The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has signalled that he will move to stop Donald Trump’s presidential campaign from using the band’s music at his rallies.
Marr responded on X after a user shared footage of a Trump rally in South Dakota in 2023 in which the Smiths song Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want can be heard playing as the crowd waits for the former president to come on stage.
“Ahh…right…OK,” Marr wrote in reply to the video. “I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this shit shut right down right now.”
Ahh…right…OK. I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this shit shut right down right now. https://t.co/M6eYROedOy
— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) January 23, 2024
The Smiths’ music has reportedly been heard at multiple Trump rallies recently, including at his rally in Laconia, New Hampshire on Monday.
Musicians including Adele, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Pharrell Williams and the estates of Prince, David Bowie and Tom Petty have objected in the past to Trump and his team playing their music at public events.
Some acts, including the Rolling Stones, have issued cease-and-desist directives to prevent Trump’s campaign playing their music. However, in the case of the Rolling Stones and Prince, Trump’s campaign has, on occasion, continued to use their music after pledging not to.
The Guardian has contacted Marr’s representative to clarify what he may do to stop Trump from playing Smiths music.
Marr co-wrote Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want with Smiths frontman Morrissey in 1984. Where Morrissey has praised Brexit and expressed support for the far-right political party For Britain, Marr has spoken out against rightwing politics and politicians who like the Smiths.
After years of praise from the former UK prime minister David Cameron, who even picked This Charming Man as one of his favourite tracks on BBC’s Desert Island Discs, Marr wrote: “Stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don’t. I forbid you to like it.”
“Anyone who was a fan would know we were against everything he and the Conservative party stood for,” Marr later wrote in his memoir.
