Bo! Soon Is Now

I'm sure he's told the story before, but Johnny Marr's description of the creative process that lead to the iconic intro riff to "How Soon Is Now? is nothing short of mesmerizing. 

When you listen to his story, and compare the guitar parts without tremelo (pleasant, but not really happening, as acknowledged by Marr) and with the tremelo, then it couldn't be any more obvious.  Why had I never made this association in my mind even once during the past thirty plus years?  Of course it's a Bo Diddley sound and groove.  What else could it even be? 

Of course musicians try to emulate their heroes.  It's just that their heroes aren't always the people we expect.  The contemporary music press frames a band and their influences according to then current trends.  A band markets itself relative to what its fans want.  British indie rock fans weren't name dropping Bo Diddley in 1985.  He was too bluesy, too American, too older generation.  

The best thing about social media is its proclivity to get these kinds of stories out, irrespective of the commercial apparatus that surrounds the music.  

"How Soon Is Now" is older now than Bo Diddley's earliest hits were when "How Soon Is Now" was recorded.  The best way for a legend like Marr to advertise his current projects is to open the curtain into a long departed world.