Messed!Up
Johnny Marr has spent more than four decades proving that a great guitarist doesn’t have to live in the past. From the instantly recognisable chiming guitars of The Smiths to his restless solo career, Marr has continually pushed forward, refusing to become simply a curator of his own legacy.
Born in Manchester in 1963, Marr emerged from the city’s vibrant post-punk scene before forming The Smiths with Morrissey in 1982. Between 1984 and 1987, the band released four influential studio albums and a string of songs that transformed British alternative music. Marr’s guitar became the musical counterpoint to Morrissey’s lyrics: melodic, intricate and instantly identifiable. When The Smiths split in 1987, however, Marr had little interest in simply repeating the formula.
Instead, he embarked on one of British rock’s most adventurous post-Smiths careers. He joined The The, formed the hugely successful Electronic with New Order’s Bernard Sumner, and collaborated with artists including The Pretenders, Pet Shop Boys and Talking Heads. Later came stints with Modest Mouse and The Cribs. Each project revealed another side of Marr’s musicianship and demonstrated that his guitar playing could adapt to radically different musical environments.
It was not until 2013 that Marr fully stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist with The Messenger. The album marked an important transition: Marr was no longer the guitarist in somebody else’s band. He was the songwriter, singer and creative centre of his own project. Playland followed in 2014, before Call the Comet in 2018 pushed his sound towards darker, more atmospheric territory. The ambitious double album Fever Dreams Pts 1–4 arrived in 2022, further establishing a solo identity that owed something to his past but was never trapped by it.
Now Marr opens another chapter with The Age Of Everything. His fifth solo studio album finds him once again looking forward rather than backwards. Written in London, developed during time on the road and recorded in Manchester, the album combines Marr’s trademark guitar melodies with electronic textures, expansive arrangements and a distinctly contemporary sense of urgency.
With tracks including “Spin”, “Beyond The Rain”, “It’s Time” and “Ophelia”, The Age Of Everything explores a world increasingly shaped by technology, information overload and rapid cultural change. Yet the music remains unmistakably Marr: melodic, restless and driven by the belief that the guitar still has plenty left to say.
The Age Of Everything is another reminder that Johnny Marr’s story was never supposed to end with The Smiths. That was merely the beginning.2
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Johnny Marr: ‘The Age Of Everything
