Morrissey claims Johnny Marr “has devoted his entire life to killing Morrissey” in now-deleted essay
Morrissey has again launched an attack on his former bandmate Johnny Marr in a now-deleted essay posted online.
The former Smiths colleagues were last locked in a war of words in 2024 when Morrissey revealed that Marr had rejected a lucrative reunion, as well as making a series of claims regarding the guitarist taking ownership of trademarks related to the band and preventing the release of a new compilation album.
Marr subsequently explained the trademarks were made in order to “prevent third parties from profiting from the band’s name”, and “As for the offer to tour, I didn’t ignore the offer – I said no“.
Now, taking to Morrissey Central in a post titled ‘The Art Of Forgery’, which has since been removed from his website, the singer has taken a whole load of fresh shots at Marr that stem from an unannounced new BBC radio documentary on the band.
The lengthy post began, “A BBC radio program supposedly tracking the story of the Smiths will be aired on July 13. The BBC has warned that it is critical in nature towards Morrissey.”
Speaking in third-person, he added, “Morrissey was not invited to take part in this timeworn story – which has seen at least five identical documentaries wherein Marr grabs center stage as the unchanging face of discord … and Bigmarr Strikes Again. The souring of the Smiths dream unravels once again through Marr’s mechanical paces, which are by now totally predictable plot development.”
Morrissey then stated that these works showcase Marr as an “angel”, whereas he is portrayed as an “executioner”, before claiming, “Forty years on, Marr cannot do anything with his life but look back. The truth is always ignored.”
He also refuted the longstanding allegation that he fired Andy Rourke by leaving a note that read “you are fired” on his car, which Morrissey called a “tired lie”, adding, “I hadn’t hired Andy Rourke and I would have no place nor right to fire him.”
Morrissey continued, “The Smiths was my voice, my lyrics, my song-titles, my album titles, my single and album artwork, my vision, my vocal melodies, my emotions – nobody else’s. When The Guardian say that they love the Smiths but hate Morrissey, it is like saying ‘we hate David Bowie but we love the Spiders From Mars’. It’s all so staged, isn’t it?”
He then continued to lambast The Guardian, who he said “first jumped on me in 2015 and made me the focus of their hourly malice, Marr possibly appeared in their offices the next day – sweeping the stairs and waxing the floors. This was his big chance to sway people away from the notion of the Smiths as my project.”
Seemingly, Morrissey has not heard the new BBC programme, but says it “sounds like it is NOT for anyone who knows or cares about the Smiths,” before claiming, “Marr has intentionally divided the Smiths audience into Marr or Morrissey factions.”
The ‘Make-Up Is A Lie’ singer also returned to the trademark row, before blasting Marr who he claimed has “devoted his entire life to killing Morrissey in whatever way available.” Morrissey added, “He embodies precisely what he claims to hate in others. His predatory sport of ‘calling Morrissey names’ is now in full wachine-machine overdrive. Why isn’t he bored of it all yet?”
He then turned his attention to The Smiths’ producer Grant Showbiz, who appears in the new documentary, whose comments Morrissey deems to be “slanderous, and even worse-they come from someone whom I always held solidly in the highest regard – until now. Even Soviet Statues crumble.”
After accusing those “who continually shout the loudest are those who look for relevance,” he said of his former bandmate, “Marr, I firmly believe, is destroying the legacy of the Smiths. He plants seeds of doubt everywhere. He’s done it so loudly and so often that he has trapped himself.”
Regarding Marr and The Guardian, he then claimed “that those who vomit out the same corrupt hatred decade after decade are half in love with their targets, hence their romantic possession. Otherwise, they’d move on – disinclined to devote their adult lives to someone whom they claim is tat.”
He also alleged that Marr “has not ever felt the lyrics to How Soon is Now? – which is why he sings them with all of the romantic enchantment of Leslie Crowther,” then taking a sly dig at him for “being thrown out of the Pretenders” rather than continuing with The Smiths for another four albums.
The post concluded, “Let the pie-fights continue. I shall always be reborn. The only artistic beauty in this world is whatever we bring to it. On the other hand, you have those who obliterate for pay. They have absolutely nothing else to offer. I apologise for use of my own name in the third person (illeism), but it’s easier on both eyes.”
The full archived essay can be read here.
Far Out has contacted a spokesperson for Johnny Marr for comment.
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