Johnny Marr has “devoted his entire life to killing Morrissey,” according to Morrissey

Once again, Morrissey is unable to resist the opportunity to lash out at the Smiths guitarist, this time over an upcoming BBC podcast series entitled The Rise and Fall of the Smiths—the latest series of the popular The Rise and Fall of… franchise, which has previously looked at artists including the Sex Pistols and Oasis. 

In a since-deleted post on his website, Morrissey criticizes Marr for what he describes as “obliterat[ing]” the Smiths “for pay.” “Forty years on, Marr cannot do anything with his life but look back,” he asserts. “The souring of the Smiths dream unravels once again through Marr’s mechanical paces, which are by now totally predictable plot development. The outcome is never in doubt – Marr angel; Morrissey executioner…the truth is always ignored.”

Writing primarily in the third person, Morrissey went on to take aim at other critics of him, describing the apparent contributions of producer Grant Showbiz to the same documentary as “slanderous” and the Guardian as “the most vile of the devils [sic] snares.” 

“The Smiths was my voice, my lyrics, my song-titles, my album titles, my single and album artwork, my vision, my vocal melodies, my emotions – nobody else’s,” he wrote. “When The Guardian say that they love the Smiths but hate Morrissey, it is like saying ‘we hate David Bowie but we love the Spiders From Mars’. It’s all so staged, isn’t it?” 

This is the latest in a mostly-Morrissey-fueled feud between the two ex-bandmates that has been running since the breakup of The Smiths in 1987. It would take a while to hash out all the ups and downs, but suffice to say that the highlights include Morrissey’s infamous open letter to Marr in 2022 (“Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything… from the 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami to the dribble on your grandma’s chin?”), Marr’s response on Twitter/X (“An ‘open letter’ hasn’t really been a thing since 1953, it’s all ‘social media’ now.”), Morrissey’s claim that Marr “ignored” the opportunity to reunite The Smiths in 2025, Marr’s response on Twitter/X (“I didn’t ignore the offer – I said no”), fans hoping for a reconciliation, Oasis-style, and Marr’s response on Twitter/X. 

The Rise and Fall of The Smiths is due out on July 13. Last week, Marr announced the upcoming release of his fifth studio album, The Age of Everything, in October. For now, the final word lies with Morrissey. “How fantastic life would have been if Marr had chosen four more studio albums with the Smiths instead of joining and then being thrown out of the Pretenders,” he wrote in his tirade’s conclusion. The Smiths are dead, long live the Smiths. You can read Morrissey’s deleted post in full here. 

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