Johnny Marr On The Smiths in NME Special

Johnny gave a filmed interview and some extra words to NME for this week's special issue celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1986 release of The Smiths seminal masterpiece  'The Queen Is Dead'. Johnny’s

Johnny Marr speaks to The Guardian about The Smiths TOTP debut

Johnny spoke to The Guardian about The Smiths TOTP debut as part of The Guardian's 'history of modern music', the 50 key events in the history of indie music places The Smiths debut

Johnny Marr on Pete Paphides Vinyl Revival

Johnny Joined Pete Paphides on the world's only vinyl music show, where he celebrates the format with musicians who are avid collectors.

Here is Pete Paphides talking about the show.

"I've always collected vinyl. And everyone I know who is obsessive about music never stopped buying vinyl. I always thought that my dream radio show would be one where you just had someone playing vinyl records on good equipment, perhaps talking about them with other guests who had brought in their favourite records. And it wouldn't matter what the genre was or if you could hear surface noise, because no-one I know is really that bothered about surface noise anyway. And what you gain with the depth of sound from vinyl far exceeds the clarity gained from digital formats. Plus, everyone knows that aesthetically, vinyl offers a far more satisfying experience.

So when I resigned from my job at The Times last year, I arranged a meeting with a producer called Ben Walker – he produces Dermot O'Leary's show – and told him all this. Ben liked the idea and took it to BBC 6 Music. To his credit, James Stirling, who is the station's execuive producer, and commissioning editor Paul Rodgers, got it straight away, and commissioned a pilot, providing there was enough interest from prospective guests. The pilot (which aired in April) featured Paul Weller and Laura Marling in the studio, with me going to Norman Cook's house and rummaging through his vinyl.

All the musicians I approached understood what the show was trying to do. Johnny was high on my wish-list of guests. I had interviewed him about five years ago about his involvement at a gig that Andy Rourke had helped organise. The interview lasted about half an hour, but we carried on talking about old records for about another hour. I was a huge Pentangle fan, and Johnny had worked with Bert Jansch, so we talked about what an incredible guitarist Bert was. Johnny was the first musician I met who had ever heard Stormcock by Roy Harper and or Moyshe McStiff & The Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart by Clive's Original Band – both real collector's records. I remembered I had his email address from when I had interviewed him on that occasion. I wrote to him and told him a little about the show. I know he's not over here a lot these days, so I wasn't expecting him to say yes. But he remembered talking about those records and about Iggy & The Stooges' Raw Power. I wasn't that surprised that he got the idea – because everything about our previous encounter and the way he has always talked about music in interviews led me to believe that he would get it.

The records he's chosen to play on the show are – in microcosm – what I hoped the show would be about. A combination of stuff you might already know and a whole load of stuff you wish you had heard years beforehand. The Arturo track is an absolute find, I think. I'd never heard it before, and I'm dead excited about turning on thousands of listeners to it. The Amon Duul II track is just an incredible, life-affirming piece of music that once again, it'll be amazing to have on the radio".

The transmission date is around the end of June on BBC 6 Music.

Johnny Marr “The Big Bang Dig” Listen Here

The first track off Johnny’s upcoming “The Big Bang” soundtrack album, “The Big Bang Dig”, can be heard here on the site, check it out in the side bar. 

The film, that Johnny did the soundtrack for,  “The Big Bang”, starring Antonio Banderas, has been released on DVD and is available through iTunes and Amazon.