Why did Johnny Marr leave the Smiths?

David

Member
I don't think I've really seen a satisfying answer.

His explanation - that he was tired of covering '60s pop songs to satiate Morrissey's fetish for them - seems pretty empty to me. How many did they cut? Two or three? Which is completely inconsequential, considering this was the band that produced four flawless, critically acclaimed, well received studio albums and countless successful singles.

So why did he leave, really?
 
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multiple choice
1. he was tired of running The Smiths.
2. he wanted to move on to bigger & better things.
3. he never wanted to leave The Smiths.
4. he got a better offer?
5. he only started to play in The Smiths as a summer job, he wanted to be a dentist in reality, so he left to persue his true vocation.

love

Grim
 
I don't think I've really seen a satisfying answer.

His explanation - that he was tired of covering '60s pop songs to satiate Morrissey's fetish for them - seems pretty empty to me. How many did they cut? Two or three? Which is completely inconsequential, considering this was the band that produced four flawless, critically acclaimed, well received studio albums and countless successful singles.

So why did he leave, really?
Morrissey kept trying to PIITB.
 
I don't think I've really seen a satisfying answer.

His explanation - that he was tired of covering '60s pop songs to satiate Morrissey's fetish for them - seems pretty empty to me. How many did they cut? Two or three? Which is completely inconsequential, considering this was the band that produced four flawless, critically acclaimed, well received studio albums and countless successful singles.

So why did he leave, really?

it's all a bit what Grim just wrote

Johnny was tired of how Morrissey was trying to hold everything in control,
which had influence on Johnny [best example is the people who walked into
the studio why the hired Van wasn't paid]

and Johnny got offers from other bands to do some session work.

and Ken Friedman, the last manager who was on Johhny's side.
 
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Morrissey kept trying to PIITB.
QFT. :D

As for the session work explanation - come on now. He was in the Smiths. Why would he leave for session work? The control issue makes sense to me. But are the pop covers the only evidence Marr has that Morrissey was becoming too controlling?
 
As for the session work explanation - come on now. He was in the Smiths. Why would he leave for session work?

to let of some steam, there was a lot of presure on Johnny concerning the
[than] upcoming album [strangeways]... the members touched at each others nerves [wel i dunno else to write it]... so johnny sorta escaped, and he was proud to
be asked for sesion work
 
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He was only 23.
He had a bit of a strop when he thought (wrongly) Morrissey was feeding stories to the music press about him.
Friedman did a bit of stirring between him and Morrissey in an attempt to gain some power within the band, which caused suspicion and division.
The band worked too hard leading to Morrissey and Marr being under too much stress.

All of the above led to Johnny getting pissed off and in the spur of the moment telling the press he had left the band.
He was too proud to go back on what he said later.

That's my theory. I don't think recording a silly pop song had anything to do with it.
 
Johnny says himself, that he needed a break from The Smiths, but never meant to end it there. He says that Morrissey took it as if he were leaving the band for good and then everything just ended there.
 
there is no definite answer to this but one of the major reasons was that Jonny wanted to go in a different musical direction, a direction Morrissey would not have allowed the Smiths to go in
 
There were multiple reasons, but I think the major ones are:

1) Morrissey was too controlling of Johnny. He would exile people within The Smiths circle if Johnny became too close to them. Joe Moss and John Porter were examples.

2) Morrissey was constantly falling out with managers (perhaps for good reason) resulting in their firing which meant that Johnny had to take on the brunt of running The Smiths himself. The pressure was overwhelming and caused Johnny to begin drinking excessively during the Queen Is Dead tour.

3) Johnny wanted to experiment musically with electronic sounds but Morrissey was adamant that The Smiths should retain a basic guitar/piano/bass/drums sound. (I'm with Morrissey on this one.) Johnny felt that if he wanted to do anything different, he'd have to leave the band. He was also hurt by the fact that Morrissey refused to put vocals on "The Draize Train" and "Money Changes Everything".
 
Johnny wanted to be in a rock band, not a pop group.

"Musical differences" I think it's called nowadays!

Nonsense - he ended up joining Electronic, which is as far away from a rock band as you can get.
 
I am surprised nobody here appears to have read "Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance."
 
There were multiple reasons, but I think the major ones are:

1) Morrissey was too controlling of Johnny. He would exile people within The Smiths circle if Johnny became too close to them. Joe Moss and John Porter were examples.

2) Morrissey was constantly falling out with managers (perhaps for good reason) resulting in their firing which meant that Johnny had to take on the brunt of running The Smiths himself. The pressure was overwhelming and caused Johnny to begin drinking excessively during the Queen Is Dead tour.

3) Johnny wanted to experiment musically with electronic sounds but Morrissey was adamant that The Smiths should retain a basic guitar/piano/bass/drums sound. (I'm with Morrissey on this one.) Johnny felt that if he wanted to do anything different, he'd have to leave the band. He was also hurt by the fact that Morrissey refused to put vocals on "The Draize Train" and "Money Changes Everything".

Yes, all that's the party line from the Marr camp. I don't believe a word of it though.
 
There seem to be so many vague reasons and possibilies given in various interviews I've read - the strangest part to me is if you listen to the interview CD Johnny did after he went to the US after the recording of Strangeways where sounds so enthused about everything, and looking forward to coming to America to tour the new album (setlist to start with 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This Before) - he certainly doesn't sound like someone who's already made up his mind to leave the band.
 
There seem to be so many vague reasons and possibilies given in various interviews I've read - the strangest part to me is if you listen to the interview CD Johnny did after he went to the US after the recording of Strangeways where sounds so enthused about everything, and looking forward to coming to America to tour the new album (setlist to start with 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This Before) - he certainly doesn't sound like someone who's already made up his mind to leave the band.

Something happenned between that vacation and the recording of The Final B-Sides "I Keep Mine Hidden" and "Work Is A Four-Letter Word"....
 
Morrissey would not make love to him.So he left him
 
He was also hurt by the fact that Morrissey refused to put vocals on "The Draize Train" and "Money Changes Everything".
Really? I didn't know that. Personally I miss the vocals more in Oscillate Wildly than in those two songs.
There seem to be so many vague reasons and possibilies given in various interviews I've read - the strangest part to me is if you listen to the interview CD Johnny did after he went to the US after the recording of Strangeways where sounds so enthused about everything, and looking forward to coming to America to tour the new album (setlist to start with 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This Before) - he certainly doesn't sound like someone who's already made up his mind to leave the band.
I believe Johnny is still waiting to play those songs with Moz, Andy and Mike (well...)
Something happenned between that vacation and the recording of The Final B-Sides "I Keep Mine Hidden" and "Work Is A Four-Letter Word"....
I thought he went to the US after recording those b-sides and then announced that he had left the band. Or am I wrong?
 
I heard that Johnny's wife was tired of putting up with Morrissey.
I can not remember where I heard this.
 
Yes, all that's the party line from the Marr camp. I don't believe a word of it though.

isn't that what were discussing, Marr's side?

the thread is 'why did Marr leave the Smiths'...not ''what's Morrissey's
point of vieuw of the ending of the Smiths"

[ are we aware that Morrissey contineud , or tied to, the Smiths after Johnny's departure...he tried some other guitarist , but the magic was gone,
so He himself ended the Smiths]
 
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