively dire, would one say "hell no" to their face or tell a white lie to be socially tactful and shift topics as quickly as possible?

 

[ACTON]

EXACTLY. It opens him up for a line of questioning he doesn't want to bother answering. It's an easy, perfectly reasonable white lie given that scenario.

This is akin to Morrissey saying he "never [went] online." You knew there was a good chance that this was bullshit. I don't recall any wild leaps that his fib was indicative of some moral deficiency. But if Johnny tells what is likely a white lie to get a reporter to move on, he rouses suspicion at minimum and, at worst, gets pilloried.

We non-famous musician types could think of it in these terms: if a perfect stranger or casual acquaintance asked one of us whether the outfit they are wearing looks good on them, and it looks positively dire, would one say "hell no" to their face or tell a white lie to be socially tactful and shift topics as quickly as possible?

I can see your point and hadn't thought of that to be honest. However, he could have said 'yeah I read it once and I liked it, but if you want the definitive story wait for my book'. He would have been honest and would have got an advert in for his own book.

 

[Anonymous]

the contents of the auto have been discussed ad nauseam online you dont really have to read it to know its basic contents.
its not like any substantial portion of the book deals with the smiths.

 

[Anonymous]

I can see your point and hadn't thought of that to be honest. However, he could have said 'yeah I read it once and I liked it, but if you want the definitive story wait for my book'. He would have been honest and would have got an advert in for his own book.

I admire Johnny for his guitar style, very unique and genius and Morrissey and him seemed to get on musically but Morrissey is right, Johnny really isn't all that nice. Morrissey may have strong opinions and will probably ax you if you cross him , but he seems like a sweet man deep down, just sensitive. 80% of anger is hurt feeelings.
.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

johnny does not have to read auto to know its contents. nothing in it new, that moz has not made part of his tirades over the years. hes the broken record you cant get to stop winding.

moz doesnt know a coda from a club soda.

When's the last time you cranked a wind-up record player ?

p.s. I prefer my coda on the rocks.