FEATURE:
The Digital Mixtape
Johnny Marr at Sixty: The Ultimate Playlist
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ONE of the true music greats…
I am looking ahead to 31st October and the sixtieth birthday of the great Johnny Marr. Beginning his career as founder, composer and guitarist with The Smiths, he has since gone on to record with member of the Pretenders, The The, Electronic, Modest Mouse, and The Cribs. A prolific session musician, Marr has worked with names such as Kirsty MacColl, Pet Shop Boys, Talking Heads, Bryan Ferry, and Hans Zimmer. His upcoming album, Spirit Power: The Best of Johnny Marr, is out on 3rd November. His essential book, Marr’s Guitars, is out now:
“A stunning photographic presentation of the guitars that defined the distinctive sounds and style of Johnny Marr with personal reflections and insights from the legendary guitarist himself.
'Guitars have been the obsession of my life ... they’ve been a mission and sometimes a lifeline' – Johnny Marr
The guitarist’s guitarist, Johnny Marr redefined music for a generation. His ringing arpeggios and chordal innovations helped elevate The Smiths to be one of the most influential and important British bands of all time.
Tracing Marr's career from his teenage years to his recent work on the Bond soundtrack, Marr’s Guitars showcases the most significant of Marr’s superb collection of electric and acoustic guitars, revealing through them the evolution of his iconic sound and style of playing. Each guitar is identified with a crucial moment, a specific song or a particular sound, and each embodies a key aspect of Marr’s lifelong passion.
Renowned photographer Pat Graham presents each instrument as a full portrait, supported by micro shots highlighting the specific details that make each one unique, while Johnny Marr himself reveals in his accompanying commentary on what tracks and at which shows the guitars were played. Many of the guitars are closely associated with Marr, such as the Rickenbacker 330, the Gibson ES-355 and the Johnny Marr Signature Fender Jaguar. Some were passed down to him, including Nile Rodgers’ Stratocaster, Bryan Ferry’s Roxy Music Hagstrom and Bert Jansch’s Yamaha. Others are guitars once owned by Marr that have since been passed on to the next generation of guitar heroes, including the Stratocaster used by Noel Gallagher on ‘Wonderwall’ and the Gibson Les Paul Goldtop used on In Rainbows by Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien.
Punctuating the photography of the guitars and the accompanying commentary are contextual studio, backstage and onstage shots. Together, they make Marr’s Guitars a unique cultural history of modern music and guitar playing told through the prism of Johnny Marr’s experiences and achievements”.
I am going to end with a playlist featuring his best work with The Smiths, The The, Modest Mouser, Electronic, The Cribs and his solo stuff. Such a consistently inventive and brilliant artist, Marr is one of the most influential guitarists ever. Before getting to that playlist, AllMusic have compiled a useful biography and insight into the wonderful Johnny Marr and his incredible career:
“As the guitarist and co-songwriter for the Smiths, Johnny Marr helped create the musical vocabulary for indie rock in the 1980s and beyond. The Smiths were fueled by Marr's intricate, ringing guitar parts that assiduously avoided cliches while being rooted in classic British guitar pop. Marr's strengths as an instrumentalist made him a popular gun for hire after the Smiths split. Immediately following the band's separation, Marr played with the Pretenders, The The, and Talking Heads while striking up a lasting collaboration with New Order's Bernard Sumner with Electronic. He continued to bounce between projects during the '90s, eventually forming Johnny Marr and the Healers in 2000. The group didn't last long and Marr wound up joining Modest Mouse in 2006, staying with the band for several years while also playing in the Cribs. The Messenger launched Marr's solo career in 2013 and over the next decade, he toured and recorded regularly, issuing such ambitious projects as 2018's socially conscious Call the Comet and the multi-part Fever Dreams, which culminated in the release of the full double album in 2022.
Born John Maher in Manchester, England on October 31, 1963, he played in such little-known groups as Sister Ray and Freaky Party before forming the Smiths with singer Morrissey in 1982. In the years to follow they became one of Britain's most successful acts, but in 1987, following sessions for the LP Strangeways, Here We Come, Marr dissolved the group, claiming their musical approach had gone stale.
In the wake of the Smiths' demise, he made cameo appearances on records by the likes of Talking Heads and Kirsty MacColl before joining Matt Johnson's The The for 1989's Mind Bomb. Marr also teamed with New Order's Bernard Sumner and Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant in the alternative supergroup Electronic, scoring a hit with the single "Getting Away with It." Apart from a handful of guest appearances, he maintained a relatively low profile during the '90s, most notably lending his talents to The The's 1993 effort Dusk and Electronic's long-awaited sophomore record, 1996's Raise the Pressure.
Marr returned to music three years later on Electronic's third album, Twisted Tenderness, which wasn't released in the U.S. until fall 2000. He also spent time working with his new band, the Healers, playing dates across England. The next few years were a time of redefinition and reflection for Marr. He finally assembled his Healers with ex-Kula Shaker bass man Alonza Bevan, and Ringo Starr's drumming son Zak Starkey in 2002; a deal with Artist Direct's iMusic followed before the end of the year. Fans of this legendary guitarist were treated to Marr's proper singing debut in early 2003 with the release of Boomslang. In 2007, he appeared on the Washington band Modest Mouse's album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, and toured with them as a member.
Marr stayed with the band into 2008 but soon switched allegiance to another band from another country -- the British indie group the Cribs. A songwriting session soon expanded into full-fledged membership and Marr wrote, played, and toured for the 2009 album Ignore the Ignorant. Like his stint in Modest Mouse, Marr lasted for only one album with the Cribs before leaving for another project, and this time it was one that he led himself. He relocated his family to his hometown of Manchester and set about recording a solo album. The result, The Messenger, appeared to strong reviews in February 2013. He quickly followed it with a second solo set called Playland, which appeared in the autumn of 2014; the live album Adrenalin Baby was released in 2015. Marr published his autobiography, Set the Boy Free, then turned his attention to writing and recording his third solo album. The resulting Call the Comet appeared in June 2018.
Marr signed with BMG in August 2021 with the intent of delivering Fever Dreams, a double-album released as a series of EPs. Fever Dreams, Pt. 1 arrived that October with the second installment arriving in December. The full album, Fever Dreams, Pts. 1-4 arrived in February 2022”.
To celebrate the genius that is Johnny Marr, I have put together a career-spanning playlist. I have been a fan of his work since I was a child. One of the most recognisable guitarists of his generation, Marr has gone on to be this broad artist who has fitted into various bands and alongside an array of artists. His solo work is possibly his purest and most personal work, though everyone has their favourite Marr period/incarnation. To honour him ahead of his sixtieth birthday on 31st October, here is a playlist with a selection of hits and deep cuts where Marr is either playing, a member of the band, or singing (or all in some cases). There is no doubting the fact that he is…
IN a league of one.