‘Jeepster’: the song that got Johnny Marr to pick up a guitar
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(Credits: Far Out / Andy Cotterill)
Johnny Marr has one of the most complicated approaches to the guitar of any instrumentalist, and it’s all down to the variety of influences that play into the sound he has made famous. He and his band, The Smiths, borderline established the indie genre, as the energy laid out by punk music was adapted to be more melodic and minimalist while still packing a punch.
Marr always prioritised melody in his work. When he was making music with The Smiths, America was experiencing the birth of shredding, as it became a game to see who could play the guitar the fastest and with the most intensity. While Marr respected some musicians in this field, most of them didn’t appeal to him.
“I don’t know about America, but here [in the UK], no one has any respect for someone who can play a million notes per minute but can’t put together a decent tune that someone can sing to or feel some sort of emotion from,” he said.
He was never shy about naming the guitarists he saw as irrelevant, either. “I have a healthy respect for guitarists like Joe Satriani and Eddie Van Halen, disciplined players who really know what they’re doing – If you’re going to be a virtuoso, you can’t be hit and miss,” he said, “But I think people like Yngwie Malmsteen should be forgotten as soon as possible, I really do.”
When you understand Marr’s attitude towards guitar playing, it makes a lot of sense to find out that one of the earliest players he saw as an influence was Howlin’ Wolf. He was an iconic blues guitarist, and the blues is a genre with all aspects that Marr held close to his heart. While melody was massively important, and they loved to make tunes that people could sing to, the improvisational side of the music meant that people had the chance to play exciting and melody-driven guitar, too.
When talking about his early influences, Marr was quick to offer up Howlin Wolf as being the reason he decided to start playing in the first place. It wasn’t specifically a Holwin Wolf record, but rather the influence of the blues that he could hear in the track that triggered him. “’Jeepster’ was the first record I bought,” he said, “The main riff, which was a complete steal from Howlin Wolf, got me into playing guitar.” The track was a T Rex number, who were a band that took a lot from blues music and repurposed it.
Marr continued, “At 13 or 14, I started playing more seriously, and I backtracked into Motown.” When you consider the blues and Motown influences of Marr, mixed with the energy of punk, it’s not surprising that The Smiths ended up sounding like they did.
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