Morrissey has, “politely”, asked his former bandmate Johnny Marr to stop mentioning him in interviews.
The former lead singer of The Smiths has requested that the group’s ex-guitarist refrain from speaking about him publicly, because he “doesn’t know him”, and he accused Marr of talking about him as if he were his “personal psychiatrist”.
Writing in a blog entry on his Morrissey Central website, the musician began: “This is not a rant or an hysterical bombast. It is a polite and calmly measured request: Would you please stop mentioning my name in your interviews?
“Would you please, instead, discuss your own career, your own unstoppable solo achievements and your own music? If you can, would you please just leave me out of it?
“The fact is: you don’t know me. You know nothing of my life, my intentions, my thoughts, my feelings. Yet you talk as if you were my personal psychiatrist with consistent and uninterrupted access to my instincts.”
The iconic Manchester band split in 1987, due to conflicts between the two band members, and Morrissey, 62, who is known for his controversial opinions, wants Marr, 58, to stop making out that he is to “blame for everything”.
He continued: “We haven’t known each other for 35 years – which is many lifetimes ago. When we met you and I were not successful. We both helped each other become whatever it is we are today. Can you not just leave it at that?
“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?”
In the lengthy rant, Morrissey told Marr to “stop using my name as click-bait”.
He said: “Our period together was many lifetimes ago, and a lot of blood has streamed under the bridge since then. There comes a time when you must take responsibility for your own actions and your own career, with which I wish you good health to enjoy. Just stop using my name as click-bait.”
Morrissey also insisted he has always “applauded” the guitar legend’s “genius” as a solo artist.
He concluded: “I have not ever attacked your solo work or your solo life, and I have openly applauded your genius during the days of ‘Louder than bombs’ and ‘Strangeways, here we come’, yet you have positioned yourself ever-ready as rent-a-quote whenever the press require an ugly slant on something I half-said during the last glacial period as the Colorado River began to carve out the Grand Canyon.
“Please stop. It is 2022, not 1982.”
In his latest interview with Uncut magazine, Marr explained the reason he and Morrissey are not “close” is because they are “so different”.