Scathing open letters, bitter Instagram posts and ‘fake news’…inside pop’s longest feud as Morrissey and Johnny Marr go to war again (and why there is no chance of The Smiths EVER reuniting)

They’re two indie rock favourites from Manchester who’ve been feuding for years – and but, not like reunited Oasis brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, heaven is aware of these two stay depressing now in the case of reconciling.

Devotees of The Smiths pleading to get what they need within the type of a reunion tour look set to stay dissatisfied because the decades-long dispute between Morrissey and Johnny Marr reveals no signal of abating.

Guitarist Marr this week issued a social media assertion pouring chilly water on the prospects of a reunion which would appear much more startling than the recently-announced Oasis rapprochement between fellow Mancunians Noel and Liam. 

Singer Morrissey, 65, had steered he and his former buddy have been approached to go on tour because the Smiths subsequent yr, for the primary time since splitting in 1987. 

He claimed Marr, 60, ignored the method and likewise accused his ex-bandmate of trademarking the Smiths’ identify which might stop anybody else utilizing it – persevering with an ongoing squabble involving open letters, Instagram posts and claims of ‘faux information’.

Morrissey (left) and Johnny Marr (proper) shaped the Smiths in Manchester in 1982

Singer Morrissey (centre), bass participant Andy Rourke (left), guitarist Johnny Marr (proper) and drummer Mike Joyce (again) are seen performing as The Smiths on Channel 4 present The Tube

Their exchanges this week are simply the newest instalments in a confrontation courting again nearly 40 years to when the band broke up – with Marr complaining then about Morrissey desirous to cowl kitsch Nineteen Sixties songs by the likes of Cilla Black and Twinkle. 

They have been aligned once more within the Nineties, albeit by way of attorneys in court docket when sued by fellow Smiths bandmates Mike Joyce and the late Andy Rourke in a royalties row.

And but hostilities stay clear within the new barrage of statements which started with Morrissey, utilizing his private web site, aiming jibes Marr’s method – not solely over a mooted reunion tour but additionally the opportunity of a brand new compilation album.

The Smiths’ fourth and remaining studio album, 1987’s Strangeways Right here We Come, included the track Paint A Vulgar Image which satirises document firms for cashing in on artists – with the sardonic lyric: ‘Reissue, repackage, repackage.’

Eleven completely different Smiths compilations have been formally launched within the UK however Morrissey mentioned this week that Marr had blocked the thought of a brand new Biggest Hits-style assortment.

The best charting singles in the course of the band’s time collectively have been Heaven Is aware of I am Depressing Now in 1984 and 1987’s Sheila Take A Bow which each bought to quantity 10.  

And the singer’s official Morrissey Central web site shared a message on Monday this week beneath the headline ‘The plot thickens’.

It learn: ‘J Marr has efficiently utilized for 100% trademark rights / Mental Property possession of The Smiths identify.

‘His utility has been accepted on no matter oaths or proclamations he has put ahead.

‘This motion was performed with none session to Morrissey, and with out permitting Morrissey the usual alternative of “objection”. 

An announcement on Morrissey’s web site, titled ‘Warfare is Outdated, Artwork is Younger’, claimed he ‘mentioned sure’ to the supply by AEG to tour as The Smiths all through 2025, however ‘Marr ignored the supply’

Morrissey – pictured acting at Meadow Brook Ampitheatre in Rochester Hills, Michigan in September 2019 – has had a decades-long feud with former buddy Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr – seen on the Rock-en-Seine Competition in Saint-Cloud, France in August 2019 – has mentioned this week he rejected a suggestion for the Smiths to reform and tour

Guitarist Johnny Marr, singer Morrissey, drummer Mike Joyce and bassist Andy Rourke of The Smiths pose for a portrait earlier than their first present in the course of the Meat Is Homicide Tour in 1985

‘Amongst many different issues, because of this Marr can now tour as The Smiths utilizing the vocalist of his alternative, and it additionally prohibits Morrissey from utilizing the identify while additionally denying Morrissey appreciable monetary livelihood.

‘Morrissey alone created the musical unit identify “The Smiths” in Might 1982.’

Marr hit again on Tuesday evening with an announcement saying the musician had taken steps to trademark the group’s identify ‘following an try by a 3rd social gathering’ to make use of it and ‘as a gesture of goodwill’ – had supplied to share it with Morrissey.

The message shared on Instagram and X, previously Twitter, mentioned: ‘Listed here are the details: In 2018, following an try by a 3rd social gathering to make use of The Smiths’ identify – and upon discovery that the trademark was not owned by the band – Marr reached out to Morrissey, by way of his representatives, to work collectively in defending The Smiths’ identify.

‘A failure to reply led Marr to register the trademark himself. It was subsequently agreed with Morrissey’s attorneys that this trademark was held for the mutual advantage of Morrissey and Marr.

‘As a gesture of goodwill, in January 2024, Marr signed an settlement of joint possession to Morrissey. Execution of this doc nonetheless requires Morrissey to signal.’

Including to the assertion, Marr mentioned: ‘To forestall third events from making the most of the band’s identify, it was left to me to guard the legacy.

‘This I’ve performed on behalf of each myself and my former bandmates.

Johnny Marr posted an announcement to followers on X, previously Twitter, on Tuesday night

Johnny Marr (left) and Morrissey (proper) of The Smiths pose collectively within the retailer room of document label Tough Commerce in London in 1983

Singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr of The Smiths carry out on stage at Hammersmith Palais in west London on March 12 1984

‘As for the supply to tour, I did not ignore the supply – I mentioned no.’

Marr additionally rejected as ‘unfaithful’ hypothesis that he was planning to tour beneath the identify of the Smiths however with a unique singer taking Morrissey’s place.

The festering animosity between the pair is a far cry from when a younger Marr turned up together with his guitar on Steven Morrissey’s doorstep in Stretford, Higher Manchester, in Might 1982 and steered they begin writing songs collectively.

The 2 had beforehand first met in 1978, when Marr was 14 and Morrissey 19, at Manchester’s Apollo Theatre for a Patti Smith live performance. 

Marr was impressed by lyricist Jerry Leiber having taken related motion to doorstep and group up with composer Mike Stoller, forming a duo behind such Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties hits as Hound Canine, Jailhouse Rock and Stand By Me.

Morrissey has insisted he got here up with their band’s identify, the Smiths – saying: ‘It was probably the most bizarre identify and I assumed it was time that the bizarre people of the world confirmed their face.’

And he later recalled of his immediate rapport with Marr: ‘We bought on completely famously. We have been very related in drive.’

The duo, who dominated the Smiths, supplied complementary contrasts – Morrissey’s droll and self-deprecating lyrics mixing with Marr’s chiming, Byrds-influenced guitar arpeggios and hovering melodies. 

Singer Morrissey performs songs in Madrid, Spain on October 9, 2014

The Smiths (left to proper: Andy Rourke, Morrissey, Johnny Marr and Mike Joyce) launched 4 studio albums between 1983 and their cut up in 1987

Morrissey supplied lead vocals on hits comparable to This Charming Man, Ask and Panic

Their debut single Hand In Glove reached quantity three on the UK indie chart earlier than This Charming Synthetic quantity 25 within the official High 40 and stays an indie nightclub mainstay.

They launched 4 studio albums between 1983 and 1987 however had cut up by the point their remaining LP Strangeways, Right here We Come got here out in September 1987.

Marr later revealed he felt the remainder of the band had fallen out with him – and likewise suspected Morrissey had planted an article within the music newspaper the NME in July that yr which was headlined ‘Smiths To Cut up’.

He additionally complained about his bandmate’s curiosity in Nineteen Sixties pop stars, saying: ‘I did not type a bunch to carry out Cilla Black songs.’

The Smiths’ final periods included covers of Twinkle’s 1965 single Golden Lights and Cilla’s Work Is A 4-Letter Phrase from three years later.

Morrissey can be thought to have been pissed off by Marr’s collaborations with different artists.

The guitarist later had chart success with New Order’s Bernard Sumner as Digital, in addition to working with the likes of the Pretenders, the Pet Store Boys and The The. 

Morrissey mentioned following the Smiths’ break-up: ‘It was a unbelievable journey. After which it ended. I didn’t really feel we must always have ended. I needed to proceed. He needed to finish it. And that was that.’

The pair did come collectively, of types, within the Nineties when dealing with a lawsuit from Joyce and Rourke.

Morrissey was broadly reported to have been pissed off by Marr’s work with different artists

Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce, Morrissey and Andy Rourke bought collectively as a band in Manchester

The Smiths’ rhythm part challenged how Morrissey and Marr every took 40 per cent of the group’s recording and efficiency royalties, allocating 10 per cent apiece to the opposite two.

Morrissey and Marr have been represented individually in court docket, in a case which finally noticed Rourke accept a lump sum of £83,000 and 10 per cent of royalties.

A choose at London’s Excessive Courtroom then awarded Joyce £1million in again royalties and a 25 per share going forwards.

In his damning judgment, Choose Weeks informed how Morrissey ‘appeared devious, truculent and unreliable the place his personal pursuits have been at stake’ whereas Marr was ‘keen to embroider his proof to a degree the place he grew to become much less credible’.

Morrissey himself later accused Marr of ‘making an attempt to please everybody and consequently pleasing nobody’. 

The pair haven’t labored collectively because the Eighties and – till Morrissey’s latest ideas – the prospect of a Smiths reunion has seldom appeared sensible.

They did meet for a drink in 2008, Marr later revealed – and so they did focus on reforming the band, saying they appeared ‘each as eager as one another’, just for the thought to go nowhere. 

He then informed Uncut journal in 2022: ‘It received’t come as any shock once I say that I’m actually shut with everybody I’ve labored with – apart from the plain one.

‘And that isn’t that a lot of a shock as a result of we’re so completely different, me and Morrissey.’

The singer posted an open letter on his web site that very same yr urging his former buddy to cease speaking about him within the media, saying: ‘Transfer on.

‘It’s as when you can’t uncross your personal legs with out mentioning me. Our interval collectively was many lifetimes in the past, and quite a lot of blood has streamed beneath the bridge since then.

Morrissey, pictured in 2017, posts messages to followers on his web site Morrissey Central

Compilation album The World Will not Pay attention was launched shortly earlier than the Smiths cut up in 1987

Johnny Marr paid tribute to Smiths bassist Andy Rourke after his loss of life aged 59 in Might 2023

‘There comes a time when you will need to take accountability in your personal actions and your personal profession, with which I want you good well being to take pleasure in. Simply cease utilizing my identify as click-bait.’

Marr responded on X, previously Twitter, with a barb that open letters haven’t ‘actually been a factor since 1953’, including: ‘It is all “social media” now. Even Donald J Trump had that one down. Additionally, this faux information enterprise…a bit 2021 yeah #makingindiegreatagain’

Liam Gallagher revealed final month he and brother Noel have been reforming Oasis for concert events subsequent summer time together with at Wembley Stadium, having final performed collectively in 2009. The Smiths look unlikely to be among the many assist acts.

MailOnline has contacted representatives of each Morrissey and Marr for remark.