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The guy who wrote the book is called Johnny Rogan, its a great book, though some of the "facts" in it have been disputed. Johnny Rogan also wrote a great book called "Timeless Flight" about The Byrds which is recommended!

Andy did have a heroin problem, but it never affected his playing. Johnny Marr managed to keep it hidden from Morrissey for months as he was Andy's best friend & the fact it didn't affect his playing kept Morrissey from finding out. He only found out as Andy was arrested in a house where Heroin was found & as Morrissey was extremely anti drugs he wasn't happy. But it was decided to keep him in the band & help him out. But there was an American tour coming up which the band thought would have been jeopordised if Andy had a criminal conviction. So Morrissey fired him. He was fired by Morrissey by a written note left on the wipers of his car which said "Andy you are no longer a member of The Smiths, goodbye & goodluck - Morrissey". During this time Craig Gannon joined the band to replace Andy on Bass. But as the heroin was found in a house which didn't belong to Andy & was not found on him, he wasn't charged. And he was reinstated into the band & got clean & then toured America with them. Craig Gannon was also kept on as a second guitarist. Incredibly the whole thing never made the papers & Andy was out of the band for no longer than 3 weeks. And he's been clean ever since!

Well yes they are my favourite band, and i'm very much a huge Morrissey fan, i've saw him about 16 times i think. I've also saw Johnny Marr with Modest Mouse & in The Cribs. And i've met Andy Rourke while he did a DJ set. I've read a lot of books from various people some very positive & a few in a negative light. I try to mention things about them only which i know is fact or as close to the truth as far as i know. And i try not to be too biased, but they are my favourite band so forgive me if i am too pashionate about them, or Pashernate as Morrissey says!

A Smith's reunion would be pointless, most of their lefty looney fans are now accountants and solicitors and have no recollection of why they listened to badly played dirges by the most overrated band ever to spring from these shores!

Meatus, that's interesting. My last comment I wrote from memory but I thought I would dig out the book that I got the information from. It is one of those compilation books that came free with a music magazine, that has excerts of other books about bands in it. I've just found it in my flat, buried in a cupboard, and it's called 'The Q Omnibus Rock N Roll Reader'. I've had it for years. The section in it that is the excert from the Johnny Rogan book covers 15 pages. I have it next to me and I will manually copy some of it to here:

--
The Irish tour was, by now, a traditional part of The Smiths' gigging calendar and provided some of their most relaxed and convivial moments. The trip across the water coincided with the usual drinking session but, for Andy Rourke, stronger substances were required. The following evening at the National Stadium, Dublin, the group's set was marred by a lacklustre display from the troubled bassist. Given Rourke's integral importance to The Smiths' live performance, it was difficult to disguise his shortcomings. As Grant Showbiz remarked: "Andy had lost it. Out of 10 notes, he was playing three. He was completely gone and just stopped playing numbers... Everybody was deeply concerned about Andy."

Although the other two dates, at Dundalk's Fairways Hotel and Queen's University, Belfast, passed without incident, the state of Rourke became a biting issue. Precisely a year before, he had been warned of the need to stay straight while working with The Smiths, and this public relapse had broken that pact. "It was difficult for Andy because he was out of it all the time and it got to the point where you had to take a stance," Joyce remarked. "It not only affected his playing but when we were together. It was difficult to get through to him." Although the drummer had broached the subject with Rourke, the bassist knew his partner has no experience of addiction. "You don't understand" was Andy's weary response whenever advice was dished out.

Marr was uncertain about action to take against his friend, feeling it was almost hypocritical to adopt a self-righteous attitude. "They had this friendship that was so strong that it was tearing Johnny to pieces," Grant explained. "I was one of the people who said we should get rid of Andy. I felt it would be for the best. The only way for him to sort himself out was to be kicked out of the band and told that he would have to stop taking drugs." On stage with Rourke, Marr had realised the extent of his partner's troubles. "He just wasn't in a state to play," he observed. "That was the thing. It was more so when he was trying to come off heroin, and that's what happened on that Irish tour. He finally took too much methadone and wasn't fun to be around."
--

There were are, all manually copied from the book to here. lol. If he got into drugs because he had a lot of problems then I feel sorry for him. If he did it for recreation then I have little sympathy. Everyone knows drugs screw you up, and one can have little sympathy for someone who knows what it will do to them who just goes and does it for fun.

I heard that Andy Rourke and Johnny Marr were reunited on stage at a Cancer Benefit gig a few years ago. I don't think they have done anything else since though.

I'm not entirely positive how Andy's drug use began. He is very private. But again, he is Andy Rourke not Morrissey or Johnny Marr. So nobody really wants to know. Even the book is called Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance and nothing to do with The Smiths. But i'm fairly sure Andy got into drugs in his early teens. I know his mother left him & he was brought up by his father who worked 2 jobs i believe to look after him & his either 2 or 3 elder brothers. I'm not entirely positive here, so i'm hope i'm not speaking out of turn & if anyone else has any corrections feel free to let me know. But i believe Andy got into drugs early in his teens through his brothers. I'm not sure if they only took drugs themselves or perhaps were involved in selling them. But it certainly started from there. He wasn't into heroin till he joined The Smiths, but he certainly was an addict & had tried many drugs. So i do think that he had issues, i don't think it was rock star excess that lead him on the path to drugs. But i'm sure once he was in The Smiths that brought him to the attention of dealers & made it easier for him to get drugs. Which perhaps is the reason for his decent onto heroin.

Andy and Johnny met up in Manchester and reconciliated. It was the first time they had spoken since the court case. After this they have remained friends & are still friends. Andy was involved with the Manchester Against Cancer benefit, it was him & Peter Hook who set it up & they put on a concert in Manchester. Andy was supposed to perform with Mike Joyce, but after his reconciliation with Johnny, he & Johnny decided to play & Johnny refused to attend if Mike Joyce would be there. So Joyce was dropped & now Andy and Mike don't speak. Johnny and Andy performed 3 songs including "Meat Is Murder" & "How Soon Is Now".

judges



He still has some faith in the legal process then !

I've seen ads in newspapers in the last few days for Stone Roses tickets, lots of agencies are selling them for crazy prices. This is clearly why they sold out so fast: agencies snapped up huge quantities of tickets and are now selling them on for a big profit. I'm surprised there aren't rules on this, I mean the agencies are going to make as much money, if not more, out of these gigs than the band are!

Max:

I think the whole ticket thing's a fix. Are we really meant to believe that thousands of tickets sold out in 15 minutes? As if. It's all bullshit, I believe the tickets are sold in bulk to agencies and/or touts, the promoter gets his money up front, and the midllemen proceed to fleece the fans for as much as they can get. Why anyone falls for this "all the tickets sold out in minutes" bullshit baffles me.

Announced festival dates in Sweden and Denmark which will be BEFORE the Heaton Park dates.