Panic on the Internet: Johnny Marr Hits Back After Morrissey Accuses Him of Using His Name as ‘Clickbait’
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Johnny Marr has hit back at his former bandmate Morrissey after The Smiths frontman accused him of using his name as “clickbait.”
In what he described as a “polite and calmly measured” call, Morrissey penned a public letter to Marr requesting that he stop talking about him in interviews as they had not “known each other for 35 years.”
“Would you please, instead, discuss your own career, your own unstoppable solo achievements and your own music? If you can, would you please just leave me out of it?” Morrissey wrote. “The fact is: you don’t know me. You know nothing of my life, my intentions, my thoughts, my feelings. Yet you talk as if you were my personal psychiatrist with consistent and uninterrupted access to my instincts.”
Morrissey insisted the letter was not “an hysterical bombast,” adding, “We haven’t known each other for 35 years – which is many lifetimes ago.”
“You found me inspirational enough to make music with me for 6 years. If I was, as you claim, such an eyesore monster, where exactly did this leave you?” Morrisey asked. “Kidnapped? Mute? Chained? Abducted by cross-eyed extraterrestrials? It was YOU who played guitar on ‘Golden Lights’ – not me.”
Morrissey went on to accuse Marr of pandering to the British media:
Yes, we all know that the British press will print anything you say about me as long as it’s cruel and savage. But you’ve done all that. Move on. It’s as if you can’t uncross your own legs without mentioning me. Our period together was many lifetimes ago, and a lot of blood has streamed under the bridge since then. There comes a time when you must take responsibility for your own actions and your own career, with which I wish you good health to enjoy. Just stop using my name as click-bait. I have not ever attacked your solo work or your solo life, and I have openly applauded your genius during the days of ‘Louder than bombs’ and ‘Strangeways, here we come’, yet you have positioned yourself ever-ready as rent-a-quote whenever the press require an ugly slant on something I half-said during the last glacial period as the Colorado River began to carve out the Grand Canyon. Please stop. It is 2022, not 1982.
Unimpressed by Morrissey’s letter, Marr responded to his former bandmate in a Wednesday tweet.
Dear @officialmoz . An ‘open letter’ hasn’t really been a thing since 1953, It’s all ‘social media’ now. Even Donald J Trump had that one down. Also, this fake news business…a bit 2021 yeah ?#makingindiegreatagain
— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) January 26, 2022
Dear [Morrissey]. An ‘open letter’ hasn’t really been a thing since 1953, It’s all ‘social media’ now. Even Donald J Trump had that one down. Also, this fake news business…a bit 2021 yeah ?” he wrote, adding the hashtag “#makingindiegreatagain.”
Marr is currently promoting his album Fever Dreams Pt. 1-4, and is often asked about Morrissey by the press, as Marr famously left The Smiths following reports of tension between the artists.
