Why I did not attend Johnny Marr's concert in Paris and why I do not regret it

Johnny Marr is undoubtedly a very talented and skilled guitarist and he did a great work when he was just out of his teens in a crowded and extremely lively music scene in Manchester and The Smiths came "to disturb the peace", as James Baldwin said during his famous talk at New York City's Community Church in 1962.

In a crowded and extremely lively music scene in Manchester, The Smiths emerged as a band of "ordinary boys" who did not just want to be famous, but who were determined to take a place no other band had claimed before: the uncomfortable place of a music alarm call for the British society and humans in general. Morrissey's artistic, esthetic and ethic vision, his well-read, witty and (according to the song's subject) moving, disturbing or hilarious lyrics and his peculiar voice and stage presence found in Marr's music talent the perfect match for an original musical project which could have lasted at least two years more than the lustre 1982-1987 and given at least one or two more albums.

When Johnny Marr left the band I was in Primary School and I was very disappointed and even angry. "Stupido Johnny Marr!", I said, when my cousin (and also godfather) told me that "Gli Smiths si sono sciolti, finalmente!". My cousin deeply disliked my favourite band, and he used to mock Morrissey in order to annoy me; ironically, many years later, he started to appreciate both The Smiths and Morrissey's solo repertoire, but in 1987 he despised Morrissey so much that he said that he was "kaputt" and his career over, without a co-writer as Marr. I rember I told my cousin: "No, ti sbagli! Morrissey farà una grande carriera anche da solo!" ("No, you're wrong! Morrissey will have a great career as a solo artist too!") and I was right.

I have never wished a Smiths reunion and I am just sad that Andy Rourke has died two years ago.

[To be continued as soon as possible: I have to scare some monsters tonight. By the way, happy fuc*ing birthday, Johnny fuc*ing Marr!]

Detail of a short comic strip style drawing I made about Johnny Marr's gig in Paris, last week.

Drawings and article by me, as always. No AI neither other shitty tools used. Just my brain, my hands, a black ink pen, some glitter gel pens for my artwork and a smartphone for typing my article.

The Smiths would have never existed without Morrissey.

Johnny Marr is an extremely talented and brilliant guitarist and what he did with The Smiths is absolutely great, yet his music, without the lyrics, the vocals, the ethos, and the aesthetic and cultural background created by Morrissey, would have not been as stunning as it was at the time and still is, four decades later.

I have listened to Marr's music post-Smiths and I am really sorry, but it says nothing about me and my life and is not as interesting as what he did with The Smiths.

And I wish Marr had the humility to pay a better singer (male or female) than him for The Smiths repertoire: it is not just about the quality of his voice, but also and above all about the feelings and emotions a voice have to convey. Johnny Marr does not feel the songs he did not write. The music is his (and, for the basslines, Andy Rourke's) but the lyrics and vocals are not.

And I simply cannot stand when he change the lyrics in a very unfunny way, as "and now I Johnny Marr felt" instead of "and now I now how Joan of Arc felt" in Bigmouth strikes again: it is a dull and narcissistic joke, just like his "Johnny fuckin Marr" t-shirts. It seems that some fans call him this way, but the impression I get when I see Johnny Marr wearing a t-shirt with this slogan is really weird: it looks a bit onanist to me.

I have never dreamt of a reunion because the past is the past.

(C) Vera da Pozzo

(C) Italy is Mine

(C) Italy is Mine and It owes Me a Living

#JohnnyMarr #Morrissey #TheSmiths #music #comicstrip #drawing #art #childhood #VeradaPozzo #ItalyisMine #italyismineanditowesmealiving