The Times 23/07/10: Johnny Marr on the rise and fall of The Smiths

Man, Marr must be getting mighty bored of having to tell this story, over and over again.
 
thankyou for taking the time to post this.
:cool:
 
"But it was serious because I was doing the stuff and not taking care of myself. From being a kid I’d had a checklist — form a great rock’n’roll band in Manchester, tick, done that; make a really great 45 with a navy-blue label like the Rolling Stones, tick, done that; wear sunglasses indoors at all times, tick, done that; crash a big car without a licence, tick, done that; make a classic album and drink loads of brandy — tick, tick, done, done. "

His eloquence is brilliant. Reading this gives real insight into the
"self consciousness" of trying to be a rock star.
 
Man, Marr must be getting mighty bored of having to tell this story, over and over again.

Agreed, there's nothing new in the article, but I still read it anyway in the vain hope that there would be something (anything), that I hadn't known before.
I think as a piece on the rise and fall of the band, it's fairly concise and would serve greatly to give a non-Smiths fan, or perhaps a younger, newer discoverer of the band a good 'in a nutshell' understanding of things.
Johnny's still always worth reading, and his contribution to the second edition of Goddard's book was, in my opinion, the most valuable insight into the formation and working of the band thus far. His recent interviews on TV have been fascinating when demonstrating how he wrote such and such a song. I wonder why Moz doesn't speak about how great they were to such an extent? If Moz added his own input to Goddard's book with regards to his lyrics and some history about what was happening around the band at the time, or where or why he wrote those songs, it would be a priceless read.
Thanks for the article all the same.:)
 
Thanks for the post and the scan.

Btw, the article is extracted from a new book by Neil Taylor - Document and Eyewitness: An Intimate History Of Rough Trade - just out this week.
 
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