Duffy got his start playing in different punk line-ups in the late 1970s, but these earlier years were more notable for his introducing Johnny Marr (The Smiths) to the guitar and encouraging Morrissey to make his singing debut with Duffy in The Nosebleeds.
These tracks included covers of "Back to the Old House" by The Smiths (with Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr playing guitar) and "The Last Time" by The Rolling Stones.
He started playing piano and drums at an early age then picked up the guitar when he was fifteen, inspired by the sound of Johnny Marr and George Harrison.
That same year saw him sue Morrissey and Johnny Marr for nonpayment of wages and over the degree of his involvement in songwriting (notably for "Ask").
Additionally, an array of guest musicians collaborated with Hitchcock on Propellor Time; selected tracks feature contributions (some dating back to the Olé! Tarantula era) from John Paul Jones, Johnny Marr, Nick Lowe, and former Soft Boy/Egyptian band mate Morris Windsor.
Seven of the thirteen tracks were composed by full-time members Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner, and the other six co-written with former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos.
For Ignore The Ignorant, Ryan and Johnny Marr would refer to each other as "axe-bro's", as Johnny told Total Guitar in October 2010: "We're very deliberate about being a twin guitar assault, Ryan is a busy player and I am too, so we both fizz and whoever comes to the top is backed up. Ryan is one of the best guitarists to come out of British pop culture. He's in an elite handful of people doing innovative, unexpected things".
In 2004 it was updated to include new interview material from Smiths founder and guitarist Johnny Marr.
Contributors to the project include 7 Worlds Collide's 2001 alumni Johnny Marr, Ed O'Brien, Sebastian Steinberg, Phil Selway, Lisa Germano, Tim Finn and Liam Finn; as well as Don McGlashan, Bic Runga, Glenn Richards, KT Tunstall and Wilco members Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone.
Johnny Cash | Johnny Depp | Johnny Winter | Johnny Carson | Johnny Mathis | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | Johnny Hallyday | Johnny Weissmuller | Johnny Mercer | Johnny Marr | Johnny Rivers | Johnny Majors | Johnny Vegas | Johnny Thunders | Johnny Haynes | Johnny Damon | Johnny Crawford | Johnny Vaughan | Johnny Paycheck | Johnny Gill | Johnny Douglas | Johnny Appleseed | Johnny | Little Johnny Jones | Johnny Clegg | Johnny B. Goode | Johnny Bench | Johnny Pacheco | Johnny Lozada | Johnny Knoxville |
Its members were schoolmates, Johnny Maher (later known as Johnny Marr) on guitar, Andy Rourke on bass, and Simon Wolstencroft, later of The Fall (and briefly a drummer with the Smiths), on drums.
The album is produced by David Cunningham, Martin Creed and The Nice NIce Boys (Andrew Knowles of Johnny Marr & The Healers and Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand).
The Quietus has featured exclusive interviews with Sex Pistols' Glen Matlock, The Clash's Mick Jones, The Smiths' Johnny Marr, The The's Matt Johnson, Oasis's Noel Gallagher, New Order's Peter Hook, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, The Killers' Brandon Flowers, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's Andy McCluskey, and La Roux's Elly Jackson, among others.
Electric Rickenbacker 12-string users include a range of jangle pop guitarists, ranging from McGuinn (The Byrds), Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, George Harrison and John Lennon (The Beatles), John McNally (The Searchers) and Peter Buck (R.E.M.) to Les Fradkin and Johnny Marr (The Smiths).
He received lessons and advice from the Scottish folk guitarist Bert Jansch, Johnny Marr, former guitarist of The Smiths, Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, PJ Harvey and the pioneering guitarist Davey Graham.
In Simon Goddard's track-by-track book Songs That Saved Your Life, Johnny Marr describes the song as "a beautiful piece of music", while the author writes, "Possessing one of his most alluring guitar melodies... if Marr's tune was heaven-sent, then it seemed very nearly blasphemous of Morrissey to christen it 'Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others' and bestow it with its notoriously frivolous lyric".