Johnny Marr on the problem with pop music: “Melodramatic nonsense”
The definition of ‘pop music’ has changed more than a few times over the years. Yes, it does encompass everything that is popular on the charts, but while the boom in rock and roll started the idea of the modern pop formula, everything from sugary power pop songs to hip-hop has been dominating the cultural conversation ever since the 1960s. Whereas the flavours of the day are always in a state of change, Johnny Marr is looking at the charts these days and wondering where all of the interesting bands went.
Then again, Marr’s definition of pop was already very different in the 1980s when he debuted with The Smiths. That version of guitar-fuelled music with a punkish flair to it was all well and good, but after the Britpop bubble exploded towards the end of Oasis’ run on the charts in the 1990s, things started shifting towards a more artificial sound.
Suddenly, artists were showing up that seemed to come off an assembly line half the time, with the American Idol effect starting to sink its teeth into the mainstream. While everything was carefully choreographed on reality television, it’s hard to relate to someone’s story when all that people have to go on is the little bits of backstory that they have played in between their performances for an entire season.
With that kind of singing also comes melodrama, and every viewer loves a good vocal run when they get to see it. It’s fair to say that someone like Bob Dylan wasn’t going to go on those insane vocal leaps that Mariah Carey had done in the past, but half the time, it was hyping up some kind of emotion that Marr thought wasn’t there.
When speaking with The Talks, Marr said that melodrama was hurting his favourite kind of pop. He said, “I think what I’m really missing is the sense that pop music can be made on guitars with a certain type of singing. I have a problem with what’s now become pop music because, essentially, it’s just mutated R&B. The singing always seems to be this melodramatic nonsense. And it’s crept into indie rock now, too.”
Given that so many of Marr’s greatest hits are focused around the interplay between vocals and guitar, his presence in the background has seemed to diminish as well. As much as he could play the occasional solo on one of Noel Gallagher’s recent solo albums, his shot at bouncing off a new singer like he used to do with Morrissey is looking more like a thing of the past.
Then again, that shouldn’t really stop someone like Marr. His entire career was focused on playing through the song rather than trying to write the best guitar solo he could think of, and some of the greatest moments of his career tended to come out of songs that didn’t necessarily have to cater to the guitar god mentality.
Pop was never a dirty word for him. If it appealed to a lot of people, then it should be celebrated as such, but now that singers have dominated the conversation, it’s a lot easier to get a vocal powerhouse on the charts than an incredible guitar lick.
