Johnny Marr - The Smiths & the Art of Gunslinging
Johnny Marr - The Smiths & the Art of Gunslinging

Author: Richard Carman

Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre

Published: 2015-11-05

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1784189308

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The shimmering, muscular guitar pop of The Smiths shone like a beacon through the eighties as they took up the mantle of the best British band since The Beatles. Their unparalleled musicality inspired a generation of popular bands including Oasis, the Stone Roses and Radiohead. Johnny Marr was the genius behind that revolutionary sound. Manchester-born Marr has proved to be a gun-slinger without equal, a guitarist who rode the longest highways to find the most thrilling sounds and who built the gilt-edged frames in which the lyrical portraits of co-writer Morrissey sat so perfectly. Whilst he may well be remembered forever for the haunting intro to ‘How Soon Is Now?’ Marr has not slowed down creatively, inspiring a generation of younger listeners through his work with The Cribs, and even working with Hans Zimmer on the stunning soundtrack to the critically-acclaimed blockbuster Inception. He remains as influential and important as ever - a true guitar hero. Filled with insight and musical lore, The Smiths & the Art of Gun-Slinging traces the incredible story of how the son of Irish immigrants rose to become the iconic architect of a new sound for British guitar music.

Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr

Author: Richard Carman

Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre

Published: 2016-02

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1784188549

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Includes an interview with Martin Roach, originally published in Roach's 1994 book, 'The right to imagination and madness.'

Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr

Author: Richard Carman

Publisher: Music Press Books

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780954970482

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The Smiths were the best British band since The Beatles. Their shimmering, muscular, guitar-driven pop remains the barometer for everyone who looks back at the 1980s with affection. In a decade that arguably produced more poor pop music than any other since the 1950s, The Smiths shone like a beacon and inspired a generation of indie guitar bands, and their influence continues undiminished to this day. Musically, The Smiths were a league ahead and guitarist Johnny Marr was the driving force behind their revolutionary sound. Manchester-born Marr proved to be a craftsman and explorer without equal, a guitarist who rode the longest highways to find the most perfect sounds and who built the gilt-edged frames in which the word-pictures of co-writer Morrissey sat so perfectly. After The Smiths, Marr continued to inject beautiful, sophisticated guitar into some of the best music of the period: The Pretenders, Kirsty McColl, Billy Bragg, The The and Talking Heads all benefited from his incendiary input. More recently with his band Johnny Marr & The Healers, and the critically acclaimed album Boomslang, Johnny remains as influential and important as ever. A true guitar hero.

The Art of Noise
The Art of Noise

Author: Daniel Rachel

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 623

ISBN-13: 1466865210

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THE ART OF NOISE offers an unprecedented collection of insightful, of-the-moment conversations with twenty-seven great British songwriters and composers. They discuss everything from their individual approaches to writing, to the inspiration behind their most successful songs, to the techniques and methods they have independently developed to foster their creativity. Contributors include: Sting * Ray Davies * Robin Gibb * Jimmy Page * Joan Armatrading * Noel Gallagher * Lily Allen * Annie Lennox * Damon Albarn * Noel Gallagher * Laura Marling * Paul Weller * Johnny Marr * and many more Musician-turned-author Daniel Rachel approaches each interview with an impressive depth of understanding—of the practice of songwriting, but also of each musician's catalog. The result is a collection of conversations that's probing, informed, and altogether entertaining—what contributor Noel Gallagher called "without doubt the finest book I've ever read about songwriters and the songs they write." The collected experience of these songwriters makes this book the essential word of songwriting—as spoken by the songwriters themselves.

The Smiths FAQ
The Smiths FAQ

Author: John D. Luerssen

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 1495045978

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Revered and massively influential, the Smiths have been called the most important band of the fertile U.K. 1980s music scene. While the group was only active for five years (1982 to 1987), the cult of the Manchester-reared foursome has ballooned in the three decades since its dissolution. Despite a $75 million offer to reunite for a two month tour in 2007, Morrissey and Johnny Marr, the group's principals, refused, opting to leave their legend untainted. The Smiths have since influenced a who's who of alternative music, including Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, the Killers, Jeff Buckley, Pete Yorn, the Decemberists, and Oasis. Featuring a foreword by guitarist and “Fifth Smith” who played with the band in 1986, The Smiths FAQ traces the band's history with clarity and detail, illuminating such questions as Who were the Nosebleeds? Why did Morrissey shun the Ramones? Who were the Paris Valentinos? What was Cult guitarist Billy Duffy's connection to the band? How was Morrissey injured during the group's U.S. debut performance? What Smiths single paid homage to T. Rex?. John D. Luerssen (author of FAQ series titles about U2, Bruce Springsteen, and Nirvana) gathers the indispensable early facts, the legendary stories, and inimitable anecdotes that make this a must-own tome for all fans.

A Light That Never Goes Out
A Light That Never Goes Out

Author: Tony Fletcher

Publisher: Crown Archetype

Published: 2012-12-04

Total Pages: 722

ISBN-13: 0307715973

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The definitive book about The Smiths, one of the most beloved, respected, and storied indie rock bands in music history. They were, their fans believe, the best band in the world. Hailing from Manchester, England, The Smiths--Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke, and Mike Joyce--were critical and popular favorites throughout their mid-1980s heyday and beyond. To this day, due to their unforgettable songs and lyrics, they are considered one of the greatest British rock groups of all time--up there with the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, and the Clash. Tony Fletcher paints a vivid portrait of the fascinating personalities within the group: Morrissey, the witty, literate lead singer whose loner personality and complex lyrics made him an icon for teenagers who felt forlorn and forgotten; his songwriting partner Marr, the gregarious guitarist who became a rock god for a generation of indie kids; and the talented, good-looking rhythm section duo of bassist Rourke and drummer Joyce. Despite the band's tragic breakup at the height of their success, A Light That Never Goes Out is a celebration: the saga of four working-class kids from a northern English city who come together despite contrasting personalities, find a musical bond, inspire a fanatical following, and leave a legacy that changed the music world--and the lives of their fans.

Why pamper life's complexities?
Why pamper life's complexities?

Author: Sean Campbell

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2013-01-18

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 1847794734

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For five short years in the 1980s, a four-piece Manchester band released a collection of records that had undeniably profound effects on the landscape of popular music and beyond. Today, public and critical appreciation of The Smiths is at its height, yet the most important British band after The Beatles have rarely been subject to sustained academic scrutiny. Why pamper life’s complexities?: Essays on The Smiths seeks to remedy this by bringing together diverse research disciplines to place the band in a series of enlightening social, cultural and political contexts as never before. Topics covered by the essays range from class, sexuality, Catholicism, Thatcherism, regional and national identities, to cinema, musical poetics, suicide and fandom. Lyrics, interviews, the city of Manchester, cultural iconography and the cult of Morrissey are all considered anew. The essays breach the standard confines of music history, rock biography and pop culture studies to give a sustained critical analysis of the band that is timely and illuminating. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of sociology, literature, geography, cultural and media studies. It is also intended for a wider audience of those interested in the enduring appeal of one of the most complex and controversial bands. Accessible and original, these essays will help to contextualise the lasting cultural legacy of The Smiths.

Morrissey
Morrissey

Author: Gavin Hopps

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2009-06-26

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 082641866X

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Examines the career of the British pop star from his days as the lead singer of The Smiths through his successful solo career, and explores the complex attitudes and perspectives expressed in his lyrics.

The New Guitarscape in Critical Theory, Cultural Practice and Musical Performance
The New Guitarscape in Critical Theory, Cultural Practice and Musical Performance

Author: Kevin Dawe

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1351541870

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In The New Guitarscape, Kevin Dawe argues for a re-assessment of guitar studies in the light of more recent musical, social, cultural and technological developments that have taken place around the instrument. The author considers that a detailed study of the guitar in both contemporary and cross-cultural perspectives is now absolutely essential and that such a study must also include discussion of a wide range of theoretical issues, literature, musical cultures and technologies as they come to bear upon the instrument. Dawe presents a synthesis of previous work on the guitar, but also expands the terms by which the guitar might be studied. Moreover, in order to understand the properties and potential of the guitar as an agent of music, culture and society, the author draws from studies in science and technology, design theory, material culture, cognition, sensual culture, gender and sexuality, power and agency, ethnography (real and virtual) and globalization. Dawe presents the guitar as an instrument of scientific investigation and part of the technology of globalization, created and disseminated through corporate culture and cottage industry, held close to the body but taken away from the body in cyberspace, and involved in an enormous variety of cultural interactions and political exchanges in many different contexts around the world. In an effort to understand the significance and meaning of the guitar in the lives of those who may be seen to be closest to it, as well as providing a critically-informed discussion of various approaches to guitar performance, technologies and techniques, the book includes discussion of the work of a wide range of guitarists, including Robert Fripp, Kamala Shankar, Newton Faulkner, Lionel Loueke, Sharon Isbin, Steve Vai, Bob Brozman, Kaki King, Fred Frith, John 5, Jennifer Batten, Guthrie Govan, Dominic Frasca, I Wayan Balawan, Vicki Genfan and Hasan Cihatter.

Bernard Sumner
Bernard Sumner

Author: David Nolan

Publisher: Music Press Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13:

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About Bernard Sumner's life and times, from the back streets of Salford to the international fame and critical acclaim of Joy Division, New Order and Electronic. This book covers the history of one of music's most influential figures, and in the process nullifies many myths, with exhaustive primary source research, and scores of photos.