{ Lick That Riff! }

Ahhhhh well back to life, back to reality.

It seems about a month since I last did a Hero Worship post, but in truth it’s probably much longer than that. So, for that, I am sorry.

But enough of me waffling on! Let’s get to worshipping some guitar greats. And this weeks guitar god is the one and only Johnny Marr.

What Total Guitar Said:

You Know Him By His: Bittersweet symphonies and inspired songwriting, usually thrashed out on a Rickenbacker, Gibson SG or ES-355

Greatest Moment: The outro of ‘the Boy With The Thorn In His Side,’ as Morrisey’s yodelling finally gives way to Marr’s heartbreaking guitar starburst

As any bedsit-dwelling introvert will tell you, no-one does chiming melancholia quite like Johnny Marr. Back in 1983, while the British industry was off jitterbugging round a synthesizer at Stringfellows, Marr’s bittersweet Rickenback jangle with The Smiths was a clarion call to anyone who had ever walked home from a Valentine’s disco alone in the rain. The band was too dazzling to last, but by the time Marr jumped ship four years later – aged just 23 – his talent was already legendary. The derelict shopping canals, suburban drudgery and comatose girlfriends might have been Morrissey’s calling cards, but it was Marr’s guitar soundscapes that bought them so thrillingly to life.

As a player, Marr has always walked a tightrope between elusive sophistication and primal plank-battering. He doesn’t solo much, and rarely gets near the cartilage-melting speed of his US peers, but anyone who’s torn their quiff off trying to transcribe ‘How Soon Is Now?’ will realise just how slippery those riffs really are. Texturing, capos and unusual chord voicings all make Marr’s composition deceptively tricky to replicate, while Smiths cover bands must rue the day he discovered those impenetrable tunings.

Johnny Marr steered The Smiths from gladioli-waving embarrassment to national adoration, blueprinted indie guitar and made a lot of people blissfully unhappy along the way. May his light never go out.

So that’s what Total Guitar had to say about the legend that is, Johnny Marr. Although there have been some changes since that article was written. he has since joined Indie rock band The Cribs and is said to be enjoying his best work ever.

What do you lot think about Marr? Do you think he is worthy of a Hero status?

Comment with your feedback.

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