The Smiths’ Johnny Marr has revealed a very key reason as to why the band is unlikely to ever reunite.
It was just announced that Liam and Noel Gallagher are putting the past behind them for Oasis’s highly-anticipated reunion, leading many fans to wish that other beloved bands might be ready for a reunion.
Amid excitement about Oasis’s reunion, some have pondered if The Smiths might be ready to reunite on stage.
The group was one of the beloved bands of the 80s. They performed from 1982 until 1987 and released major hits including There Is A Light That Never Goes Out and How Soon Is Now?
The band had a nasty breakup and sadly – just because Oasis was able to reform and put the past aside – it does not mean this is on the cards for this band.
Johnny Marr, The Smiths’ guitarist, revealed to a fan on X that there’s a very simple reason why they won’t be performing together again.
‘If Oasis can do it The Smiths can too (I’m delusional),’ a fan called kill_morrissey said on X.
Responding to this message, Johnny simply replied with an image of Nigel Farage.
While this may have seemed cryptic to some, this was a clear reference to the band’s lead singer Morrissey’s political beliefs.
In recent years the singer, real name Steven Patrick Morrissey, has said that he is a supporter of Nigel Farage and Brexit – things which some members of the band, including Johnny, do not agree with.
In 2019 Morrissey said in an interview conducted by his nephew Sam Esty Rayner and posted on his own website: ‘It’s obvious that he [Farage] would make a good prime minister—if any of us can actually remember what a good prime minister is.’
He also commented: ‘I didn’t vote in the referendum, although I can see how there is absolutely nothing attractive about the EU.’
Johnny has previously suggested that Morrissey’s beliefs are just one of the many reasons the This Charming Man performers won’t be getting back together.
Speaking to Sky News in 2016, Johnny said: ‘If that is the case that he’s pro-Farage, there would be a slight drawback in that, as anyone would imagine.’
He also added that he didn’t feel the need to reunite with the other members: ‘The question of The Smiths reformation, I understand why people ask me.
‘Doing what I’m doing now, it doesn’t feel necessary at all – I really like moving forward.
‘Me and Andy (Rourke – former Smiths bassist) play together when I’m in New York and that is as far as I think it needs to go.’
The band broke up after five years together because of reported tensions inside the band.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2016, Johnny said that they broke up because they sacked a series of managers and Johnny reluctantly became the manager.
‘It’s what split the band up. To this day I haven’t met anyone who thinks a major rock group should be managed by the 23-year-old guitar player,’ he said.
He then explained why he agreed to manage them at all: ‘Well, because we were deemed unmanageable. When we fired managers, I always had to deal with it. When we got to the end of the band’s life, it was put to me by my partner that he wouldn’t work with the current manager and we had to go back to how it was. I wasn’t prepared to do it, and so it became untenable. There was no way forward.’
Since the split, there have been legal arguments within the band concerning royalties and how they were split. Andy Rourke, the band’s bassist, also died in 2023 after suffering from pancreatic cancer.
Almost 37 years later the band doesn’t seem any closer to reuniting.
So while you might be able to snag an Oasis reunion tour ticket, you might be waiting a while for tickets to The Smiths.
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