Johnny Marr - “He Was Ahead of His Time”

How Johnny Marr blazed his own trail, by Dave Keuning of The Killers

- By Jenna Scaramanga. Photographs by Hajo Mueller and Getty

There’s a handful of players out there that have carved out their own style and flavour, and Johnny Marr is definitely one of those. He and The Edge were the most interesting guitarists from that 80s era with what they’re playing, and they both had a great band. For sure they did something worth noticing, instead of a slew of guitar players just doing rock chords or whatever. It’s hard for me to know exactly how much each one of my influences has influenced me, but Johnny Marr, Robert Smith, Billy Corgan and Angus Young are all part of the recipe of who I am. They pop their head out at different moments.

I’ve been listening to The Smiths recently while I’ve been working on stuff with The Killers. When we’re writing, I try and I go back to the old influences because there’s still plenty more stuff I can do. I haven’t sat down and learned every Smiths song. I’ve only learned a handful of them, so there’s always something more to discover.

A lot of people try to say the coolest answer to why they picked up a guitar as a kid, but when I started I wanted to play songs that were fun - and what was fun on guitar was AC/DC, Mötley Crüe, Guns N’ Roses. There are Smiths songs like