Johnny Marr reveals a major “life-changing moment” of his career
The former guitarist and songwriter of The Smiths, Johnny Marr, has revealed the “major life-changing moment” of his career which occurred when he was playing in a Portland attic in 2005.
During a new interview with Forbes, Marr shared a special moment when he first discovered the Fender Jaguar after decades of success using other models.
The musician began by stating, “I’m not exaggerating when I say that was a life-changing moment” before adding: “What’s more is that I knew it at the time. That can sound like big talk, but the facts bear it out. I’m still playing that guitar exclusively on stage.”
He continued: “I start sounding a bit mystical and esoteric. But that’s because I look at all this stuff with significance. I have since I was a kid. I have massively philosophical attachments to some moments. They have come out in the telling of the stories. If I sat at a word processor, they probably wouldn’t. Guitars made me tell those.”
Marr also recently explained the “personal” reason why The Smiths split up in 1987.
Revealing why the band parted ways, Marr said: “It was mostly a personal thing. We were working at such a breakneck pace – 50-odd tracks in four years – that I thought I was going to end up repeating myself.”
He continued: “Also, I was frustrated with what people expected me to come up with. By creating your own rules, the influences and methods of songwriting that you allow yourself to use, you end up boxing yourself into a corner of musical politics.”
Concluding his thoughts, he added: “And if you step out of that corner, it’s immediately called ’sell-out’. Some ‘fans’ – for want of a better word – just wanted me to jingle-jangle on my Rickenbacker till I died. But if I have to forsake fame, fortune, and popularity for the experience of being able to play exactly what I want when I want, I’d do it again”.
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