Baseball used to be an American pastime. Now, younger generations have flocked to more captivating and stimulating sports, like basketball and football. But if baseball wants to recapture the youth’s attention, maybe they should listen to Johnny Marr, former lead guitarist for The Smiths.
Don’t get it confused. Marr called baseball “totally overrated” during a recent interview for Pitchfork’s Over/Under series. But Marr shared a story about the one time he found baseball “fascinating.”
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Yes, cannabis was involved.
“One time I sat on the couch with someone—who was a big fan—and got stoned and he explained it to me. It was fascinating,” Marr explained. “But I’m sure probably only five minutes went by and it seemed like hours, frankly. It was an interesting five minutes. Probably had something to do with the weed.”
There you have it. Want to make people watch baseball again? Include cannabis. Marr also touched on robot brothels, jazz, and his former bandmate Morrissey.
John Martin Marr is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, Marr has been a member of the Pretenders, The The, Electronic, Modest Mouse, and the Cribs, and he has become a prolific session musician, working with names such as Kirsty MacColl, Pet Shop Boys, Talking Heads, Bryan Ferry and Hans Zimmer.
In 2010, Marr was voted the fourth-best guitarist of the last 30 years in a poll conducted by the BBC. In 2013, NME honoured Marr with its “Godlike Genius” award: “Not content with rewriting the history of music with one of the world’s greatest ever bands, the Smiths, he’s continued to push boundaries and evolve throughout his career, working with some of the best and most exciting artists on the planet.”
