Talk:Johnny Marr

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I thought Johnny Marr at least deserved to have a photo up along with his article so I uploaded this one I found on foreverill. I tried finding an email address on that site so I could ask if this photo was okay to use, but seeing as I couldn't find one I went ahead. If anyone (or Mr. Marr himself) have an issue with the photo, please change it! -- goldenorb82

Seems like whoever wrote this is defending Marr's guitar style by saying it's considerably more difficult to play than most "hair metal" solos. Is it necessary to say that, or is it fine to say that his guitar lines are considerably more difficult to play than they sound? --Domukaz

Hi Domukaz -- I did not write this article, but I do think it could use a bit of refinement especially since parts of it sound a bit more like a fan page than an objective biography of the artist. I think some historical info on Johnny Marr's formative guitar years (before he formed the Smiths) would be good to add and some expansion on his work after the Smiths might be nice too. I personally like the way you reworded the sentence on the comparison to hair metal bands; I would just go ahead and edit it if you want. --goldenorb82

The hair metal line sounds a bit POV to me, or at least slightly irrelevant. Marr's Smiths-era guitar playing, while indeed technically intricate, and perhaps much more so than hair metal guitar parts, was never actually intended to compete with metal anyway. His playing, being influenced by Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, et al, mainly harked back to 1960s pop acts, and eventually progressed to taking in 70s influences - MC5, Stooges, T Rex. It's worth bearing in mind The Smiths, featuring Johnny as chief composer, were more about consciously using pop as a communicative medium, which they felt was not being done at the time. So, in Marr's playing and composition, it'd be more accurate to state his sound was intentionally different from contemporary pop musicians, as that is who he was intending to be compared to rather than different from hair metal musicians, as - while true - that is merely incidental. --ToneLa

Agreed. The whole Musicianship section sounds POV to my ears. If no-one else wants to tackle it, I'll work on it when I have some time. It shouldn't be tough to dig up outside sources (e.g. guitar magazines) to support a more balanced description of his playing style and innovations. RedEarth 17:57, 19 May 2006 (UTC)