They Disappeared a Week Ago

While Mike Joyce is busy writing a book, his former Smiths bandmate Johnny Marr was recently stuck penning tweets about guitars that seemed to have been lost by UPS.

On Wednesday, September 17th, the guitar god himself revealed that he had been without his famed instrument for over a week after several guitars were misplaced by UPS.

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“Dear @UPS where are my guitars? They disappeared a week ago,” he wrote in his initial tweet, adding the hashtags #fuckUPSinc and #freemyguitars. “I’m hearing from you now that they’ve been lost.”

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From there, Marr kept the pressure on with a couple of quick but effective follow-up messages, reading, “Ring Ring @UPS” and “Knock Knock @UPS.”

While Marr did eventually hear back from UPS, he wasn’t exactly enthused with the shipping giant’s steps for resolution: “Asking me to describe what my guitars look like is not filling me with confidence. They look exactly like the ones you put in one of your a [sic] delivery vans days ago. Remember?”

Marr’s next tweet may have ultimately proven helpful to UPS, providing identifying information about his guitar cases and revealing a solid sticker game: “Look for one that says ‘80’s Icon’ on the case and another one that says ‘Woke As Fuck’.”

Thankfully, Marr and UPS were able to sort out the situation, as he posted an update today (September 18th), thanking “whoever sorted out my guitars.”

If I can, there are a few important thoughts and takeaways from this whole ordeal:

• It’s somehow comforting that even famous rock stars aren’t immune to the absurdity of daily life.
• Similarly, it’s nice that everyone, at one point or another, must also yell into the void that is dealing with corporate X/Twitter accounts.
• Marr is a lot funnier than I’d assumed him to be (or that he’d ever need to be as a rock legend), and that’s also quite comforting.
• Were any of these guitars used on famous songs/records?
• Could we hire Marr to tweet at other corporate accounts? That’d be well worth $25 to $40 per message.
• Is this going to change and/or improve how UPS does business? Especially if all of indie rock descends upon the company?

For what it’s worth, Marr wasn’t just mad because this event was like Yo-Yo Ma misplacing a cello, or Carrot Top losing his box o’props. As he made clear during a sitdown with Kyle Meredith back in 2023, Marr thinks about guitar and guitar music in a thoughtful and compelling manner. Heck, he’s even released a book celebrating a life lived with guitars. It’s not just property, but perhaps something that speaks to Marr’s identity or a way of filtering the world — it’s Samson and his hair, really.

Marr is currently touring the US ahead of upcoming October dates in Europe. See his schedule below, and get tickets here.

Dear @UPS where are my guitars ? They disappeared a week ago. I’m hearing from you now that they’ve been lost. Explain @fender @gibson #fuckUPSinc #freemyguitars

— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) September 17, 2025

Ring Ring @UPS #freemyguitars #fuckUPSinc

— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) September 17, 2025

Knock Knock @UPS #freemyguitars #fuckUPSinc

— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) September 17, 2025

Bang Bang Bang @UPS. Asking me to describe what my guitars look like is not filling me with confidence. They look exactly like the ones you put in one of your a delivery vans days ago. Remember ? #fuckUPSinc #freemyguitars

— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) September 17, 2025

Look for one that says ‘80’s Icon’ on the case and another one that says ‘Woke As Fuck’ @UPS

— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) September 17, 2025

@UPS Whoever sorted out my guitars, thank you.

— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) September 18, 2025

Johnny Marr 2025 Tour Dates:
09/20 — Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees
09/21 — Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
09/23 — Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
09/25 — Buffalo, NY @ Electric City
09/26 — Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre
09/27 — Brooklyn, NY @ Under the K Bridge Park
10/20 — Maastricht, NL @ Muziekgieterij
10/21 — Lille, FR @ L’Aéronef
10/22 — Paris, FR @ Élysée Montmatre
10/24 — Seraing, BE @ OM
10/25 — Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg
10/26 — Köln, DE @ Live Music Hall
10/28 — Hamburg, DE @ Grosse Freiheit 36
10/29 — Copenhagen, DK @ Amager Bio
10/31 — Berlin, DE @ Astra Kulturhaus