Johnny Marr has spoken on his decision to turn down an “eye-watering” amount of money to reunite The Smiths, saying that the “vibe” wasn’t right to get the band back together.

Marr was appearing on the Stick to Football podcast alongside former players Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Ian Wright to discuss his affinity with soccer club Manchester City and his role as guitarist in one of indie music’s most legendary bands.

The Smiths were formed by Marr in 1982 when he and a friend recruited Morrissey to join the group as vocalist and lyricist; the band’s classic lineup was completed by Mike Joyce (drums) and Andy Rourke (bass).

The group released four studio albums between 1984 and 1987 alongside a number of live albums and B-side and singles collections. Meat is Murder (1985) and The Queen is Dead (1986) both hit No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart; their debut The Smiths (1984) and final record Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) both hit No. 2. Creative and personal differences between Marr and Morrissey saw the former leave the group in July 1987 and the group folded the following year.

Both Marr and Morrissey have had wildly successful solo careers but a reunion has seemed unlikely ever since. In 2006, Moz told the BBC, “I would rather eat my own testicles than reform the Smiths, and that’s saying something for a vegetarian.”

In August 2024, however, Morrissey claimed that he and Marr had received a “lucrative offer” from AEG to reform with the band’s surviving members, and to tour as a live band in 2025; the group’s bassist Andy Rourke died in 2023. In the post on his website Morrissey Central, Moz revealed that he had said yes to the proposal but that Marr had not responded. A month later, Marr said on his Instagram that he did not “ignore the offer — I said no.” 

Now speaking on the Stick to Football podcast Marr has gone into more detail about why he turned down the offer, despite seeing close friends (and City supporters) Liam and Noel Gallagher reform Oasis in August 2024 for a global tour. 

“We got made an offer recently, but I said no,” he said. “It was a little bit about principles, but I’m not an idiot, I just think the vibe’s not right.”

Marr added, “It was an eye-watering amount of money, but also, I really like what I’m doing now which makes it a lot easier. I like where I’m at. I still want to write the best song I’ve ever written. I want to be a better performer.”

Morrissey and Marr have traded barbs through the press for decades, and in 2022 Morrissey called on his former bandmate to “stop mentioning my name” in interviews. Marr responded saying, “When you’re attacked out of the blue, particularly in public, you have to defend yourself.”

Speaking to Uncut he said the pair are too estranged to ever work together again. “It won’t come as any surprise when I say that I’m really close with everyone I’ve worked with — except for the obvious one. And that isn’t that much of a surprise because we’re so different, me and Morrissey.”

Following The Smiths’ dissolution, Marr played as a member of a number of groups including The Pretenders, Electronic (with New Order’s Bernard Sumner), The The, Modest Mouse and The Cribs. In 2013 he launched a solo career and has released four LPs under his name and performed on global tours.

Earlier this week Marr expressed support for Kneecap during their ongoing controversy, and backed them to perform at Glastonbury Festival next weekend (June 27-29) amid calls for them to be removed from the line-up.

Check out Marr’s appearance on the Stick to Football podcast below.

At 35, mgk is still a kid at heart. The rapper-turned-rock star is set to perform on the 2025 Kids’ Choice Awards, which will air live on Saturday (June 21) at 8 p.m. ET/PT from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Tyla is set to host the show.

mgk will perform “Cliché,” the lead single from his upcoming album Lost Americana. The song has so far reached No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. The performance will come just a day after mgk performs on The Today Show’s Citi Concert Series.

All six of mgk’s studio albums have reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200, with the last two – Tickets to My Downfall and Mainstream Sellout – reaching No. 1. (The latter album also received a Grammy nod for best rock album.) His seventh studio album, Lost Americana, is due Aug. 8.

The Cleveland, Ohio, native’s highest-charting hit on the Hot 100 is “Bad Things,” a 2016 collab with Camila Cabello that reached No. 4.

KATSEYE, which recently notched their first Billboard Hot 100 hit with “Gnarly,” was previously announced as a performer on the show. They’ll perform “Gnarly.”

Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards will celebrate fans’ favorites from film, television, music, sports and more. Nickelodeon is calling the show the biggest party of the summer. It is certain to have more epic slimings than any other show. The show will simulcast across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, the Nick Jr. channel, MTV2 and CMT, and also air on Nickelodeon channels around the world.

Leading the pack with four nominations each are Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, followed by Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez and Jelly Roll with three nods apiece. First-time nominees include Gracie Abrams, Zach Bryan, Jordan Chiles, Frankie Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Doechii, Keith Lee, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, Shohei Ohtani and Florence Pugh, among others.

Pop-punk icons Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley reunited onstage over the weekend for a surprise performance of Sum 41’s “In Too Deep” during Lavigne’s headlining set at the Vans Warped Tour stop in Washington, D.C.

Eight songs into her June 15 set, Lavigne brought out her ex-husband — and Sum 41 frontman — to deliver one of the most iconic anthems of the genre. “What do you say we bring one of the OG Warped Tour bands back out here tonight to join me right now?” she told the crowd. “Let’s hear it for Deryck from Sum f—ing 41!”

Whibley, who had recently announced his retirement from music following Sum 41’s final album Heaven :x: Hell, responded with his signature smirk: “Holy s—, goddamn. I thought I f—ing quit music. But how the f— can I miss the Warped Tour, right? I’ve come out of my three- or four-month retirement for two reasons: to be with the Warped Tour family, and to be with the one, the only, the motherf—ing princess.”

The two, who were married from 2006 to 2010, launched into the 2001 hit backed by Lavigne’s live band, creating one of the most buzzed-about moments of the Warped Tour’s comeback weekend.

After the show, Lavigne posted a carousel of photos from the set with a caption celebrating the reunion: “This legend @deryckwhibley from @sum41 joined me for one of the best pop punk anthems of all time ‘In Too Deep.’”

The moment marked Whibley’s first return to the stage since Sum 41’s retirement announcement earlier this year. The band wrapped things up following the release of their double album Heaven :x: Hell, citing Whibley’s health issues and a desire to go out on a high note.

The performance also came after a turbulent year for the frontman, who filed a lawsuit against former manager Greig Nori with claims of abuse. Nori denied the allegations and countersued.

Still, in D.C., none of that overshadowed the shared nostalgia onstage. Lavigne summed it up best: “Headlined Vans Warped Tour last night and it was everything I would have expected and more!”

Warner Music Australia are currently in the midst of a purple patch in their home country, with Warner Music Group’s Down Under division recently clocking up a “historic” showing on the ARIA Singles chart.

The success in question relates to the two recent ARIA charts – dated Monday, June 9 and June 16 – which sees nine of the positions across the fortnight’s top fives held by WMA artists.

While Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” sits in the top spot on the June 9 chart, it’s joined by a double-header from sombr by way of “Undressed” and “Back to Friends,” with Ravyn Lenae’s “Love Me Not” and Tate McRae’s “Just Keep Watching” rounding out the top five.

The tune is largely the same in the June 16 chart, with the only difference being the insertion of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” in the No. 2 spot. The remainder of both charts’ top ends are filled out by familiar contemporaries, including Benson Bone, Bruno Mars (both with Lady Gaga and Rosé), Teddy Swims, and perennial favorites Fleetwood Mac and the Goo Goo Dolls.

All told, the first week hosts a total of 11 WMA acts in the top 20, with that number dropping by just one for the following chart, resulting in a majority representation.

Reflecting on the success of the recent achievement, Dan Rosen, President of Records And Publishing, Australasia, Warner Music Group, explains that it’s a “phenomenal effort” to achieve these “historic levels of chart share.”

“These things are built up on years of hard work from teams around the world, in terms of artist development, A&R, and connecting with culture,” he explains. “We’ve been able to cement that here in Australia.

“Our mission is to make our global artists local, and local artists global,” he adds. “It has been amazing to see, in terms of making this next generation of great Warner acts feel part of our local culture and getting them on ground and building them up.”

Rosen – who was recently named as one of Billboard’s 2025 Global Power Players – also focused on some of the specific artists that fall under his purview, specifically looking at the success of Australian and New Zealand artists on the global stage.

“We’ve always known that Aussies and Kiwis are as good as anyone else in the world, and I think the global platforms now give us the opportunity to really showcase that,” he explains. “Building that next generation of Aussie and Kiwi acts on the global stage has been a big job and a heavy lift, but we’re really starting to see results.”

Among the successes that Rosen looks at fondly are the likes of Auckland alternative pop outfit Balu Brigada,who topped the Alternative Airplay chart with their debut single “So Cold,” with latest single “Backseat” also making impressive moves globally. 

CYRIL also scores a mention from Rosen, with the Darwin DJ having seen plenty of success on the radio charts, while his recent track “There She Goes” has topped the TikTok charts.

“We’ve always had wonderful export artists and are really excited seeing this next generation come through in both the indie rock and dance genres, which we’ve traditionally been very strong in,” he adds.

Notably, the recent chart success from WMA also comes accompanied by some less-than-stellar news of the Australian industry as a whole, with the entirety of the Singles chart’s top 50 being devoid of any local acts.

The only Australian influence that can be found is within Doechii’s “Anxiety,” which prominently samples Gotye’s 2011 single “Somebody That I Used to Know.” The Albums chart is slightly more promising, with Jimmy Barnes’ Defiant album in the top spot for June 16, though the rest of the top 20 lacks any locals.

This lack of Australian artists isn’t new, however, with ARIA’s 2024 end-of-year charts comprising just 5% local content.

“It’s tough out there,” Rosen agrees, referencing a need for local acts to be visible in order to make an impact on the charts. “There’s no doubt we can’t shy away from that impact on the chart here, but I think these things are cyclical and I’m incredibly optimistic of this next generation of Aussie acts that will impact the charts, both here and overseas.

“It’s definitely a moment in time. We can’t pretend it’s not happening, but we need to set ourselves up for what success looks like in the future and to me, that’s very much around the acts that can impact globally.”

The recent chart successes from WMA can also be traced back to the importance of having artists performing in the local market – a necessity which Rosen labels as “fundamental.” 

“Look at Benson Boone and Teddy Swims, we brought both artists out to market really, really early,” Rosen recalls. “Benson Boone played a small sold-out show at the Lansdowne [in Sydney]. Teddy Swims’ first great, Hot Hits was in New Zealand with ‘Lose Control,’ and New Zealand and Australia are still his top two markets anywhere in the world.

“I think the number one most important thing is to get artists to market,” he continues. “So you see how great they are, Aussie fans can fall in love with them and we can connect them with local culture. And that’s really our job here, to work with our partners. 

“We’ve got incredible partnerships with Atlantic Records and Warner Records and we’ve worked with them from early days about ‘How do we help you break this artist in the market?’ We value those partnerships, we work incredibly hard with them, and we bring those artists as early as we can and start seeding them into the local culture and building their fanbase.”

In addition to his current role with WMA, Rosen took on new duties this year with publishing, with the recent good news of a strong showing in the charts undoubtedly leaving the entire team feeling content.

“I’m just the figurehead at the top and it’s a lot of hard work from the teams,” he explains. “I think we’ve got the most passionate and hardworking team across both records and publishing in the market and I feel very proud to lead them. 

“We’re not going to rest on our laurels,” he adds. “Lots more to achieve, lots more to do, but I think you have to celebrate the wins. We all know how hard we work in this business, so it’s good to celebrate the wins, but we’re off to work out what comes next.”