Johnny Marr's Management response to Morrissey's allegations (September 17, 2024)

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A statement from Johnny Marr's management:

Recent statements made by Morrissey on his website regarding the trademark of
The Smiths' name are incorrect.

Here are the facts:

In 2018, following an attempt by a third party to use The Smiths' name - and upon
discovery that the trademark was not owned by the band - Marr reached out to
Morrissey, via his representatives, to work together in protecting The Smiths' name.

A failure to respond led Marr to register the trademark himself.
It was subsequently agreed with Morrissey's lawyers that this trademark was held
for the mutual benefit of Morrissey & Marr.

As a gesture of goodwill, in January 2024, Marr signed an assignment of joint
ownership to Morrissey. Execution of this document still requires Morrissey to sign.

In the interests of accuracy and clarity regarding the trademark, and to answer
recent reports that Marr ignored a promoter's offer to tour as The Smiths, Marr says:

"To prevent third parties from profiting from the band's name, it was left to me
to protect the legacy. This I have done on behalf of both myself and my former
bandmates."

"As for the offer to tour, I didn't ignore the offer - I said no."


Additionally, speculation about Johnny Marr touring with a different singer as
The Smiths is not true. There are no such plans.

Johnny Marr also confirms that he declined a suggestion for another greatest hits
compilation from Warner Music Group given the number already in existence.


Related items:
 
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Rusholme Ruffians! I grew up in a small town in Michigan and that song perfectly summed up our county fair to a tee! It was the perfect song for those hot, 1985 nights.
Yes it is quite resonant to the realities of life in small to midsize town life Western New York too. We have a bustling county fair every year, and even more lawn fetes (essentially mini town fairs put on by typically Catholic parishes with the rides and all the accoutrements of fairs. And that's not even touching our (American) football fandom in these parts which could easily be described as ruffian – without greasy grimy romanticism that Moz puts on the Rusholme fellas.

On the subject of doomed football ruffians – and the and gloried martyrdom of losing in general – there is a reason "Boxers" is a standout and cherished solo track for me
 
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Yes it is quite resonant to the realities of life in small to midsize town life Western New York too. We have a bustling county fair every year, and even more lawn fetes (essentially mini town fairs put on by typically Catholic parishes with the rides and all the accoutrements of fairs. And that's not even touching our (American) football fandom in these parts which could easily be described as ruffian – without greasy grimy romanticism that Moz puts on the Rusholme fellas.

On the subject of doomed football ruffians – and the danger of losing in general – there is a reason "Boxers" is a standout and cherished solo track for me
Spot on! I love his boxing phase. We would be best buds if we knew each other in those days.
 
Men secure with their sexuality can do such things.

Yes. Morrissey was so secure, that he even gave it a name, so as to not confuse anyone further.
 
Rusholme Ruffians! I grew up in a small town in Michigan and that song perfectly summed up our county fair to a tee! It was the perfect song for those hot, 1985 nights.
I grew up in a small suburb of Milwaukee Wisconsin, and it was for sure the same feel. People getting knifed at the county fair like it's the most natural thing in the world.
 
At any rate, I look forward to you releasing your music. Please keep us updated. Do you have any ideas for the cover art? How do you rate Charli XCX artistically?
I don't comment on other artist's work except to debunk cultural meta-narratives.

The first release is scheduled for the Autumn Equinox 2025.

The cover is a picture 📸 of my beloved son who died recently.

It's radio silence 🔕 till then...

Kind regards

'BrummieBoy'
Southmead Hospital
Bristol

 
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Rusholme Ruffians is ALSO my favorite track! Nowhere Fast is amazing as well. I mean.. they're all so good. My husband is a music snob, and talks about how he doesn't really like Morrissey/The Smiths, it's not his type of music, bla bla bla, but he does like Nowhere Fast! ...His shell is hard to crack, so I call that a win. 😏
Now I’m intrigued! 😅 What does he like?
 
wasn’t Moz hospitalised for physical exhaustion during January or am I losing track of time? probably losing track of time but I swear sometimes DID happen with him in January
 
...why aren't you even slightly sceptical about the 'origin story' of 'The Smiths', given all that's been revealed?

It's entirely plausible that it's invention- part of Morrissey's self-mytholigising attempt at a hagiography that he scripted, Marr concurred with and cannot now admit was bullshit?

'Saint In A Stained Glass Window'...some think it's all fabricated.

Morrissey is a windowlicker-charlatan-fraud: always has been...which is why he went batshit crazy about the Disco Diva haircut 💯 in his passport photo because he wasn't a Doomed Poet as a teenager, he just met a genuine Doomed Poet in Moseley and nicked the persona then accessorised it artfully.

He's a 'thieving magpie', artistically...the early lyrics lifted almost wholesale from other authors, actors, auteurs but presented as 'original'...etcetera...

Morrissey is a collage artist. He 'samples' others. The results are sometimes exquisite but sometimes cringe worthy nonsense.

Marr is also a collage-artist but he barely sets a foot wrong because he understands the limits of that approach. He was an analogue sampler using interpolated fragments then joined 'Electronic' to experiment in the digital domain before returning to analogue, very successfully. This is not a criticism of Marr- it's a compliment. He's been on an audio journey and will continue exploations: doubt that includes exhuming 'The Sounds Of The Smiths '...

Nothing wrong with Sound Collage. Everyone does it. Everything builds on everything else. Standing on the shoulders of giants.
Talent borrows...genius steals...etcetera...but...Morrissey is not a genius, not by any measure whatsoever...no matter how many breathless Fiona Dodwell fluff pieces he commissions by briefly granting her his lizard-eyed attention...

BrummieBoy

The Bull's Head
Meriden
Mercia
England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_collage
Brady Bunch Jan GIF by MOODMAN
 
Good, no Smiths reunion to tarnish the legacy, plus there is no Smiths without Andy and / or Mike. I don't feel that Morrissey is enough the same person as the one who wrote the Smiths lyrics and melodies for a reunion to even feel relevant or meaningful. Leave the genius of the records and old tours as is.
 
I asked him his top 5 just now while in the car. He says: Cannibal Corpse, Black Dahlia Murder, Jim Croce, The Gza, Randy Newman.
Tell him he hasn’t got a leg to stand on. 😝 No one with Cannibal Corpse or, worse, Black Dahlia Murder, in their all time top 5 is in the position to criticize Morrissey. 😉
 
Tell him he hasn’t got a leg to stand on. 😝 No one with Cannibal Corpse or, worse, Black Dahlia Murder, in their all time top 5 is in the position to criticize Morrissey. 😉
So came his reply..
"I guess if you want to compare 2 of the heaviest death metal groups to a cry baby, you can."
😂

He used to "criticize" music I'd put on a lot more years ago, but I'm glad he at least doesn't roll his eyes when I turn something on. People change for the ones they love. He definitely has in this department.
I mean... Saturday morning he started singing "International Playboys" but he sang "International clay boys" instead and said, "Morrissey should have wrote the song for the terracotta army in Qin Shi Huang's tomb. *Sigh* He just misses the mark 98% of the time."
He's a goof. We continued to sing it throughout the morning. We just randomly belt it out now.
Now that's Progress. 🤣
 

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