"Johnny Marr felt like Yoko Ono" - excerpts from interview in Q Magazine (Dec. 2016)

Johnny Marr felt like Yoko Ono - The List
Johnny Marr thinks the only person to have had as much a "hard time" over a band splitting as he did is John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono.

Full interview in Q (Dec. 2016) - info / digital download

 

[Pokey]

"I was back to where I was when I started out, crossing my fingers and hoping I'd meet some good people.”

And that’s basically where he remained, and what he is still doing after nearly 30 years. Sometimes Johnny’s ventures have been successful, sometimes utterly shit, but in the end nobody can take The Smiths away from him and that’s all that really matters at this point. It must be grating to have the music world think your true artistic life was over at the age of 23. It's a legacy he will never escape.

This is what Johnny always came across to me as - someone who amhas scrapped and scraped for everything he got. The fact he has barely been relevant and produced mostly crap until these last 2 solo albums he finally pulled himself together is probably a testament to his standing to me. That he's one of those people that without the break of The Smiths he would have been one of those truly talented people who forever went unnoticed and who maybe a handful of people who saw him in pubs around Manchester may recognise. Pairing up with Morrissey who undeniably had that IT factor he needed to be showcased. And on the flip side, Johnny had that music talent which Morrissey needed (hello Jesse!) to legitimise him...it really was the perfect match.

I'm just really glad Johnny nailed these last 2 solo albums and really made something of himself again rather than hanging on to other bands.

 

[celibate]

Johhny's got a specific guitar sound, or the way he plays, I mean the the period after the Smiths.

about his Yoko Ono drama, what about Rourke and Joyce, and even
Morrissey get's mentioned as the ex Smiths singer, just like a few said they made music history in 5 years that will last forever

I'm counting the days till Johnny's book get released

 

[Uncleskinny]

I just bought the mag, here's a few snippets. Nice to know where the 'Handsome Devil' riff came from...

 

[Famous when dead]

As someone who lived through it, I think people underestimate how Marr's actions were interpreted by Smiths fans after the split. A couple of months later - to see/hear him at the end of '87 with Bryan Ferry - morphing a Smith' s song in to 'The Right Stuff' was seen by many as a form of betrayal. He jumped straight in to other projects with Strangeways still selling and that coupled with Moz still wanting to continue (and nobody yet knowing Suedehead was happening in Feb '88) - he was seen as the guy who killed The Smiths.
I'm sure it wasn't that simple, but at the time he certainly looked like someone wanting to do other things - things he threw himself in to probably before the NME ink announcing the split had dried!
Halcyon days,
Regards,
FWD

 

[Uncleskinny]

As someone who lived through it, I think people underestimate how Marr's actions were interpreted by Smiths fans after the split. A couple of months later - to see/hear him at the end of '87 with Bryan Ferry - morphing a Smith' s song in to 'The Right Stuff' was seen by many as a form of betrayal. He jumped straight in to other projects with Strangeways still selling and that coupled with Moz still wanting to continue (and nobody yet knowing Suedehead was happening in Feb '88) - he was seen as the guy who killed The Smiths.
I'm sure it wasn't that simple, but at the time he certainly looked like someone wanting to do other things - things he threw himself in to probably before the NME ink announcing the split had dried!
Halcyon days,
Regards,
FWD

Indeed. But likewise, Morrissey had almost finished Viva Hate before Girlfriend In a Coma was released.

 

[Famous when dead]

Indeed. But likewise, Morrissey had almost finished Viva Hate before Girlfriend In a Coma was released.

Absolutely P. - can't disagree.
I think it was the use of Money... that didn't help. The video was dreck, Ferry wasn't viewed in the same way as he was in Roxy and Bête Noire was not his best work. Seeing Marr in that situation didn't help people's view.
That's how I remember it anyway.
Regards,
FWD

For those who forgot:

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

I thought Cilla Black broke up the Smiths.

 

[Quando quando quando]

I thought Cilla Black broke up the Smiths.

Because of " Work Is A Four-letter Word " ?
Or are you implying something else that made Johnny envious?
Just asking,

 

[Anonymous]

As someone who lived through it, I think people underestimate how Marr's actions were interpreted by Smiths fans after the split

I don't think people underestimate that at all. Yes, it was like that after the split but not for long compared to the shit that Moz gets to this day. The Severed Alliance was first published in 1992 and even before that there was the occasional article. But, of course, nobody sees it like that because in most people's eyes Moz deserves all of that.

 

[Surface]

oh Quando, I was only joking when I said....

Anyways the thing about singing and having a voice is that you have it or you don't have it. Of course technique and coaching will help one sing 'correctly' but that's not what one falls in love with.

He may not be the greatest singer but he can't half play the guitar - this is from when he supported New Order a couple of years back. Never seen a Morrissey band play Bigmouth this well!



And here is a clip of him and Bernard doing a dodgy version of Getting Away With It at the same gig, looking forward to reading about their relationship in the book.

 

[Famous when dead]

I don't think people underestimate that at all. Yes, it was like that after the split but not for long compared to the shit that Moz gets to this day. The Severed Alliance was first published in 1992 and even before that there was the occasional article. But, of course, nobody sees it like that because in most people's eyes Moz deserves all of that.

Not quite sure how Johnny being compared to Yoko re: breaking up the band relates whatsoever to any grief Moz may or may not have experienced from '87 until today - most of which emanates from a vast array of people with vastly differing agendas - doubtfully inspired at all by the split and more likely due to something provocatively stated by Moz to the press. Moz was certainly not seen as the instigator in the breakup by fans of the band (futher highlighting Johnny's distance by including ex Smiths and 3 Smiths songs at Wolverhampton '88). As for the duration of people's disdain at Marr - I think that lasted probably until he worked with Electronic - the Ferry, The The & Pretenders et al work wasn't anything special. I think it would be safe to assume, however, that Johnny's choice of the Yoko comparison implies he's had grief about this for a lot longer than it appeared.
Regards,
FWD

 

[Quando quando quando]

He may not be the greatest singer but he can't half play the guitar - this is from when he supported New Order a couple of years back. Never seen a Morrissey band play Bigmouth this well!



And here is a clip of him and Bernard doing a dodgy version of Getting Away With It at the same gig, looking forward to reading about their relationship in the book.

Good version of Bigmouth. Or should I say cover? Of his own song?
I noticed Johnny strictly following the lyrics. No change from hearing aid into Walkman, iPod or breast plate.
He could have sung ipod. Would that be cheeky?
I guess so. Not Johnny, he's a decent guy.

 

[Surface]

Be interesting to see what he has to say about Andy and Mike as he is still appears to get on well with Andy.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know, he didn't have much good to say about any of them In His 2013 interview. Andy that is. As a fan who wasn't there at the time and got into them later the story I've always read and heard repeated is that Morrissey was intolerable and this resulted in the smiths breaking up and Johnny leaving. I think the whole court case being written about so much really hurt his rep in this area. Even though Marr sided with Morrissey he didn't talk about it and when the case is mentioned is mentioned by the press he rarely gets mentioned

 

[Anonymous]

Even though Marr sided with Morrissey he didn't talk about it and when the case is mentioned is mentioned by the press he rarely gets mentioned

"As always, Johnny slips out the backdoor unnoticed." Morrissey

 

[Anonymous]

"As always, Johnny slips out the backdoor unnoticed." Morrissey

Well it's a double edge sword I guess being the more famous of the two and the more, especially by that point, visible. That's who the press is gonna write about and to be fair he gave them, loudly, much to write about. As to the statement of backdoor slipping id say at times it's a skill worth having and, again for better or worse, not one thats really in morrizzeys skill set

 

[Anonymous]

I just bought the mag, here's a few snippets. Nice to know where the 'Handsome Devil' riff came from...

"I formed the Smiths and it was my band..."
This really says quite a bit. Johnny formed the band, Morrissey ended up being the star and so the only power Johnny had left was to break it up.

 

[Anonymous]

"I formed the Smiths and it was my band..."
This really says quite a bit. Johnny formed the band, Morrissey ended up being the star and so the only power Johnny had left was to break it up.

Kinda agree with this. I find it a little weird that he thinks he formed the band alone and that it was his and not theirs. Like he was the band leader with the musical direction already in mind and that it wasn't a partnership with the music image and even the name formed between them. He didn't go up and say hey I've got this band the smiths I'm forming and were gonna play this type of music, do you want in. He went to his door and they Jammed so to speak to see what they could come up with together. In relation to your post it almost makes him seem like he still fighting a bit for that power

 

[Quando quando quando]

"As always, Johnny slips out the backdoor unnoticed." Morrissey

I doubt that he meant that in an unfriendly manner.
Moz knows he can't get out of anything unnoticed.
By nature they differed and maybe in some respect they were opposites. They attract each other, you know, and maybe clashed too as is it is a well-known phenomena.

 

[Anonymous]

Frankly, I'm glad Marr dug his heels in and split 'his' band. Don't forget that Morrissey's initial reaction was simply to replace Johnny with another guitarist, and have the Smiths carry on regardless, as though nothing had changed. Within a year, or two at most, the financial issues would still have blown up, Andy and Mike left, and The Smiths would be one of those 'one real member + a cast of revolving session musician' bands.

Can you imagine how devalued their name would be, if such second-rate work as 'Kill Uncle' and 'World Peace' had come out as 'The Smiths' records?

Morrissey hated it at the time, and so did the fans, but ultimately breaking the Smiths was the right move for both Morrissey and Marr. The fact that people on this thread are still berating Johnny for spreading his wings and trying different stuff, shows how the Yoko Ono thing is appropriate.