Johnny Marr says his guitar style was in opposition to the “directionless” playing he encountered in the classic rock scene
Johnny Marr feels he purposefully rallied against the guitar trends of the 1980s, and wasn’t interested in making albums where he could show off for the sake of it.
Marr, who rose to fame as a member of The Smiths and began releasing solo music in 2013, always wanted to make guitar records. And though some may feel differently, he believes there’s a big difference between the sorts of guitar records he wanted to make compared to those that were around during the classic rock era – with that difference being a lack composition.
READ MORE: Johnny Marr’s got another quirky signature guitar – this time a seven-string Martin acoustic
Not one for peacocking with flashy solos or speed, Marr opted to use the guitar as a vessel for “painting a picture”. Speaking to Goldmine Magazine for its Winter 2024 issue, he explains, “When the time came to form The Smiths – and I’m still like this to this day – my dream was, and is, to make guitar records. I know it might sound obvious – and you can say that Van Halen made guitar records, and Guns N’ Roses make guitar records, but it’s a different thing.”
When it’s suggested to Marr that he used guitar as a vehicle to make such records rather than using the records to “showboat as a player”, he responds, “It’s as you described: I used the guitar as a machine to do that, really. And not to just kind of wing it; I tried to be aware of the arrangements, layer in and paint like painting a picture, really. I wasn’t shooting from the hip. I admire players who are exciting, and there are great players who do that. But back then, when I was young, I was really railing against it.”
He adds, “I grew up in a time where, frankly, there was a preponderance of every guitar shop I went into; that’s how it was. Bands I used to get invited to come jam with or join, where they’d have guys from the neighborhood say, ‘Let’s get together and play,’ it was directionless and shooting from the hip. There was no composition and no sense of song.”
Marr reissued his 2003 album with The Healers, Boomslang, back in September for its 21st anniversary. It features seven previously unheard recordings, including The Way That It Was, Get Me Wrong, A Woman Like You, and more.
You can buy or stream the 2024 reissue of Boomslang now. Johnny Marr will play at Forever Now in June – tickets are still available.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
