Johnny Marr has insisted that allowing John Lewis to use The Smiths‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’ in an advert hasn’t tarnished the track.

The guitarist took to Twitter to respond to fans who had expressed surprise and disappointment that a cover of song had featured in the department store’s recent Christmas advertisements by claiming that its legacy had not been “sullied”.

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He said: “Writing ‘Please Please…’ one Friday in ’84 is one of the best memories of my life. This ad has not sullied that memory one bit.”

He then went on to criticise the fans who had been “bitching and moaning whilst, wait for it, watching X Factor” before linking to a YouTube video of former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins, in which the punk singer dismisses the notion of using songs in advertisements as “selling out”.

Marr, who left The Cribs earlier this year, recently revealed that he had been discussing making new music with his former Smiths bandmate Andy Rourke.

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He also claimed last month that Noel Gallagher owed him a fortune in rent, after he let the former Oasis chief borrow his flat in London during the ’90s.

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