Johnny Marr says he quit drinking after gifting Noel Gallagher with guitar
nme.comJohnny Marr has said that gifting Noel Gallagher with an expensive guitar – after he smashed the previous one – is partly what motivated him to stop drinking.Marr previously recalled the time he gave a young, “skint” Gallagher his guitars before the pre-Oasis guitarist could afford his own.“He 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, ‘right OK well I’ll give him this guitar’,” he told Radio X.The Smiths guitarist gave Gallagher a 1960 Gibson Les Paul – which can be heard on The Smiths’ 1986 album ‘The Queen Is Dead’, and was formerly owned by The Who‘s Pete Townshend – 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.“It’s just to be nice,” Marr told The Guardian. “As simple as that.
Bernard is a good friend and I knew he’d love that guitar.”He went on: “And me giving Noel those guitars has become such a big story over the years, but people don’t realise that at the time he wasn’t 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.”Asked why he gave Noel another expensive guitar, Marr said: “I must confess it’s why I quit drinking.”Spoken perhaps only half-jokingly, he clarified: “I wasn’t drunk, but the chances are I was very.
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