Johnny Marr plays ‘The Headmaster Ritual’

Johnny Marr played ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ for a Fender amplifier demonstration in 2009 on the Les Paul guitar that he used to record the song back in 1984. The video is edited from a series done for Fender with Johnny talking about and demonstrating his favorite Fender amplifiers.

‘The Headmaster Ritual’ hasn’t been played publicly by Johnny since 1985, when The Smiths played the Edinburgh Playhouse, though the opening riff was played at the beginning of ‘Meat Is Murder’ in 1986 at the National Ballroom in Kilburn.

For my part, ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ came together over the longest period of time I’ve ever spent on a song. I first played the riff to Morrissey when we were working on the demos for our first album with Troy Tate. I nailed the rest of it when we move to Earls Court.

Record Collector, December 1992