Johnny Marr interview roundup - Smiths and Morrissey mentions

Recent Johnny Marr media with Smiths / Morrissey mentions:
 
Sooner or later. With each generation, there are fewer who subscribe. But if you went on an anti-religious crusade, you'd be as boring as the zealots, and make them that much more secure in their faith. I mean, you can't even pray in schools, and there's a war on Christmas after all. Starbucks releases a winter cup, and they shit themselves with rage. Science is already replacing God by turning us into him/her as a species.

Science is replacing God by turning us into him/her as "A SPECIES"?? WtF:crazy: does that mean??????:rolleyes:
Everybody here is A SPECIES?:straightface:
 
Marr’s ongoing burden can only be because of the fascination the media still have with Morrissey, even in his current relatively diminished state, and frankly, Marr’s inability to move out of Morrissey’s shadow after all these decades.

This is a good observation. I think it is because Marr's post-Smiths output for a long time consisted of collaborations with other artists, some of them very interesting and enjoyable, but not the best way to become an artist of equal status to Morrissey. Moreover, many people, including myself, always continue to prefer that first collaboration of his.

I find it puzzling that it took Johnny Marr so long §30 years) to come out with a solo record that is musically and sonically at par with the Smiths output.

Just wondering if things would have been different if this record had come out 15 years ago?
 
This is a good observation. I think it is because Marr's post-Smiths output for a long time consisted of collaborations with other artists, some of them very interesting and enjoyable, but not the best way to become an artist of equal status to Morrissey. Moreover, many people, including myself, always continue to prefer that first collaboration of his.

I find it puzzling that it took Johnny Marr so long §30 years) to come out with a solo record that is musically and sonically at par with the Smiths output.

Just wondering if things would have been different if this record had come out 15 years ago?

I think part of it was him collaborating with established groups because it became really hard to know what to credit him with. I also think part of it is the fact that morrisseys first album satisfied the lasting smiths itch which endeared him to fans. He added variations gradually into his sound but viva hate felt like it could be a progression of the smiths or at least morrisseys contribution to the smiths. The image style subject matter vocal hooks we loved in the smiths to a large extent were still there and he music was still in the same vein though lesser. Marr went out and largely for better or worse did something that felt non smiths like and kinda left this hole of expectation and has been fairly or unfairly judged by it somewhat. Morrissey sometimes gets criticized for not changing much but I think in a lot of ways that’s a big part of why we liked him. Especially when you started with something so good
 
Would you be willing to sign a petition to outlaw religion? I mean this very seriously. The government wants to outlaw things that are harmful ( smoking, drugs etc ) so why not religion? It is the biggest killer of humans in history! ( or certainly in the name of religion ). So if we just made religion illegal, maybe all this hatred could pass and we become a civilised human society? A 100000 signatures would get it debated in parliament
That would be about as successful as outlawing evil. Unfortunately most religious people are indoctrinated when they are children. They don't really have a choice. Fortunately quite a few grow out of it when they reach adulthood but Islam does not take too kindly to it's members wanting to leave. I don't think a law trying to force people to not follow religion would be a good thing. Religious people are already being forced to think a certain way. Their minds can only change with education and not being afraid of critical thinking. Religion is a ball and chain for the mind. The chain has to be snapped from within.
 
It's really both of them not being able to get out from under the Smiths' shadow, rather than Johnny being in Moz's shadow. They traditionally both get referred to as being first and foremost former Smiths and they both get asked about the Smiths in interviews but only rarely directly about each other. Right now, even Moby is getting prompts from journalists to call Morrissey a knob, so of course Johnny is going to get the same.
 
Moz is angry children and adults are murdered and gets pilloried. JM is proud of the people of Manc and toes acceptable bland party line. Go figure.

EXACTLY. Same dynamic all along, Morrissey=provocative, Marr=reliable.
 
Morrissey isn't old. Not in any meaningful sense anyway. In fact he's always struck me as an eternal teenager.

It's (some of) the fans who have become jaded, boring and conservative.
Conservatism is Morrissey. For a man who has positioned himself as a snowflake of the highest order, he seems unusually tribal, and predictable in his worldview.

When youth has an edge over your own irrationality, you've lost the plot, and are circling the drain.

Nothing lasts forever.

Peace be upon him.
 
I do have to say I like Johnny's relaxed and measured style - he simply says 'I disagree'. No name-calling, no describing Moz's views as 'racist' or 'Islamophobic'. How refreshing - and an example to many.
 
So why not? Again I mean this wholeheartedly. Religion is evil. It subjugated people through fear and profited immensely from it. That is nothing more than an illegal cult! I will make it my life’s work to end it and if I can get some support from people on here then I will make a vast difference and help to me.

Religion was there to instil a moral code as well as to control the masses, particularly before standardised education. Putting aside the first three and where they are said to have originated the Ten Commandments remain decent guiding principles for life. Not lying, stealing or killing are not controversial issues.

The question is how to today impress basic human standards of behaviour into people you have no other hold over. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think the collapse in the Christian church over the last century has necessarily led to a better society, so far at least.
 


There YOU GO, now we know why his songs are so SUCKO, he learned to write the sucko songs from the King of the Sucko songs, Bernard from super sucky NEW ORDER!! I had a feeling that was the case but now its confirmed.:popcorn::popcorn:
 
I do have to say I like Johnny's relaxed and measured style - he simply says 'I disagree'. No name-calling, no describing Moz's views as 'racist' or 'Islamophobic'. How refreshing - and an example to many.
Marr is a cool, measured man who probably doesn't spend too much time on the internet. He's the opposite of hysterical, which is the opposite of civilised.
Moz caring about his country enough to suggest an alternative to the neverending Labour-Tory circus is really no big deal. It only hits a nerve for net-addled hysterical types.
People need to chill out. Be calm, measured, more reflective. A bit more like Marr.
Every time I log off from the internet, especially if I've been browsing news sites and other high-bullshit zones, I feel my IQ has taken a battering (maybe because the bullshit has been doing the thinking for me).
We all need to watch out and let our minds have some fresh air.
 
I think part of it was him collaborating with established groups because it became really hard to know what to credit him with. I also think part of it is the fact that morrisseys first album satisfied the lasting smiths itch which endeared him to fans. He added variations gradually into his sound but viva hate felt like it could be a progression of the smiths or at least morrisseys contribution to the smiths. The image style subject matter vocal hooks we loved in the smiths to a large extent were still there and he music was still in the same vein though lesser. Marr went out and largely for better or worse did something that felt non smiths like and kinda left this hole of expectation and has been fairly or unfairly judged by it somewhat. Morrissey sometimes gets criticized for not changing much but I think in a lot of ways that’s a big part of why we liked him. Especially when you started with something so good
I totally agree. Call The Comet is the closest that Johnny Marr has ever gotten to the sound of The Smiths, and it comes at the right moment for me. There's lots of references to the music of the 80s on it, and it has the distinctive "British" sound which Morrissey has sadly lost over the years.
 
SOUNDS like The Smiths? CALL THE COMET??:drama:

:crazy: those incoherent sounds sound like THE SMITHS have you lost the plot>>>is this :frogface:Posting???doh:
 
Perhaps, but if they are rarely in contact what light could Marr possibly shed on it? We discuss Morrissey’s slide into right wing politics as if he had left very few clues along the trail, and yet...



... if that isn’t a manifesto what is? The difference is that in the near decade and a half since that was released politics in this country, and across much of the West, has been turned on its head and a song which many at the time might have considered a rumination on left of centre politics can easily be interpreted now as the polar opposite.

I find myself even nodding in agreement at the anti-monarchist sentiment these days. Once the Queen is dead (to coin a phrase) what could possibly fill that void? Charles? As a stop gap, perhaps, but that dopey grinning celeb wannabe William? Nah, I’m rather less than impressed with the way he conducts himself. Perhaps we should have a rethink. There’s certainly something rotten in the State of Denmark.

Back to the relationship between Morrissey and Marr, I’m sure Morrissey must have been asked about Marr’s post-Smiths work down the years, but for the vast majority of the time Marr’s name has only been raised in connection with a reunion.

I’ve criticised Morrissey many times here, and frankly, I don’t really like the persona he projects to the world, but it cannot surely be argued that what was once a partnership of equals has been maintained in their individual successes after the split. As I alluded to earlier the main reason Marr is continually asked by the media about Morrissey is because he doesn’t have all that much else to talk about.

Magnificent guitarist, of course, writer of some of the most glorious guitar music of the last decades of the twentieth century, unarguable, but ultimately run over by the same Morrissey career steamroller that did for Joyce and Rourke and Gannon and Whyte and a dozen others? Clearly, yes.


Part of it is lazy journalism. Part of it is a desperate need to stand out in an overwhelming sea of 24-hour stimulation. When you consider the problem of the journalist whose task is to interview Johnny Marr they can either really take some time and research him in order to ask some questions that might actually be worth a wikipedia reference or they can ask about Morrissey and possibly have their interview read by many more people. They might even get some work out of it.
Nobody really cares what amp settings Johnny used on track 4 of alhum 3 or how he likes his eggs or what it's really like to hang out with Noel Gallagher. Okay, that last one might be interesting... But he's had a long time to talk about recording with the Talking Heads, the Pretenders, the Pet Shop Boys and so on and I don't remember reading anything interesting or insightful about it.
These days Morrissey is decreasingly a pop singer and increasingly a wind-up artist, apparently more interested in trolling the public than selling them a record. It's just the easiest question to ask Marr and the one that is most likely to make the highlights reel.
 
Part of it is lazy journalism. Part of it is a desperate need to stand out in an overwhelming sea of 24-hour stimulation. When you consider the problem of the journalist whose task is to interview Johnny Marr they can either really take some time and research him in order to ask some questions that might actually be worth a wikipedia reference or they can ask about Morrissey and possibly have their interview read by many more people. They might even get some work out of it.
Nobody really cares what amp settings Johnny used on track 4 of alhum 3 or how he likes his eggs or what it's really like to hang out with Noel Gallagher. Okay, that last one might be interesting... But he's had a long time to talk about recording with the Talking Heads, the Pretenders, the Pet Shop Boys and so on and I don't remember reading anything interesting or insightful about it.
These days Morrissey is decreasingly a pop singer and increasingly a wind-up artist, apparently more interested in trolling the public than selling them a record. It's just the easiest question to ask Marr and the one that is most likely to make the highlights reel.
Somebody gets it. ;)
 
See these two lads can get on
swimmingly.

Hadn’t seen that before, really enjoyed it. Their view on Joy Division was interesting and I do agree that it was only after Ian’s death that they seemed to appeal to a wider audience.I happened to see them twice in a week supporting Buzzcocks. The first one was at Blackburn King George’s Hall and hardly anyone was interested in them, however at Manchester Apollo the place was 70% full for their set.

 

Trending Threads

Back
Top Bottom