Johnny Marr Defends Use Of Smiths Track On Christmas Advert


johnnymarr

Johnny Marr has defended the decision to allow The Smiths‘ classic track ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want‘ to be used on a new festive-themed John Lewis advert.

The re-worked version is currently being aired in the UK during the build up to Christmas, and has sparked criticism from fans in some quarters.

However, when writing on Twitter, Marr has insisted the commercial has not affected his views on the track, whose writing process he describes as ‘one of the best memories of my life’.

“Writing Please Please one Friday in 84 is one of the best memories of my life,” he wrote. “This ad has not sullied that memory one bit.”

And while pointing his followers to a Henry Rollins video on the subject of use of music in adverts, Marr added: “For all those taste makers who are bitching and judging whilst, wait for it, watching x factor…”

Originally released as the b-side to early Smiths single ‘William, It Was Really Nothing‘ in 1984, ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’ would also later feature on the popular collections ‘Hatful of Hollow‘ and ‘Louder Than Bombs‘, and has become a firm favourite amongst diehard Smiths fans.


Learn More