Johnny Marr

Indie guitar's master of shimmering arpeggios and layered melody

Johnny Marr was born John Martin Maher in Manchester to Irish parents and grew up obsessed with guitars, pop singles and the city's music scene. He later adjusted the spelling of his surname to avoid confusion with Buzzcocks drummer John Maher. In 1982, still a teenager, he famously sought out Steven Patrick Morrissey at his home to propose a songwriting partnership. The pair formed The Smiths, adding bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce, and signed with the independent label Rough Trade.

Over just five years The Smiths released four studio albums, The Smiths, Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead and Strangeways, Here We Come, plus a stream of standalone singles. Marr's intricate, chiming arrangements, packed with overdubbed parts, rejected both synth-pop and the flashy guitar heroics of the era, and songs such as This Charming Man, How Soon Is Now? and There Is a Light That Never Goes Out became cornerstones of indie music. Exhausted and at odds with the band's management and direction, Marr left in 1987, and The Smiths split.

Marr then became one of rock's most in-demand collaborators. He joined Matt Johnson's The The for Mind Bomb and Dusk, formed Electronic with New Order's Bernard Sumner, and played sessions for artists including Talking Heads, Kirsty MacColl and Bryan Ferry. He briefly worked with the Pretenders and later led his own group, Johnny Marr + the Healers. In the 2000s he joined Modest Mouse, whose album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank topped the US chart, and then The Cribs.

Marr launched a proper solo career with The Messenger in 2013, followed by Playland, Call the Comet and the multi-part Fever Dreams project, singing lead himself. He has also worked closely with composer Hans Zimmer on film scores including Inception and No Time to Die. Fender released a Johnny Marr signature Jaguar in 2012, and his 2016 memoir Set the Boy Free was well received. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential British guitarists of the last half-century.

The 10 greatest Johnny Marr solos

1. 1
   How Soon Is Now?

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1984
2. 2
   This Charming Man

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1983
3. 3
   There Is a Light That Never Goes Out

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1986
4. 4
   The Queen Is Dead

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1986
5. 5
   Shoplifters of the World Unite

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1987
6. 6
   Bigmouth Strikes Again

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1986
7. 7
   Still Ill

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1984
8. 8
   The Headmaster Ritual

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1985
9. 9
   Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

   The Smiths · solo by Johnny Marr · 1987
10. 10
    Get the Message

    Electronic · solo by Johnny Marr · 1991

The sound

Marr is a textural, song-serving guitarist who thinks like an arranger. His signature is the ringing arpeggio: chords picked note by note, often with open strings left to chime against fretted notes, creating a shimmering, harp-like effect. He layers many guitar parts on record, each playing a small melodic role, and uses capos, open tunings and effects like tremolo and chorus to vary color. He deliberately avoided rock-solo clichés in The Smiths, preferring hooks and counter-melodies, yet his rhythmic drive owes plenty to funk and soul players as well as folk guitarists.

• Rickenbacker 330 (guitar) A key instrument for The Smiths' jangling, ringing guitar sound.
• Gibson ES-355 (guitar) A cherry semi-hollow he used heavily in the mid-period Smiths years.
• Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar (guitar) His signature model, released in 2012 and central to his solo years.
• Gibson Les Paul (guitar) Used for heavier tones; he later passed one of his Les Pauls to Noel Gallagher.
• Roland JC-120 (amp) Its clean, chorus-rich voice suited his early Smiths arpeggios.
• Fender Twin Reverb (amp) Used for its sparkling cleans and amp tremolo effects.

Covers

• Golden Lights, originally by Twinkle A lesser-known Smiths cover of a 1960s pop song.
• Work Is a Four-Letter Word, originally by Cilla Black A Morrissey-chosen cover that Marr reportedly disliked, contributing to tensions late in the band.
• I Fought the Law, originally by Sonny Curtis / The Crickets A punchy, joyful staple of his solo concerts.
• Lust for Life, originally by Iggy Pop An exuberant tribute to one of his formative rock heroes.

Timeline

• 1963 Born John Martin Maher in Manchester
• 1982 Approaches Morrissey and forms The Smiths
• 1984 The Smiths release their debut album
• 1986 The Queen Is Dead is released
• 1987 Leaves The Smiths; the band splits
• 1989 Joins The The for Mind Bomb and forms Electronic with Bernard Sumner
• 2007 Modest Mouse's album with Marr tops the US chart
• 2010 Features on Hans Zimmer's Inception score
• 2013 Releases solo album The Messenger
• 2016 Publishes his memoir Set the Boy Free

Facts

1. He changed the spelling of his surname from Maher to avoid confusion with Buzzcocks drummer John Maher.
2. He was still a teenager when he turned up at Morrissey's door to suggest working together.
3. He gave Noel Gallagher a Les Paul that had previously belonged to Pete Townshend.
4. The Smiths released their records on the independent label Rough Trade.
5. Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, which he played on, reached number one in the US.
6. His guitar is heard on Hans Zimmer's score for Inception.
7. He co-founded Electronic with New Order's Bernard Sumner.
8. Fender's Johnny Marr Jaguar was released in 2012.
9. His autobiography is titled Set the Boy Free.
10. He deliberately avoided conventional guitar solos for most of The Smiths' catalog.