Johnny Marr has said that gifting Noel Gallagher with an expensive guitar â after he smashed the previous one â is partly what motivated him to stop drinking.
Marr previously recalled the time he gave a young, âskintâ Gallagher his guitars before the pre-Oasis guitarist could afford his own.
âHe was just this guy who I recognised was intense and really serious about what he was doing, and he was skint and I had a load of guitars and I thought, âright OK well Iâll give him this guitarâ,” he told Radio X.
The Smiths guitarist gave Gallagher a 1960 Gibson Les Paul â which can be heard on The Smiths’ 1986 album ‘The Queen Is Dead’, and was formerly owned by The Who‘s Pete Townshend â only for him to smash it while dealing with a stage invader during a gig in Newcastle.
Gallagher called Marr to ask for a replacement, after which the guitarist gifted his black 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom.
Marr also gave his 12-string sunburst Gibson 335, which features in the video for ‘Sheila Take a Bow’, to former Suede guitarist and producer Bernard Butler.
âItâs just to be nice,â Marr told The Guardian. âAs simple as that. Bernard is a good friend and I knew heâd love that guitar.”
He went on: “And me giving Noel those guitars has become such a big story over the years, but people donât realise that at the time he wasnât who he is now. He was just a kid from Burnage. I had no idea Oasis were going to go on to such big things. I did it because he was in need, because I was lucky and had lots of guitars, and because I wished someone had done it for me.â
Asked why he gave Noel another expensive guitar, Marr said: “I must confess itâs why I quit drinking.”
Spoken perhaps only half-jokingly, he clarified: âI wasnât drunk, but the chances are I was very hungover when I agreed to that.â
The pair have gone on to become longtime friends and collaborators. Marr contributed to Oasisâ 2002 album âHeathen Chemistryâ and also played on The High Flying Birdsâ âBallad Of The Mighty Iâ in 2015 and âIf Love Is The Lawâ from 2017.
They teamed up again this year for three songs on Gallagherâs new album âCouncil Skiesâ, namely lead single âPretty Boyâ along with âOpen the Door, See What You Findâ and the title track.
Speaking to NME ahead of the album’s release, Noel said spoke about why Marr was right for certain tracks. âSadly, weâve never sat down to write a song. Weâve talked about it for a while,” he shared. “For the three tracks that he plays on, I had the idea that Johnny would be able to play something great on it â I could just hear it and knew it. With âPretty Boyâ, itâs so linear and gets to that point where it just motors along. I knew it needed something. I didnât get loads of people to try it, I was going to ask Johnny to do it from the off.
He added: âItâs a funny thing with Johnny. He doesnât get you to send him the track, he turns up, plugs his gear in, puts his guitar on, stands in front of the speakers and says, âRight, letâs hear itâ. As heâs hearing it for the first time, he plays it. I wouldnât tell him what to play, I wouldnât be so cheeky.â
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