It looks like Morrissey is fed up of his name being mentioned in any capacity by former bandmate Johnny Marr and has penned an open letter telling him to "move on".
The influential band bitterly broke up in 1987 and the two did not continue their friendship after the split. In fact, they haven't so much as talked to each-other since Marr walked away from the band.
"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?" said the former frontman, in about as polite and as calmly measured as one can be in an open letter.
"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.
"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."
Marr didn't waste any time in getting back to Morrissey, but chose to do so in a much more up-to-date version of communication:
An honourable comeback, Johnny. Maybe just don't put 'social media' in quotation marks next time or else people might not think you're 'down with the kids'.
To be fair to Marr, it's hard to dodge questions in interviews about your former bandmate when his fairly controversial comments hit the headlines every few months.
Anyway, we're looking forward to another open letter exchange. Watch this space.
