J
js138
Guest
Maybe I am hazy on this, but I don't know if its so much that Johnny made a concious and official decision for Morrissey to be the "leader" more so than it was two kids who had no real confidence yet, collaborating, and things played out simply as they did.Your understanding aligns quite closely with Morrissey's version - he felt that Johnny was surrounded by undesirable friends who wanted to lure him away to greater things. Ultimately though, I don't see much evidence for that. Johnny did try to tell M and the others how tired and stressed he was (the chip shop summit?) - M even recalls this in The Importance... documentary and says "I didn't think he meant it". Then Moz, cluelessly, suggested they go on holiday to France. They just didn't want to hear it, and when people are not listening because they don't want to lose the goose that lays the golden eggs, what can you do?
Johnny's post-Smiths career doesn't fit the bill of someone who was looking for greater things - if anything he shrank away from his legacy and buried himself in other bands like he wanted to hide, he has only really stepped out on his own in the last 10 years. I agree that the power dynamic shifted but I think that is a 'scapegoat issue', it's made into a bigger thing than it was. Ultimately, Johnny hand-picked Morrissey to be the leader, and he's played second fiddle to a lot of lesser lights since then without any complaints. I think the Johnny F-ing Marr thing is JM trying to compensate for those years when people thought he was just wasting himself, he's a man on a mission.
For what its worth, Johnny never actually played second fiddle to anybody, it was just the music press and fans smitten for Morrissey's voice and wit. He's had no further complaints of this nature because the praise for his later projects hasn't been as one sided. Or simply, he's realized his place in the pecking order of things. A small bout of irrelvancy can do that.
As far as my views aligning with Morrissey's, I made no mention of friends or M's comments, just what I took away from his book.
At the end of the day, Marr's a great song writer. Zero doubt. But ultimately, the what if's wether it be with Bernard Sumner, Matt Johnson, Talking Heads, or Bryan Ferry, played a major role in him abandoning his best project. It becomes obvious early on in his book IMO.