‘You have positioned yourself ever-ready as rent-a-quote whenever the press require an ugly slant on something I half-said,’ Morrissey has written of his former Smiths bandmate Johnny Marr.
The former frontman of The Smiths, who has become something of a controversial figure in recent years, went full-blown John Proctor on his ex-bandmate, requesting him to stop using his name in interviews.
Writing on his blog, ‘Morrissey Central’, the singer began by declaring his statement ‘is not a rant or hysterical bombast,’ but instead ‘is a polite and calmly measured request: Would you please stop mentioning my name in your interviews?’
Yet far from measured, it went off into a frenetic piece with sprinklings of the bizarre, as Morrissey chastised Marr for ‘talk[ing] as if you were my personal psychiatrist with consistent and uninterrupted access to my instincts.’
‘We both helped each other become whatever it is we are today,’ he added, ‘Can you not just leave it at that? Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything… from the 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami to the dribble on your grandma’s chin?’
The source of this diatribe appears to be an interview Marr gave to Uncut magazine, as he promotes a new solo album, Fever Dreams Pts 1-4.
‘It won’t come as any surprise when I say that I’m really close with everyone I’ve worked with – except for the obvious one,’ Marr is reported to have said. ‘And that isn’t that much of a surprise because we’re so different, me and Morrissey’
In the ‘open letter’ to Marr, Morrissey added: ‘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.’
The irony, of course, is that Morrissey’s open letter has brought far more attention to Marr’s words.
Morrissey concludes: ‘…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.’
In response, Marr fired back, Tweeting earlier today: ‘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?’
Morrisey’s public views have been criticised in recent years. In 2017, the singer defended Kevin Spacey over sexual assault allegations, declaring it to be ‘ridiculous’ that he was removed from films whilst being ‘attacked unnecessarily’.
Many also expressed acrimony for his wearing of a badge during his performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2019, in support of the far-right party For Britain – a political party once branded by Nigel Farage as consisting of ‘Nazis and racists’.
Many on social media have today also Tweeted their surprise at his online outburst, with both showbiz reporter Mark Worgan and comedian David Baddiel stating that, in their view, Marr has in fact stayed relatively quiet about Morrissey.
‘I’ve read Marr’s autobiography – and in fact interviewed him about it,’ Baddiel wrote, ‘and he was in both cases only remarkably discreet about his former bandmate.’
It’s been a week of musical arguments. Just yesterday, Taylor Swift hit back at Damon Albarn’s comment that Swift ‘doesn’t write her own songs’.
‘I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this,’ Swift said, referring to an interview the Blur frontman gave to the Los Angeles Times, ‘I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging. You don’t have to like my songs but it’s really fucked up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.’
We all wait in anticipation at where the next online (or real) bust-up comes from.
