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Rock

Johnny Marr Reveals Why He Turned Down an ‘Eye-Watering’ Amount of Money to Reform The Smiths

Marr and Morrissey have been estranged since the former left the band in 1987.

Johnny Marr, English singer Morrissey, English drummer Mike Joyce and English bassist Andy Rourke of The Smiths pose for a portrait before their first show in Detroit during the 1985 Meat Is Murder Tour on June 8, 1985 at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Johnny Marr, English singer Morrissey, English drummer Mike Joyce and English bassist Andy Rourke of The Smiths pose for a portrait before their first show in Detroit during the 1985 Meat Is Murder Tour on June 8, 1985 at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Ross Marino/Getty Images

Johnny Marr has spoken on his decision to turn down an “eye-watering” amount of money to reunite The Smiths, saying that the “vibe” wasn’t right to get the band back together.

Marr was appearing on the Stick to Football podcast alongside former players Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Ian Wright to discuss his affinity with soccer club Manchester City and his role as guitarist in one of indie music’s most legendary bands.


The Smiths were formed by Marr in 1982 when he and a friend recruited Morrissey to join the group as vocalist and lyricist; the band’s classic lineup was completed by Mike Joyce (drums) and Andy Rourke (bass).

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The group released four studio albums between 1984 and 1987 alongside a number of live albums and B-side and singles collections. Meat is Murder (1985) and The Queen is Dead (1986) both hit No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart; their debut The Smiths (1984) and final record Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) both hit No. 2. Creative and personal differences between Marr and Morrissey saw the former leave the group in July 1987 and the group folded the following year.

Both Marr and Morrissey have had wildly successful solo careers but a reunion has seemed unlikely ever since. In 2006, Moz told the BBC, “I would rather eat my own testicles than reform the Smiths, and that’s saying something for a vegetarian.”

In August 2024, however, Morrissey claimed that he and Marr had received a “lucrative offer” from AEG to reform with the band’s surviving members, and to tour as a live band in 2025; the group’s bassist Andy Rourke died in 2023. In the post on his website Morrissey Central, Moz revealed that he had said yes to the proposal but that Marr had not responded. A month later, Marr said on his Instagram that he did not “ignore the offer — I said no.”

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Now speaking on the Stick to Football podcast Marr has gone into more detail about why he turned down the offer, despite seeing close friends (and City supporters) Liam and Noel Gallagher reform Oasis in August 2024 for a global tour.

“We got made an offer recently, but I said no,” he said. “It was a little bit about principles, but I’m not an idiot, I just think the vibe’s not right.”

Marr added, “It was an eye-watering amount of money, but also, I really like what I’m doing now which makes it a lot easier. I like where I’m at. I still want to write the best song I’ve ever written. I want to be a better performer.”

Morrissey and Marr have traded barbs through the press for decades, and in 2022 Morrissey called on his former bandmate to “stop mentioning my name” in interviews. Marr responded saying, “When you’re attacked out of the blue, particularly in public, you have to defend yourself.”

Speaking to Uncut he said the pair are too estranged to ever work together again. “It won’t come as any surprise when I say that I’m really close with everyone I’ve worked with — except for the obvious one. And that isn’t that much of a surprise because we’re so different, me and Morrissey.”

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Following The Smiths’ dissolution, Marr played as a member of a number of groups including The Pretenders, Electronic (with New Order’s Bernard Sumner), The The, Modest Mouse and The Cribs. In 2013 he launched a solo career and has released four LPs under his name and performed on global tours.

Earlier this week Marr expressed support for Kneecap during their ongoing controversy, and backed them to perform at Glastonbury Festival next weekend (June 27-29) amid calls for them to be removed from the line-up.

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Check out Marr’s appearance on the Stick to Football podcast below.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.
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Tim Leiweke photographed on April 28, 2023 at Oak View Group in Los Angeles.
Joel Barhamand

Tim Leiweke photographed on April 28, 2023 at Oak View Group in Los Angeles.

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Tim Leiweke to Step Down as OVG’s CEO After Being Criminally Indicted for Bid-Rigging

The government accuses Leiweke of orchestrating a "conspiracy to rig the bidding process" to win a contract to build and operate the Moody Center in Austin.

Tim Leiweke, one of the most accomplished CEOs in the live entertainment and facilities business, announced today that he is stepping down as CEO of Oak View Group (OVG) after being indicted by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division for bid-rigging related to the company’s 2017 contract to build the Moody Center Arena in Austin.

On Wednesday (July 9), a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas returned an indictment against Leiweke, alleging he orchestrated a “conspiracy to rig the bidding process for an arena at a public university in Austin, Texas.” Authorities say Leiweke conspired with the chief executive of Legends Hospitality to rig the bidding for the construction and management of Austin’s $338 million, 19,000-seat Moody Center.

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