He became guitarist for hire, lending his talents to Talking Heads, The The, Billy Bragg, Beck, Neil Finn and The Pretenders but no lasting satisfaction came from any of these couplings.

However, in 1989 it seemed that he had found a place to put down a welcome matt under the effects pedal with the formation of Electronic with Bernard Sumner. But Marr wanted to be in a band that sounded like New Order and Sumner in a band that sounded like The Smiths. What we all ended up with was three albums over a decde that sounded like neither, to no ones lasting pleasure.

After a spell singing in and fronting his own band, Johnny Marr and the Healers, he wound up writing and touring with Modest Mouse as they travelled their album ’We were dead before the ship even sank’ but like many of his post Smiths marriages something didn’t seem to fit (including his costume in the video for single ‘Dashboard’).

So, I find myself staring at the cover of a recent NME (which drives me crazy), which is announcing that Johnny Marr has joined The Cribs (they go as far as referring to him as Johanny Jarman for the duration of the interview). Here’s Ryan Jarman ‘I weren’t always convinced it would work, but as soon as we plugged in together there were no hesitancy. It were like we were always meant to play together’.

Rumours persist of  Smiths reunion, with California’s Coachella festival being the most likely venue. But Marr insists that he never looks back, only forward pouring a heavy dose of scorn onto suggestions of a hatchet burying tour.

What would put those rumours to bed for the foreseeable future would be a creative flowering from the new improved Cribs family. Personally, I await the results of their collaboration keenly.

Simon