Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr was 23 when The Smiths broke up in the summer of 1987. In the intervening three decades, he’s popped in and out of various other bands (The The, Modest Mouse, Electronic, and even The Pretenders for a minute) while releasing solo material only sparingly. Now 55, Marr is touring to support last year’s Call the Comet, a carefully produced synth-rock album that might have had a bigger impact in the early 2000s. While Morrissey continues his repellent tabloid-chasing slide into irrelevence, it’s nice to see Marr quietly chugging along, even if he’s not going to make too many new fans with this material.