“Look for one that says ‘80’s Icon on the case and another one that says ‘Woke As F**k’”: Johnny Marr says UPS has lost his guitars

Johnny Marr has accused UPS of losing his guitars and has upbraided the logistics company on Twitter/X, with some helpful advice as to what they should be looking for.

“Look for one that says ‘80’s Icon’ on the case and another one that says ‘Woke As Fuck,’” writes the former Smiths guitarist, who is currently on tour in the US, where, we would assume, whatever was in those guitar cases, be it acoustic or electric guitars, would come in mighty handy.

UPS has since replied, saying they would message him directly. But the initial signs do not look good. The signs do not look good. “Asking me to describe what my guitars look like is not filling me with confidence,” writes Marr. “They look exactly like the ones you put in one of your a delivery vans days ago. Remember?”

It’s a tale as old as time; guitarist hands over guitars to courier company, courier loses guitars, guitarist leverages the power of social media to lean on company.

How Soon Is Now - Johnny Marr Live At The Crazy Face Factory - YouTube

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Guitars… Well, they can end up anywhere, like when Sweetwater accidentally emailed one metal fan’s Jackson to Jim Root of Slipknot by accident. Hey, a lot of guitars come and go out of the Sweetwater warehouse.

This one was meant to go to a US airbase in Qatar but ended up in Iowa at Chez Root. It was all worked out in the end, and it turned out to be an amusing story all things considered.

Marr can be forgiven for being anxious. When playing a London show with Johnny Marr and the Healers in 2000, his 1964 Gibson SG was stolen. Its estimated value was circa £30,000. The sentimental value was higher. It’s called Betsy.

Writing in Marr’s Guitars, Marr says he was “obsessed” with it, and got an SG because of the John Mayall’s reference-quality blues guitar tone in the Bluesbreakers days (and Pete Townshend). The SG was all he would use during the Healers era.

Luckily, justice was served in that instance, albeit 10 years later when a detective (and fan of Marr’s) reopened the case and it was discovered that a fan had jumped onstage and walked out the venue with it.

Marr’s Guitars, incidentally, is an essential document for fans of Marr’s playing and tone. If he has played it, it’s in there, photographed with love and in detail, and presented alongside a biography of the guitar.

What it doesn’t tell is is what was inside the cases marked “‘80s icon” and “Woke as fuck” but whatever those guitars are we hope they are returned to their owner ASAP.