Despite all the awfulness that has been 2016, there's been some great moments too - chief among them was Stone Roses touring again.
The reunion tour is, of course, a time-honoured tradition in music and provided everyone's alive, they usually happen by hook or crook. One band whose fans have been clamouring for a reunion is The Smiths, who split in 1987.
Morrissey went on to have a reasonably successful solo career whilst Johnny Marr that started out hanging with Modest Mouse and Hans Zimmer. Remember Inception? The soundtrack? All those guitar fills were Marr.
Anyway, Marr's memoir Set The Boy Free - which was just released - featured a recollection of a meeting between Mozza and Marr in 2008. An excerpt, published in the Guardian, explains it further.
"We chatted, as we always did, about the records we loved, and eventually we moved on to 'that subject.' There had been rumors for years that the Smiths were about to re-form, and they were always untrue. I had never pursued any offer," said Marr in his memoir. "Suddenly we were talking about the possibility of the band re-forming, and in that moment it seemed that with the right intention it could actually be done and might even be great."
As we know, nothing ever came of it because Mozza's a withholding ass. As Marr tells it, the reunion was "a very real prospect," and that he was genuinely happy to be in contact with Mozza again. "We would have to get someone new on drums, but if the Smiths wanted to re-form it would make a hell of a lot of people very happy, and with all our experience we might even be better than before."
Then, of course, came the crushing disappointment. Marr went to Mexico with The Cribs, a band he'd been working with, and then Mozza went quiet. "Our communication ended, and things went back to how they were and how I expect they always will be."
