While contentious Oasis bros Liam and Noel Gallagher have buried the hatchet to launch a wildly lucrative tour — Manchester’s other acrimonious rock feud rages on.
Last month, Morrissey — the legendarily moody lead singer of ‘80s icons The Smiths — claimed the band received a lucrative offer to reunite for a 2025 tour, and that he was willing, but his collaborator turned nemesis, guitarist Johnny Marr, “ignored the offer.”
Then last week, the “Meat Is Murder” singer suggested that Marr was also blocking the release of a greatest-hits album by the band.
Moz added via his site that Marr acquired the rights to the Smiths name, giving him the potential to tour as The Smiths with a different lead singer, possibly “denying Morrissey considerable financial livelihood.”
(Morrissey also alleged he alone created the group’s name “The Smiths” in May 1982.)
On Tuesday, Marr’s managers fired back — saying in a statement that the guitar god “previously reached out to Morrissey, via his representatives, to work together in protecting The Smiths’ name” when a third party was trying to use their moniker, and Marr discovered “that the trademark was not owned by the band.”
The statement added: “A failure to respond led Marr to register the trademark himself. It was subsequently agreed with Morrissey’s lawyers that this trademark was held for the mutual benefit of Morrissey & Marr.”
They also alleged, “As a gesture of goodwill, in January 2024, Marr signed an assignment of joint ownership to Morrissey. Execution of this document still requires Morrissey to sign.”
Marr said as part of the statement: “As for the offer to tour, I didn’t ignore the offer — I said no.” He said he also shot down a greatest hits album because there are too many already.
Marr said he has no plans to tour with a new singer. The band broke up in ‘87 after five glorious years, and only have reunited in court.
Another feuding old act, Jane’s Addiction, just pulled the plug on their tour when antagonistic singer and guitarist Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro fought on stage.
