Since the early 1980s he's been regarded as a luminary in the field, due to his ability to sit back. His contemporaries at the time shared the same musical values, certainly those associated with the Scottish New Wave such as Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, two acts esteemed by The Cribs. Aztec Camera's Craig Gannon even joined Marr as The Smiths' second guitarist for a fruitful season in 1986 making noteworthy contributions to hits Ask and Panic.
Marr continues: "The first record Gary Jarman bought was Aztec Camera and he's proud of that. Roddy Frame is still a great musician and someone I considered one of my contemporaries when I was in The Smiths. I wrote This Charming Man as a direct response to Roddy getting his stuff on the radio. I got out of bed one day and thought I've got to start writing stuff in a major key, something upbeat and breezy. I hadn't written anything in G before that."