Morrissey claims that Johnny Marr owns name "The Smiths" now

Morrissey knows that his time as The Smiths’ main vocalist may soon be over. Yesterday, the artist posted a new update on his blog titled “The Plot Thickens,” claiming that guitarist Johnny Marr—who has a demonstrated history of hating Morrissey’s guts—had “successfully applied for 100% trademark rights / Intellectual Property ownership of The Smiths name.”

“His application has been accepted on whatever oaths or proclamations he has put forward. This action was done without any consultation to Morrissey, and without allowing Morrissey the standard opportunity of ‘objection,'” the post continues. “Amongst many other things, this means that Marr can now tour as The Smiths using the vocalist of his choice, and it also prohibits Morrissey from using the name whilst also denying Morrissey considerable financial livelihood.” It concludes by declaring that “Morrissey alone created the musical unit name ‘The Smiths’ in May 1982.”

The “plot” in question probably has something to do with the fact that Morrissey claims Marr is on a mission to sabotage him and everything about their shared history. In August, the singer posted that he and Marr had both received a “lucrative offer… to tour worldwide as ‘The Smiths’ throughout 2025,” and that he had said yes while Marr had “ignored” the offer. (We hate to give Morrissey his props as much as anyone, but the post did end with a pretty sick burn: “Morrissey undertakes a largely sold-out tour of the USA in November. Marr continues to tour as a special guest to New Order.”) Two weeks later, Morrissey claimed that Marr had “rejected and halted out of hand” a planned Smiths greatest hits album.

The thing is, Marr is absolutely at war with Morrissey and has been for years. In his 2016 memoir, Set The Boy Free, Marr wrote that friction with Moz had caused him to leave the band in the first place. In the proceeding years, the very liberal guitarist made it abundantly clear that he does not agree with Morrissey’s right-leaning politics. In 2019, Marr responded to questions about a potential Smiths reunion by tweeting “Nigel Farage on guitar” (referring to the conservative MP) and responded to renewed tour questions last month with another picture of the politician.

It seems like the light of hope for a Smiths reconciliation has gone out, but that might be for the best. Other recent reunions have, uh, not gone so well. Two weeks ago, Linkin Park fans experienced a real roller coaster when Mike Shinoda announced that the band was reuniting after seven years, but planned to replace late lead singer Chester Bennington with Emily Armstrong, a former Scientologist who had supported convicted rapist Danny Masterson at a hearing. Last week, the similarly reunited Jane’s Addiction got into a fistfight onstage and subsequently canceled the remainder of their tour. Hopefully, Oasis can break the curse.